FORMER Beaminster schoolgirl and Indie rock darling Polly Harvey has missed out again at the BRIT Awards.

Polly, who grew up in Corscombe and now lives parttime in West Bay, was up against four other British female solo artists, including Joss Stone from Devon, who won the best female solo.

It's not the first time Polly, or PJ, has been nominated for a Brit but failed to win one. The individual singersong writer also picked up a nomination eleven years ago in 1994 (when she performed a duet of the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction with Bjork) and again at last year's ceremony.

Former music teacher Andrew Dickson recalls working with the young PJ Harvey when she and Bridport's other favourite diva Jess Upton (who now has her own soul band) formed the Hat Band, along with Thea Martin and drummer Ben Stephens.

Mr Dickson, who writes music for film and theatre said: "She stood very quietly at the back and played saxophone. She was always very serious."

Mr Dickson said Polly then went on to join Bologna, a performance band that liked to stage offthewall shows with people cooking and juggling and doing circus tricks on stage.

He said: "I write music for film and theatre and Bologna was just about writing for fun. We performed in village halls and charity gigs at the arts centre. It was really good fun."

Mr Dickson said even then Polly was always the quiet one at the back playing the saxophone. She also wrote songs for the band and Mr Dickson recalled one she had written about road kill called Dead Things on the Road Again.

He said: "I always knew she was a terrific musician and had lots of potential, she took it very seriously. And that's how she has got to where she is today, she has always worked so hard."

Polly then moved to London where it wasn't long before her individual sound and style got her noticed and she officially became a solo artist.

Polly followed her 2002 collection Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea with 2004's Uh Huh Her, which also won her the nomination for Best British female at last year's BRITs.

PJ has written seven albums and her latest 'Uh Huh Her' is the follow-up to the hugely successful Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea which won the 2001 Mercury Music Prize.

The album was written, performed, recorded, mixed and produced by Harvey, who chose Head to assist in additional recording and mixing and Rob Ellis, long time collaborator, to play drums and percussion on the album. Multiinstrumentalist, Harvey, played everything else.

From the outset, PJ Harvey has commanded attention. Polly Jean Harvey formed the bass/drums/ guitar trio in 1991 in Dorset and by autumn had released the debut single, 'Dress', on indie label Too Pure. With a second single, 'SheelaNaGig', in February 1992, Harvey had begun an impressive critical climb.

In the United States Rolling Stone magazine named Harvey Best Songwriter and Best New Female Singer in 1992.

In 1993, PJ Harvey signed to Island Records and began work on a followup album 'Rid Of Me', was released in early '93. The album was supported by a lengthy world tour, drawing increasingly wide audiences and Harvey's first Mercury Prize nomination.

She received her second nomination for the Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for two Grammies, received '1995 Artist Of The Year' awards from Rolling Stone and Spin and gained album of the year acknowledgements across the board.

Her fifth album, 'Is This Desire?' gained nominations for The Brits and The Grammy Awards.

'Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea' was released in October 2000. The album picked up the Mercury Music Prize in 2001, the first album by a female artist to win the award.