Michael Kiwanuka, a former student of the Commercial Music Performance BMus Honours Course, has had his self-titled album KIWANUKA shortlisted for a Mercury Prize.
Michael Kiwanuka’s third studio album ‘KIWANUKA’ has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize that celebrates British musicians and has been recognising the 12 best albums of the year since 1992. Each of the 12 artists receive a specially commissioned ‘Album of the Year’ trophy, with the overall winner receiving a winner trophy and a cash prize of £25,000. The prize is the music equivalent to the Booker Prize for literature and the Turner Prize for art.
Kiwanuka’s album was also nominated for British Album of the Year at the 2019 BRIT awards, as well as British Male Solo Artist. Other nominations include the BRITS Critics’ Choice Award in 2012 and British Album of the Year and British Male Solo Artist in 2017 for his critically-acclaimed album ‘Love & Hate’, which reached number one on the UK Albums chart.
Kiwanuka previously won the BBC Sound of 2012 and has been nominated for two MOBO awards. His song ‘Cold Little Heart’ serves as the opening theme for the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, while his songs have also featured on television programmes such as Suits, Grace and Frankie, Empire, Dear White People and When They See Us. He also appeared as a fictional version of himself in the 2019 film Yesterday.
Talking about being shortlisted on Twitter, Michael Kiwanuka said: “An honour to have KIWANUKA on the Mercury Prize shortlist. Thank you for all your support so far and congrats to the other shortlisted artists.”
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