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Pauline Black to receive Independent Music Award

Pauline Black, the frontwoman of ska outfit The Selecter, is set to collect the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the 2026 Independent Music Awards. The ceremony takes place on 22 September at London's Roundhouse.

The honour recognises a career that has stretched beyond four decades. As a leading female presence in the 2 Tone movement of the late 1970s, Black played a part in shaping the UK's multiracial music scene, standing alongside acts such as The Specials, The Beat and Madness.

The Selecter, who formed in Coventry, found commercial success with their 1980 debut album Too Much Pressure. It climbed to Number 5 on the UK Albums Chart and yielded hit singles including On My Radio, Three Minute Hero and Missing Words. The group has kept creating, putting out the UK Top 10 album Human Algebra in 2023, while Black spent summer 2026 on tour with Damon Albarn's Gorillaz. In 2022 she was awarded an OBE for services to entertainment.

"I started my career on an independent label, 2-Tone, because it fitted who I was perfectly: bringing together the best of black music with the best of white music in 1979," Black said. "Forty-seven years later, I'm still making music with people I trust, still mixing it up and spreading the same message: we are better together than divided."

The Selecter will play live at the ceremony, joined by newly confirmed performers Jalen Ngonda and Naima Bock. Ngonda arrives with two nominations, for Independent Breakthrough and Best Independent Track, while Bock's Live in Toulon is up for Best Independent Mixtape / EP.

Run by the Association of Independent Music (AIM), the 16th annual awards celebrate the UK's independent music sector, with a 2026 theme of 'Collective Strength.' The evening will also see previously announced honourees Fabio & Grooverider pick up the Innovator Award, before an official afterparty held with DORK Magazine at Camden's Barfly, where FEET and Jo From School will perform live.

Photo: Music-News
Source: Muzland
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