The ludicrously talented artist scooped the gong for his debut LP Process - in our 9/10 review, we said that it's "an album built to take your breath away. From start to finish, it’s a display of Sampha’s mastery as a lyricist, a singer and a musician. His voice becomes another instrument for him to play around with; each breath a considered move like the strum of a guitar. It’s a powerful album - emotive and, surprisingly, loaded with danceable hooks."
Lauren Laverne revealed during the ceremony that the deliberation process took record time to complete, so presumably there were some heated backstage discussions about who the winner should have been.
Mercury Prize 2017 Nominees
- The xx - I See You
- Sampha - Process
- Stormzy - Gang Signs & Prayer
- J Hus - Common Sense
- alt-J - Relaxer
- Blossoms - Blossoms
- Ed Sheeran - Divide
- Dinosaur - Together As One
- Glass Animals - How To Be A Human Being
- Loyle Carner - Yesterday's Gone
- Kate Tempest - Let Them Eat Chaos
- The Big Moon - Love In The Fourth Dimension
Jessie Ware, Lianne La Havas, Marcus Mumford, and Ella Eyre were among this year's Mercury judges. We thought the shortlist was actually pretty good, but as ever there were lots that also deserved to make the cut - here's who we wanted to get nominated.
The 2016 Mercury Prize was awarded to Skepta for his ace record Konnichiwa.
