UK’s Mercury Prize Canceled Following Death Of Queen Elizabeth II

The Mercury Prize, due to take place in London on the evening of 8 September, was canceled at the last minute as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the news of the Queen’s death at 6.30pm (GMT) just as guests were sitting down for the awards show at the Eventim Apollo in West London.

A statement was put on the screens at the venue saying, “In light of the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, we are sorry to announce that we will not be proceeding with this evening’s event as planned. The Mercury prize will be communicating with guests and audience members over the coming days. We thank you for your understanding at this difficult and sad time.”

The Mercury Prize, designed to celebrate the best albums artistically of the past 12 months, is a major event in the British music calendar and was due to be broadcast on the BBC. The national broadcaster had swiftly moved into blanket coverage of the death of the Queen across all radio and TV stations in the hours following the official announcement.

Despite rolling news all afternoon about mounting concerns over the Queen’s health, the awards show was still planning to go ahead, although doubt surrounded whether or not it would be televised. The decision to cancel was really the only option as the PR backlash facing an awards show going ahead in light of the news would have been ferocious.

The organizers issued a public statement saying, “Tonight’s Mercury prize event has been postponed at this time of great national sorrow. We know everyone involved in the Mercury prize will understand. Our thoughts and condolences are with the royal family at this very difficult time.”

Guests at the show were told to exit the building by 7.30pm (GMT) and were informed that no food would be served.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem) was one of the nominated acts and, on the morning of the awards, was joint favourite to win alongside Little Simz.

She immediately went on Twitter to organize for the hundreds of meals, that were due to be served at the event, to be donated to charitable causes.

“DONATE THE FUCKING FOOD,” demanded her first tweet.

She followed this up by issuing an appeal for any restaurants or catering companies with the ability to collect hot food and blast chill it to make themselves known, adding that the other food had already been donated to a church near the venue.

The MD of a restaurant in central London came forward and was able to take the unused food and freeze it for distribution to charities the following day.

Music industry events are more known for their hedonism and self-congratulatory tone than they are for their quick-thinking altruism, but this was a fine example of a musician taking the lead and turning an unfortunate situation into a positive one. As such, it is entirely without precedent in the British music business.

The Mercury Prize itself did not comment on what Self Esteem did and merely followed up its original statement on the cancellation of the event with a social media post saying, “We will make an announcement regarding future arrangements as soon as we are able.”

The event is normally locked in for several months meaning that shortlisted acts can work their schedules around being able to appear and perform, knowing that this can significantly boost their profile.

A smaller event in terms of artists appearing, given their existing commitments elsewhere, will likely be the case when the Mercury is eventually rescheduled later in the year.