Beth Orton has not once but twice nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize Award. Trailer Park was nominated in 1997 while Central Reservation was nominated in 2000. Both times, Beth Orton went home empty handed.

> Brits Awards

Beth Orton was first nominated in 1998 for Best British Solo Female and Best British Newcomer for her work on Best Bit EP (surprisingly, since Trailer Park was her debut album in 1996). She lost the first award to Shola Alma while Sterophonics took home the latter.

But in 2000 on March 14, Beth Orton was up again for Best British Solo Female for her work on Central Reservation. This time, she won. She beat Spice Girls alumni, Mel C and Geri Halliwell as well as Gabrielle and Beverly Knight.

Excerpts from Brits.co.uk

A surprise choice, perhaps, seeing as the Norwich folkie with impeccable modern dance connections is the only nominee not to have dented the Top Ten singles chart. In 1998 Beth was a BRITs nominee for Best British Newcomer and Best British Female. Her 1999 album 'Central Reservation' more than consolidated the promise of her 'Trailer Park' debut two years earlier, and thankfully the world and his wife are finally catching on to the delights of her introspective yet uplifting music. Charming, disarming and as cool as they come. The award was presented by Tom Jones and Robbie Williams.

Beth Orton also spoke to Billboard.com on her surprise win.

No one was more surprised by her Brit Awards victory than Beth Orton. "To be honest, I was fairly oblivious to most of what was going on, but we were on the next table to [multiple award winner] Macy Gray, which was good," she says. Orton was named best British female solo artist at the Brits ceremony, which took place Friday at London's Earl's Court.

Orton spoke to Billboard Online from Milan today (March 8), where she had just arrived for a Thursday
evening gig with fellow Brit Award-winner Beck. "I'm not quite with it! We've just done a 14-hour drive to
get here."

Many saw Orton's success at the Brits as the surprise of the night, in a category where the nominees included Geri Halliwell and Gabrielle. Orton says she was pleased by the award, "but I hadn't been waiting for it."

Tourmate Beck was named best international male solo artist but declined to attend the event, filming an
acceptance speech in Italy, where Orton says he was "on holiday." On the heels of a successful U.S. tour, the pair come to the U.K. later this month, where Beck plays Wembley Arena on March 23, supported by Orton, then continues without her to Manchester (March 24) and Glasgow (March 25). The latter two dates are already sold out.

Orton already has material written for the follow-up to her 1999 Arista/Heavenly set "Central Reservation," which peaked at No. 110 on The Billboard 200. It has sold 100,000 copies in the U.K. and 475,000 worldwide, according to the label.

"I've just got to get some time to myself and hone it all down," she says of her new songs.

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