THE music world acclaimed a surprise new star last night when an androgynous torch balladeer won the Mercury Music Prize. Antony Hegarty, who inscribed: “I do not want to be a boy, I want to be a girl,” on his debut CD, won the award for the Best Album of the Year.

The record, I Am A Bird Now, was recorded under the name Antony And The Johnsons. But the shock win was controversial because Hegarty, although born in Chichester, has spent most of his life in the US.

Kaiser Chiefs, the defeated favourites, said that Hegarty had made a great record but had been included on a technicality because the award is intended for the best British album of the year. The Mercury organisers said that eligibility for the prize is judged on nationality, not residency.

It was a haunting performance of the song Hope There’s Someone, with Hegarty playing piano accompanied by a cellist and violinist at the Grosvenor House ceremony, that swung it for the judging panel. It was the first opportunity that many of the 800-strong audience of music industry guests had had to hear the singer, who calls himself a “white gender queer boy” and sounds eerily similar to Nina Simone. He beat the multimillion-selling Coldplay and a host of established music names to the award with an album released by an independent record company that has sold a few thousand copies.

The prize, worth £20,000, is likely to catapult Hegarty, who sings about gender dysmorphia, to mass recognition.

On receiving his prize he said: “There must have been a mistake. I am completely overwhelmed. I think it’s insane, this is like a crazy contest between a spaceship, a potted plant and a spoon as to which you like better. It has been a really exciting night, to see the wonderful diversity of the spectrum of music around at the moment. It is bonkers to give it to just one person.”

Simon Frith, chairman of the Mercury judging panel, said: “He’s got such an extraordinary voice — it could be black, white, male or female.”

The judges praised a pianist and torch singer who “has a voice to pin you to the wall and songs that send shivers down the spine.”

Based in New York, Hegarty has been championed by the legendary rock artist Lou Reed — among others. His album features contributions from Reed, Rufus Wainwright and Boy George.

He is British by passport only, his parents having moved the family to America when he was 12. Hegarty made his name on the New York scene and is a striking figure at more than 6ft. He often wears a matted black shoulder-length wig during performances. He was described physically as “somewhere between a weeping Kosovan widow and a cartoon teddy bear”.

Sir Elton John has requested Hegarty to perform the bitter-sweet ballad Hope There’s Someone at his forthcoming wedding to David Furnish.

By choosing Hegarty, the Mercury panel hoped to reward a cult artist who deserved a wider audience rather than to plant more garlands on multi-platinum artists such as Kaiser Chiefs or breakthrough 2005 band The Magic Numbers.

Hegarty comes after Franz Ferdinand as the Mercury winner but the prize has been described as a curse after earlier winners Gomez, Ronisize and Talvin Singh failed to capitalise commercially on their success.

The 2005 winner was chosen from an entry of more than 170 albums from a panel that includes the managing editor of Radio 1, music writers and the broadcaster Margherita Taylor.

Hegarty’s win was welcomed by bookmakers, who had taken considerable money for the British/Sri Lankan rap artist M.I.A, and for Kaiser Chiefs.

Some of the other nominees appeared less than pleased with the results. M.I.A. walked out of the ceremony within minutes of the announcement, and Kaiser Chiefs did not comment.

Hegarty was a chorister as a schoolboy in Chichester and his musical heroes are British. Boy George was his childhood idol and repaid the loyalty by singing on I am a Bird Now.

The band is based in New York and has been a fixture on the arts scene there for more than a decade.

Hegarty often appears on stage with a Japanese hermaphrodite mathematician who goes by the name Julia.

After his win, he refused to be drawn into the argument about his nationality. “I just feel really pleased to be a part of this,” he said.

NOMINATED FOR THE AWARD

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

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