2015 Mercury Prize judging panel announced

Four new judges are added to the panel ahead of nominations later this month.
lauren-laverne.jpeg

The line-up for this year’s Mercury Prize judging panel has been confirmed. Previous Mercury-shortlisted acts Corinne Bailey Rae, Nick Mulvey and Anna Calvi and BBC Radio 1Xtra host Mistajam are the latest additions to the list, joining the panel headed up by Chairman Simon Frith.

The shortlist for the annual event, which has this year teamed up with BBC Music, includes 12 ‘Albums Of The Year’ and will be revealed on Friday October 16 at 10am by DJ Lauren Laverne during her BBC Radio 6 Music show.

MORE: Mercury Prize nominees 2014: Who are they?

Laverne will also host the Mercury Prize Award show, which will take place on Friday November 20 in the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House.

"It looks like this year's Mercury Prize is going to be one of the biggest and best yet,” Laverne says, “There have been so many fantastic albums released over the past year; it makes it really difficult to predict the twelve that the judges will choose for the 2015 shortlist."

MORE: Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2014 judge: "Arguments definitely break out!"

Last year’s nominations included FKA Twigs’ LP1, Kate Tempest’s Everybody Down and Royal Blood’s Royal Blood, and saw Young Fathers claim the title of Mercury Prize Album Of The Year 2014 with Dead.

The full 2015 judging panel is:

Simon Frith (Chairman) - Author and Music Writer, Professor of Music, Edinburgh University
Anna Calvi - Musician and songwriter
Corinne Bailey Rae - Musician and songwriter
Elisa Bray - Music Editor, The Independent
Greg Cochrane - Editor, NME.com
John Kennedy - Presenter, 'X-Posure', Radio X
Kat Morris - Festival Director, The Great Escape
Kate Mossman - Music Writer and Broadcaster, Arts Editor New Statesman
Mike Flynn - Music Writer, Deputy Editor Jazzwise
MistaJam - DJ and broadcaster
Nick Luscombe - DJ and broadcaster, founder 'Musicity’
Nick Mulvey - Musician and songwriter

MORE: The Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2015 so far

Image: @laurenlaverne

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