2009 marks an exciting year for the British music industry – at least in terms of there being so many breakthrough female artists this year nominated for Mercury Prize  award.

Some of you may be panting and asking questions like – ‘why has it taken so long for institutions like the Mercury Prize to finally present us – the public with a nomination list that portrays an equal interest in both female and male music?’

Well dear folks this is a long and difficult answer to debate – we firstly probably have to take a look at the previous Mercury years and compare and contrast figures. As a female artist myself I am so grateful that I will be releasing my little record this November as I think that my music will have some great mums and sisters to look after it and I am so thankful. My new record entitled ‘Coquette’ is feminine in nature and therefore I want it to be around powerful Ladies as well as powerful Gentlemen however at the offset I want it to be fed on great milk….

Being a female and a performer and a vocalist I have been in awe of all the various examples of work both men and women have undertaken in previous years [talking of history here in the past decades, centuries and millenia] with regards trying to create an essence of equality in our daily lives with regards attitudes towards gender in terms of education, the workplace and domestic situations. There is still along way to go and just because we have some kind of breakthrough with regards attitudes towards how many female performers have now magically appeared on the Mercury Prize nomination list this year [in fact still only 41%] we still have to remember that this may not reflect equality with regards  the rest of Great Britain or indeed the World [mother earth] and it may still not be an equal representation .

Still let us rejoice in the female voices this year and I will calculate the percentage of female artists to male artists over the past 5 years and would be so glad to what you gals and guys think of the findings….

OK The Mercury Prize started in 1992 . 2009 will be it’s 18th year

lets just see how many female performers won the prize since the start will list below… will include main female performers too

23% of awards went to female artists see below….

1994 M People

1995 Portishead

2001 PJ Harvey

2002 Ms Dynamite

so that makes 4 out of 17 – so perhaps we are due for a female winner this year – odds being?……

You will probably get the idea below ….

2009 Total no 12 NOMINATIONS female performers 5 out of 12 makes a 41% share to female artists – wow!! down by 4% share from 2008

• Bat for Lashes – Two Suns                       F
  
• Florence and the Machine – Lungs        F
  
• Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
  
• Glasvegas – Glasvegas
• Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
• La Roux – La Roux                                                         F
  
• Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
• Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew                                             F
  
• Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy                               F
  
• Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
• The Horrors – Primary Colours
• The Invisible – The Invisible

2008  11 NOMINATIONS female performers 5 out of 11 45%

• Adele – 19                                                                              F
  
• British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
• Burial – Untrue
  
• Estelle – Shine                                                                        F
  
• Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim                              F
  
• Neon Neon – Stainless Style
• Portico Quartet – Knee Deep In The North Sea
• Rachel Unthank and the Winterset – The Bairns          F
  
• Radiohead – In Rainbows
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand                F
  
• The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement

2007   2 OUT OF 11 NOMINATIONS WERE FEMALE 18% Ouch!

• Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
• Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford – Basquiat Strings
• Bat for Lashes – Fur and Gold                                                  F
  
• Dizzee Rascal – Maths + English
• Maps – We Can Create
• New Young Pony Club – Fantastic Playroom
• Fionn Regan – The End of History
• Jamie T – Panic Prevention
• The View – Hats Off to the Buskers
• Amy Winehouse – Back to Black                                              F
  
• Young Knives – Voices of Animals and Men

2006   3 out of 11 nominations were female 27%

• Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas      F
  
• Editors – The Back Room
• Guillemots – Through the Windowpane
• Richard Hawley – Coles Corner
• Hot Chip – The Warning
• Muse – Black Holes & Revelations
• Zoe Rahman – Melting Pot                                       F
  
• Lou Rhodes – Beloved One                                      F
  
• Scritti Politti – White Bread Black Beer
• Sway – This Is My Demo
• Thom Yorke – The Eraser

2005  4 out of 11 nominations were female  36%

• Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
• Coldplay – X&Y
• Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV
• Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
• KT Tunstall – Eye to the Telescope                       F
  
• M.I.A. – Arular                                                         F
  
• Maxïmo Park – A Certain Trigger
• Polar Bear – Held on the Tips of Fingers
• Seth Lakeman – Kitty Jay
• The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike          F
  
• The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers          F
  

So we  have 19 / 55 nominations were women from 2005 – 2009

34% of nominations were female

some exciting ladies in music right now and some up and coming ones perhaps for next years Mercury Prize – Florence and the Machine, Paloma Faith , Katy Carr [!@!!]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   kc