Warehouseman gets Novello award nod

A warehouse worker without a record deal has been nominated for one of the music industry's most prestigious awards alongside international artists including Coldplay and Duffy.

Nick Hemming, the guitarist and songwriter from little-known indie band The Leisure Society, was shortlisted for the best song musically and lyrically at the 2009 Ivor Novello Awards.

The 35-year-old, from Staffordshire, will battle it out with Mercury Prize winners Elbow and the songwriters from established band The Last Shadow Puppets for the award at a ceremony at London's Grosvenor House on May 21.

Hemming receives the nod for the band's self-published and self-produced debut single The Last Of The Melting Snow, which was released in December but failed to make the top 40 in the charts.

The best song musically and lyrically is generally regarded as the most prestigious Novello, and this is the first time in the awards' 54-year history that a self-published musician has been nominated in the category.

Hemming, who is originally from Burton-on-Trent but now lives in south London, said the song came about in the best traditions of the tortured ballad: he wrote it alone in his flat with a bottle of vodka one New Year's Eve after an awkward encounter with an ex-girlfriend.

"I went home for Christmas to Burton and I bumped into my ex who I was with for about eight years - I moved to London because we split up," he said.

"She invited me back to her house, and I thought we were going to get back together, but instead she had invited me round to tell me about her new boyfriend."