Anthony & the Johnsons: Brit Surprise with Mercury Prize

Katie Schultz Guest Writer

The past week has most likely consisted of a seemingly endless flurry of interviews and press coverage for New York City-based band Antony & the Johnsons. The band has been awarded the 2005 Mercury Music Prize for their album I Am A Bird Now.

The prize, consisting of a check for £20,000 (or roughly $36,070), is awarded each year to a British or Irish act voted as having the best album of the year. The ceremony takes place in the United Kingdom.

Despite guest appearances on the album from such notable artists as Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Boy George, and Devendra Banhart, the win was a surprise. Favorites going into the ceremony had been the band the Kaiser Chiefs, who are incredibly popular in the U.K. and the only British act to have played at the Philadelphia leg of the worldwide Live 8 concert series this summer. Their album Employment was nominated.

Other bands nominated for the Mercury Prize include Coldplay for their album X&Y, Sri Lankan-born British hip-hop sensation M.I.A. for her album Arular, Bloc Party for Silent Alarm, the Go! Team for Thunder, Lightning, Strike, Polar Bear for Held on the Tips of Fingers, Hard-Fi for Stars of CCTV, KT Tunstall for Eye to the Telescope, the Magic Numbers for their self-titled album, Seth Lakeman for Kitty Jay Did, and Maximo Park for A Certain Trigger.

I Am A Bird Now is said to have won the Mercury Prize due to the incredibly novel quality of it. Antony Hegarty, the lead singer of Antony & the Johnsons, is well known for his unique singing voice. He sounds a bit like a slightly deeper Devendra Banhart, and is capable of giving one goose bumps with the intense emotion that reverberates from his exaggerated vibrato. This comes as a bit of a surprise when one is faced with his massive 6’4” physique and long black hair. Hegarty seems to perfectly embody the gentle giant archetype as he sings passionately about issues ranging from his brotherly love for his sister to adolescents facing gender identity issues on I Am A Bird Now.

Controversy began brewing immediately following Antony & the Johnsons’ win regarding Hegarty’s nationality. He was born in Chichester, Sussex in the south of England, but relocated to the United States with his family at the age of 12. The album I Am A Bird Now was recorded in New York, where Hegarty has been living for some time. Regarding the nomination of Antony & the Johnsons for the Mercury Prize, Kaiser Chiefs drummer Nick Hodgeson said, “[Hegarty’s] an American, really. It’s a good album, but it’s daft he’s got in on a technicality.” Hegarty has attempted not to be drawn in to debates about his nationality, but has made a point of asserting his British roots by pointing out that he has a British passport and has been heavily influenced by British artists, most notably Boy George.

Although Antony & the Johnsons are quite popular in the United Kingdom, they have been a mostly underground phenomenon in the United States. They have received enormous praise from U.S. critics, however, and are scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall next month. Antony & the Johnsons’ Mercury Prize win might be just the thing they need to establish them in the fickle American music scene.