Emmylou Harris And Evelyn Glennie Share Polar Music Prize

Singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris and Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie on Tuesday won the 2015 Polar Music Prize, a prestigious Swedish music award founded by the manager of ABBA.

Harris, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, has won 13 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Glennie, who has been deaf since 12, hails from Aberdeen, Scotland. She’s an accomplished classical percussionist and composer of soundtracks for film and television.

They have been invited to collect their awards — including a cash prize of 1 million kronor ($120,000) each — from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on June 9.

Glennie, 49, said she was “hugely humbled and inspired” by the award.

“To be chosen from so many deserving people, from all genres of music, only makes me want to work harder, to make a difference and to rise to the occasion,” she said in a statement.

Harris, 67, said she was “both surprised and honored at the news of this most prestigious award.”

Harris became known for her duet work with Gram Parsons in the 1970s. After Parsons’ death in 1973, she began a successful solo career that has spanned pop, country rock and Americana.

“Her voice follows the contours of the American landscape, from the highest peaks to the endless prairie,” the award jury said in its citation.

It praised Glennie as “one of very few who have successfully made a career as a solo percussionist. She has played with the world’s foremost orchestras, conductors and artists and has released more than 30 solo albums.”

First handed out in 1992, the Polar Music Prize was founded by late ABBA manager Stig Anderson and is typically shared by a pop artist and a classical musician. Last year’s award went to rock legend Chuck Berry and American opera director Peter Sellars.