Adam Lashinsky
Adam Lashinsky

AIM started in 1997, and I remember when I started using it in earnest, in 1999, when I joined TheStreet.com from 'The San Jose Mercury News'. We digital journalism pioneers communicated obsessively by AIM, and as a newbie, I recall being amazed that the whole newsroom was 'chatting' this way.

Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert

A lot of my male vocal influences are British - people like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.

Alan Stern
Alan Stern

No one predicted Mercury would be a planetary core with the mantle stripped off. No one predicted volcanoes on the Jovian moons, or oceans on the inside of them. I can tell you, for every single planet, huge 'we never guessed that' things.

Allison Schroeder
Allison Schroeder

I interned at NASA for five years, and I grew up in Cape Canaveral, and my grandfather was an engineer on the Mercury capsule, and my grandmother was a software engineer. I literally grew up playing on the Mercury capsule prototypes.

Andy Biersack
Andy Biersack

As far as being onstage, commanding presence, I've always looked up to people like Axl Rose and Freddie Mercury and Paul Stanley - the rock gods. I've always wanted to be able to achieve that level of commanding nature onstage and really leading people at a show.

Benjamin Clementine
Benjamin Clementine

I always see my music for its rewards rather than its awards. But I always thought if there was one award I'd want to win, it would be the Mercury.

Benjamin Clementine
Benjamin Clementine

When I was a kid, I remember seeing Michael Jackson. I thought he was an alien. You don't grow up to be like Michael Jackson. I'm not saying I'm Michael Jackson, but Mercury Prizes are for aliens, basically. So I was very chuffed that I got nominated, and then I won.

Benjamin Clementine
Benjamin Clementine

If I win the Mercury Prize, I'll be very honoured. If I don't win it, I won't have lost it. Someone else will have won it. And that will also be good.

Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile

My songwriting is so influenced by orchestrated music, dramatic, super glam rock-y stuff. Two of my biggest influences in songwriting were Elton John and Freddie Mercury.

Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell

I think Freddie Mercury is probably the best of all time in terms of a rock voice. There was a vulnerability to it, his technical ability was amazing, and so much of his personality would come out through his voice. I'm not even a guy to buy Queen records, really, and I still think he's one of the best.