Leytonstone’s very own musical maestro Damon Albarn could prove victorious at this year’s Mercury awards.

The 46-year-old’s first solo album Everyday Robots is up for the Barclaycard Music Prize’s Album of the Year. 

Damon has sought inspiration for the 12-track record from his own life, with a particular focus on his boyhood in Leytonstone and Colchester. 

Describing his influences for the record, he says: “The first time I came back (to Leytonstone) and out of the Tube I felt like a giant. Because all of my memories of the area are up until the age of nine. 

“I grew up in 1970s multicultural London. From the smells coming out of people’s back kitchens, to the people I went to school with, to the music, to the general flavour of the place, that definitely played a big part in who I am.“

He also enlisted the musical talents of Leytonstone choir, The Pentecostal City Mission Church Choir, for the track Mr Tembo. The Blur frontman, who was nominated twice for the prize in 1994 and 1999 with the Britpop band, and then later in 2001 with Gorillaz (later withdrawn at the band’s request), is one of the favourites to win. 

Everyday Robots will go head to head with Royal Blood, Royal Blood; Bombay Bicycle Club, So Long, See You Tomorrow; Kate Tempest, Everybody Down; FKA twigs, LP1; Nick Mulvey, First Mind; East India Youth, Total Strife Forever; Jungle, Jungle; Young Fathers, Dead; Anna Calvi;  One Breath, GoGo Penguin; v2.0 and Polar Bear, In Each And Every One.

This year’s winner will be announced at a ceremony staged at the Roundhouse in London on October 29.