Старая, но не менее ценная статья 
Just good Franz… Rocker Alex on the town with his sister
Byline: PAULINE MCLAUGHLIN
HE is Britain's hottest new rock star with an army of female admirers, said to include supermodel Kate Moss.
But when it came to choosing a date for the most prestigious music event of the year, Alex Kapranos decided to keep it in the family.
The Franz Ferdinand frontman asked his little sister Anne Huntley to accompany him on the red carpet at what turned out to be the pinnacle of the Glasgow-based band's success thus far.
Dressed in a rather revealing leopardskin dress, the 23-year-old student bore a striking resemblance to her famous sibling - while wearing slightly less eyeliner. She was the first to congratulate Kapranos as he picked up the coveted Mercury Music Prize.
he 32-year- old singer, whose real name is Alexander Huntley, is rumoured to be dating singer Eleanor Friedberger of U.S. rock band The Fiery Furnaces.
But they are touring in the States, so he had to look closer to home for his escort for the night.
Franz Ferdinand fended off competition from acts including The Streets, Keane and Joss Stone - as well as fellow Glasgow- based bands Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol - to take the award, considered the most credible prize in the UK music industry.
The [pounds sterling]20,000 award is for the best album of the year by a British or Irish act and is voted for by a panel of industry experts, journalists and artists.
It was Franz Ferdinand's second award of the night after picking up the Band of the Year award at the GQ awards earlier in the evening.
The band have refused to uproot and move to London like so many of their counterparts. Kapranos still lives in a tenement flat in Dennistoun in Glasgow's East End.
His parents John, a university lecturer, and mother Christine still live in Bearsden, where Kapranos (whose stage name is his Greekborn father's family name) spent most of his childhood. He remains close to them, his sister Anne, who is a student in Edinburgh, and brother Philip.
Kapranos formed the band while a student in the city and their first gig was in a friend's bedroom.
Their next was in a disused warehouse in the Gorbals.
They connected up electricity illegally in their base, called the Chateau, and used sunbeds to provide occasional light for hundreds of revellers. But police soon broke up the fun and were forced to intervene again when the band took over a Victorian courtroom.
Independent label Domino Records soon signed them up and their second single, Take Me Out, released in January reached number three in the charts.
Their eponymous album also entered the UK chart at number three the following month and has since gone gold in America.
The band has played across the world, wowed the Glastonbury music festival this summer and won deals to wear designer clothes.
Last night, Kapranos' parents said they were delighted at their son's success. His mother added: 'It's great for the band and it's also great for Glasgow. Alex loves Glasgow, as our whole family does.
We have lived here for 20 years.
'Alex is very close to his sister Anne, as he is to his brother and us too, and asked her to go to the ceremony with him.
'I spoke to Anne today and she had a great time - the fact that they won obviously made the night even more special.'
Kapranos' father, who sings with the Bearsden Choir, added: 'We didn't realise until this morning that they actually picked up two prizes in the one night - that was very clever. They are doing really well and we're very proud of them.'
Franz Ferdinand plan to use the [pounds sterling]20,000 to set up a school for aspiring young musicians in Glasgow.
by PAULINE MCLAUGHLIN
Sept 9, 2004
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