English Teacher on winning the Mercury: ‘We are proof that arts funding works’

Not 18 hours after Leeds indie band English Teacher won the Mercury prize for their debut album, singer Lily Fontaine told the Guardian: “We’re still pinching ourselves, really.” Their Top 10 widely acclaimed This Could Be Texas beat the favourite Charli xcx, along with efforts by the likes of Corinne Bailey Rae and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons. “To win it in a room where there were people such as Corinne or Beth that inspired me is just amazing, like a dream I keep expecting to wake up from. I went up to Beth and just said: ‘You’re incredible.’”

Earlier, this year, English Teacher told the Guardian that despite being signed to a major label, Island, enjoying radio and TV exposure and being able to play 800-capacity shows in their home town, both Fontaine and bandmate Lewis Whiting recorded their album while living at home, sofa-surfing and relying on universal credit to top up the band’s £500 a month from the record company advance. The Mercury comes with a £25,000 cheque although the band haven’t decided what to do with it. Fontaine insists: “It will be invested, not frittered away.”

The band’s triumph comes as the Mercury prize faces questions about its future. It no longer has a sponsor and this year’s live ceremony was considerably scaled back. However, English Teacher point out that unlike many awards ceremonies, which reflect commercial success, the Mercury recognises art, originality and innovation, so remains relevant. “So many of our favourite bands won the Mercury or were nominated for the shortlist,” said Whiting. “Arctic Monkeys. Pulp. Radiohead. Portishead. There’s kudos and recognition, but it’s about the artist, not their sales.”

And since they were shortlisted, said Fontaine, “we’ve been able to play bigger gigs for higher fees. So we’re hoping to be able to put up our personal income.”

Whiting said he had already noticed a surge in their streaming figures: “I looked this morning and there were 3,000 people listening to one track.”

English Teacher’s win is the first for an alt-rock band since Wolf Alice in 2018 and, incredibly, the first for a non-London act since Edinburgh hip-hop trio Young Fathers in 2014. “Which is ridiculous,” said Fontaine, “considering the quality of music coming from other places. Maybe it [reveals] what the industry puts the spotlight on, because there’e certainly no lack of talent.”

English Teacher are one of three Leeds-based nominees on this year’s list alongside Bailey Rae and jungle producer Nia Archives. Fontaine acknowledged that without the support of the city’s launchpad venues such the Hyde Park Book Club and Brudenell Social Club, “we’d definitely not be here”.

Whiting and Fontaine both grew up in small Lancashire towns. The win completes the singer’s remarkable journey from “doing open mics in Colne when I was 14, performing in pubs and clubs after leaving school and working in a Chinese takeaway,” she said.

English Teacher formed at Leeds Conservatoire – formerly Leeds College of Music – and played their first gig in 2020. Along the way, the band have been supported by talent development organisation Music:Leeds, whose Launchpad programme distributed the first two self-released English Teacher singles including the first version of The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, a song they rerecorded for the winning album, which Fontaine first wrote in her bedroom six years ago. Music:Leeds and PRS Foundation’s PPL Momentum Accelerator fund also provided funding for the band to record the first version of R&B, a song also rerecorded for their debut.

However, Music:Leeds had recently struggled to get funding from Arts Council England or regional funds, said director Whiskas (AKA Samuel Nicholls). “We have not been able to run Momentum Accelerator funding since 2023 – so currently this fund that was pivotal for English Teacher’s journey is not available to others in the region.”

He lamented their inability to support local artists, given that English Teacher’s win made “a real statement about the nature of experimentation and bravery of music-making in the region. I thought all three Leeds nominees displayed that. English Teacher feel like a real product of the city, of the melting pot of people, places and organisations striving to give people a chance.”

Fontaine says that cuts to arts funding upset her because “if we hadn’t had that funding, we wouldn’t have recorded that single, so we wouldn’t have got signed to Island. We are a case study that it works.”

The band also received funding from Youth Music, whose CEO Matt Griffiths said: “This is the second year in a row that artists supported and backed by grassroots organisations have won this prize. It’s also a sign of promise to see a regional shift in the London powerhouse.”

Fontaine said that her lyrics have been informed by growing up in the north, “being born in Huddersfield, living in Colne, moving to Leeds, moving between races and even sexualities, and not really having a sense of home. I hope our win can show other people in communities outside London that you can have a voice.”