Singer Sam Fender wins Mercury Prize for album 'People Watching'

LONDON (Reuters) -Rocker Sam Fender won the Mercury Prize for his third album "People Watching" on Thursday, beating the likes of band Pulp and singer FKA Twigs for the British music award. Loud cheers erupted when the 31-year-old's name was called out at the ceremony in the northern English city of Newcastle, just a few miles from Fender's hometown of North Shields. "We did not expect this at all, I want to say thank you to… I cannot think," the singer said, before praising his fellow nominees and paying tribute to his late friend, actor Annie Orwin, who inspired the title track. "This region is the best region in the country." Judges praised the chart-topping record's "cohesion, character and ambition", adding "it felt like a classic album". Fender was previously nominated in 2022 for his second album "Seventeen Going Under". First handed out to rockers Primal Scream in 1992, the annual 25,000-pound ($33,600) Mercury Prize shortlists 12 albums released by British and Irish acts in the United Kingdom in the past year. It is considered less mainstream than Britain's pop music honours the BRIT Awards and is open to all music genres. This year's contenders included Pulp who were nominated for their comeback album "More", their first record in 24 years. The shortlist also included rock band Wolf Alice for "The Clearing", Irish post-punk group Fontaines D.C. for "Romance", and singer FKA Twigs for "Eusexua". This year's ceremony was held for the first time outside of London, taking place at Newcastle's Utilita Arena. Rock band English Teacher won the prize last year for debut album "This Could Be Texas". ($1 = 0.7447 pounds) (Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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