Oldest Mercury Prize nominee

Folk music pioneer Martin Carthy (UK, b. 21 May 1941) was 84 years 112 days old when his latest studio album, Transform Me Then into a Fish (2025), was confirmed on the 12-album shortlist for the 2025 Mercury Prize. The nominations, announced on 10 September, also featured the likes of Wolf Alice (for The Clearing, the band’s record fourth consecutive nod for a studio album since their 2015 debut), CMAT (EURO-COUNTRY), FKA Twigs (EUSEXUA), Pulp (More.) and Sam Fender (People Watching).

Mercury Prize nominations run in the family for Martin Carthy, whose daughter Eliza Carthy (1998, for Red Rice; 2003, for Anglicana) and late wife Norma Waterson (1996, for her self-titled solo debut) have both been shortlisted since the award was inaugurated in 1992.

Carthy is a full 60 years older than two of 2025’s youngest Mercury Prize nominees, Jacob Alon and PinkPantheress (b. Victoria Walker), who are both 24, and he’s 23 years older than Jarvis Cocker, Pulp’s 61-year-old vocalist.

Transform Me Then into a Fish, described as “undoubtedly [his] last new recording” and a “full-circle moment in his musical journey”, is an 11-song collection that “revisits his iconic 1965 debut album, featuring newly recorded arrangements of its classic tracks”.

Carthy’s daughter Eliza provides vocals and fiddle on three tracks, and is also listed as a co-producer.

The winning album will be revealed at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena on 16 October 2025 – the first time the ceremony has ventured out of London.