The musician contributes £25,000 Mercury Prize to grassroots music venues

The star has donated the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the Britain's grassroots live music spots.

He was presented with the prize on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his early career.

"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its efforts to support the industry, by including a small levy to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.

He also took part, collecting over £100k on his live tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.

These funds supported locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties arising from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.

Some locations were granted financial assistance in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and concertgoers.

"The notion that revenue from shows in large arenas helps the smaller venues, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.

He is not the first artist to give his honor funds to worthy causes.

When they received the trophy in the year 1996 for their release the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would donate their prize money to the non-profit the charity.

During 2002, musician she split her award between multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," she explained to the media.

Two years ago, the band donated their funds to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other local music groups.

Also winners that year M People donated their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was identified with the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," said vocalist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted another person's life."

Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several small stages in the South East, by placing them under local control.

One venue in the city and The Croft in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is funded by a national body and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.