David Bowie has been nominated for Britain’s prestigious Barclaycard Mercury Prize, along with several younger artists who were not even born when he first emerged as a star in the early 1970s.
The list of nominees for the 2013 prize, which will be announced Oct. 30, includes several newcomers: soul singer Laura Mvula, the folk rocker Jake Bugg and the all-female punk group Savages. Also nominated are Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Laura Marling, Rudimental, Disclosure, Jon Hopkins, James Blake and Villagers.
The finalists were chosen from more than 220 albums submitted by their record labels and a winner will be chosen by an independent panel of judges. The prize is meant to honor the best British or Irish album in a given year and often goes to lesser known acts who are critical darlings.
Last spring, Mr. Bowie released his first album in a decade, “The Next Day,†after a short, intense marketing campaign. He announced the album by releasing the single “Where Are We Now†on Jan. 6, which was his 66th birthday. The BBC reported that Mr. Bowie is the oldest person to be nominated for the prize, beating out the jazz pianist Stan Tracey by a month. Though he has made 24 studio albums, Mr. Bowie has never won the Mercury prize.
Simon Frith, chair of the judging panel, told the BBC the eclectic list of nominees reflects “that there is no dominant pop sound†at the moment. “You don’t have Adele and all her imitators in the charts, so it’s kind of an open field,†he said.
