£20,000 Mercury prize winner to be revealed
Troubled singer Amy Winehouse and Ireland's Fionn Regan are contenders for the £20,000 Nationwide Mercury Prize tonight.
Winehouse, 23, and husband Blake Fielder-Civil arrived back in the UK yesterday following a break in a five-star resort on St Lucia in the Caribbean.
The singer, who has cancelled a string of performances, is due at the London ceremony tonight.
Winehouse, who was admitted to hospital last month after a reported overdose of heroin, Ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol, is nominated for her acclaimed second album Back To Black.
Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys could become the first act to scoop the award twice – and in consecutive years.
They are in the running this year with their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Dizzee Rascal, who won the prize in 2003 with debut Boy In Da Corner, is nominated again this year for Maths And English.
Other nominees include The View, Klaxons, Bat For Lashes and Jamie T.
The ceremony takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
The 12 nominated albums are:
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
Dizzee Rascal – Maths And English
The View – Hats Off To The Buskers
Maps – We Can Create
Bat For Lashes – Fur And Gold
Klaxons – Myths Of The Near Future
Jamie T – Panic Prevention
The Young Knives – Voices Of Animals And Men
Fionn Regan – The End Of History
Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford – Basquiat Strings
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
New Young Pony Club – Fantastic Playroom
