SUFFOLK soul star Nate James is today in the running for one of the most prestigious awards in music.Nominations for the annual Mobo Awards were announced overnight and for the second year running the Woodbridge born singer has been nominated.

SUFFOLK soul star Nate James is today in the running for one of the most prestigious awards in music.

Nominations for the annual Mobo Awards were announced overnight and for the second year running the Woodbridge born singer has been nominated.

The Mobo Awards - which stands for Music of Black Origin - are some of the most highly regarded, and previous winners have included

This year, Nate has been nominated in the Best UK Male category, where he will once again be up against rapper Kano - who beat him to the Best Newcomer award last year.

Now based in London, Nate is a regular visitor to his parents home in Woodbridge.

He is currently on tour supporting British band Simply Red and when the nominations were announced last night he was performing with them in Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

The long tour has taken them around Europe and Nate has recently performed in Germany and Italy, and there will be more dates in Portugal ahead of the awards ceremony later this month, while Nate will also be headlining at Paradiso in Amsterdam on August 31.

Nominees for the Mobos were announced last night at a launch party in Camden, north London.

The ceremony will take place at London's Royal Albert Hall on September 20 and will be hosted by comedienne Gina Yashere and broadcast live for the first time on BBC3.

In past years the awards have been criticised for favouring US artists but this time the focus is back on UK talent.

As well as Kano, who has been nominated in three categories, Nate will face competition in for Best UK male from hip hop artists Sway and Plan B and fellow soul singer Lemar.

WEBLINKS: www.mobo.com

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