Mercury Prize: Indie band English Teacher fronted by Colne singer beat Charli XCX to take the top spot
A Colne singer is on her way to superstardom as her band scoops this year's Mercury Prize.
Lily Fontaine, who attended Park High School and Burnley College, is the lead singer of English Teacher.
The Indie band is shining after winning the Mercury Prize for their debut album This Could Be Texas, which makes numerous references to the Burnley and Pendle areas.
They beat Charli XCX, whose sixth studio album, Brat, has become a pop culture phenomenon, as well as Cat Burns’ Early Twenties. The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude To Ecstasy, and Corinne Bailey Rae’s Black Rainbows to take the prize, becoming the first act from outside London to win it in a decade.
Lily’s bandmates are Douglas Frost on drums, Nicholas Eden on bass and Lewis Whiting on guitar, with the quarter forming while studying in Leeds in 2020.
The band is set to return for its winter UK tour in November.