Mercury prize seals the star power of the loyal 'Geordie Springsteen'

Musician Sam Fender's 'melody-rich and expansive' third album last week claimed the prestigious honour. Andrew Butler analyses the power of his biographical lyrics

- Andrew Butler

On Thursday Sam Fender added the Mercury music prize to a mantelpiece already adorned with three Brit awards and an Ivor Novello award.

People Watching, the 31-year-old's third studio album, was a surprise winner - beating bookies' favourites CMAT and Fontaines DC.

The album has allowed Fender, who grew up in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, to settle into his status as the “Geordie Springsteen” following his critically acclaimed 2019 debut album Hypersonic Missiles and 2021's Seventeen Going Under. He accepted the award at the Newcastle Arena to the sound of United chants.

Here's Fender in his own words, taken from the album:

'I stayed all night till you left this life, cos that's just love'

People Watching

The title track of People Watching is a searing opener about the parlous state of palliative care homes (“The place was falling to bits, understaffed and overruled by callous hands”). It was written for Annie Orwin, whom Fender called “a surrogate mother in a lot of ways” and who died in October 2023. Orwin was an actor and starred in the Newcastle-based teen drama Byker Grove, and Fender said he wrote it as Orwin would “always complain about me not ever mentioning her”. He dedicated his prize on Thursday to her.

'I don't wear the shoes I used to walk in'

Crumbling Empire