Edmonton Music Awards
Edmonton Music Awards honour the best of the best on local scene
Bryan Finlay is celebrating some Good Times after winning two Edmonton Music Awards on Sunday night.
The pop vocalist won Single of the Year and Pop Recording of the Year for his hit, Good Times.
The summery tune was a staple on Hot 107 radio last year and has wracked up more than 190,000 spins on Spotify, a music streaming service.
The Wet Secrets also picked up a pair of EMAs during a sold-out celebration of Edmonton music at the Royal Alberta Museum Theatre. The indie rockers, who wear marching-band outfits, earned Album of the Year for Free Candy, and Music Video of the Year for Nightlife. The black-and-white video, directed by the band’s drummer Trevor Anderson, stars SCTV alumnus Joe Flaherty reprising his beloved role as Count Floyd.
The awards are the latest honour for The Wet Secrets, who pocketed $100,953 as the champions of last fall’s Peak Performance Project, a talent contest sponsored by a Calgary radio station.
Singer-songwriters Braden Gates and Kimberley MacGregor were the other double winners at Sunday’s Edmonton Music Awards.
Gates walked away with Male Artist of the Year and Roots/Folk Recording of the Year for his folk ditty, Life’s a Picture, from his second album, Ferris Wheel.
MacGregor won Female Artist of the Year and R& B/ Soul Recording of the Year for Hope Displaced, a soulful, rootsy, horn-filled number featuring rapper Tzadeka. The song is featured on MacGregor’s debut album, True.
Twenty-one awards in total were presented at the EMAs, now in their fifth year. The Sunday event also featured performances by singersongwriter Joe Nolan, rockers Royal Tusk and rapper Mitchell Lawler, who also picked up People’s Choice, an award determined by online votes.
Sound technician and tour manager Andrew White paid tribute to this year’s Legacy Award recipient, Kirby, a longtime linchpin of Edmonton’s music scene. In her 30-plus years in the business, she did it all — from booking acts to running the sound at gigs to writing press releases to mentoring musicians. She died last year after a short but fierce fight with cancer.