The 2015 Mercury Prize ‘Album of the Year’ in association with BBC Music went to Benjamin Clementine. The songwriter, who used to spent time on the Métro in Paris, beat 11 other nominees, including Florence and the Machine, Gaz Coombes, Slaves, Aphex Twin, Róisín Murphy, Ghostpoet, C Duncan, SOAK, Wolf Alice, Eska, and Jamie xx.
Clementine’s debut album, At Least for Now, was released in March and has received critical aclaim. He's unique sound reminds of Nina Simone.
“I never thought I would say this,” he said in an emotional acceptance speech. “If anyone is watching, any child or youngster or student. The world is your oyster. Go out there and get what you want to get”.
Benjamin's background includes an extraordinary past, that involved him moving to Paris in 2010, at age 19, with no money and nothing but a suitcase. After finding nowhere to stay, he ended up sleeping in doorways in Paris in the depths of winter. He began busking after six months living rough and spent the next three years sleeping in hostels across the city, before he was spotted by two French producers on the Métro.
“I was homeless and busking,” he said. “I was living nowhere, I was living in the streets. I met a lot of people but couldn’t speak the language so I had to just get on.
http://benjaminclementine.com
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