Michael Kiwanuka, a former student of the Commercial Music Performance BMus Honours Course, has won the Mercury Prize for his self-titled album ‘KIWANUKA’.
The Mercury Prize is an annual music prize that celebrates British musicians and has been recognising the 12 best albums of the year since 1992. ‘KIWANUKA’ is his third studio album and beat the likes of Dua Lipa, Laura Marling and Stormzy. The award was presented to him live on The One Show by Annie Mac, one of the Mercury Prize’s judges, where he received a winner trophy and a cash prize of £25,000.
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 his album, Kiwanuka said on The One Show: “This record and really all three records you know up to this point in my career have definitely been like a journey of self-discovery in a way. Each time, I’ve always been, kind of, worried about my place in the musical landscape, where I fit in, all those kinds of questions. With this one, I just kind of made a decision that I wanted to not really worry about those things and create my own lane, you know, and create my own place in the landscape and not worry about what people are thinking.”
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