JUNOS 2016
R&B star cleans up with five Junos — count ’em, five. And it’s hat’s off to Burlington’s Walk off the Earth
Hamilton’s Harrison Kennedy wins blues album of the year. Graham Rockingham reports from Calgary
CALGARY — Everything was working for The Weeknd this weekend at the 45th annual Juno Awards.
The 26-year-old Toronto R&B crooner, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, won a total of five Junos — Artist of the Year, album of the year, songwriter of the year, Soul/R&B recording of the year and single of the year for “Can’t Feel My Face.”
As well, Burlington pop-rock band Walk off the Earth took Group of the Year honours, upsetting popular Canadian groups such as Hedley, Marianas Trench and Metric. It was the first Juno win for Walk off the Earth, which released its second full length album “Sing It All Away” on Columbia Records last summer.
Walk off the Earth singers Sarah Blackwood and Gianni “Luminati” Nicassio brought their two-year-old son Giorgio to the podium Sunday to help them accept the award.
“OK, I might cry. We totally did not expect this,” said Blackwood before thanking the band’s management and families.
“You’ve got to love what you do, because if you do what you love, what you do will love you back.”
The five Juno wins capped an extraordinary year for The Weeknd. His second studio album “Beauty Behind the Madness” reached the top of the charts in the U.S. and earned him two Grammy awards.
The album also spawned two No. 1 singles — “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills” — as well as a hit song (“Earned It”) on the soundtrack of the film “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
The notoriously timid singer, who was raised in Scarborough, didn’t attend the Juno banquet Saturday night when three of his wins were announced.
Tesfaye did, however, show up Sunday night at the Calgary Saddledome to perform his songs “Aquainted” and “Might Not” on the nationally televised Juno program, as well as adding two more trophies to his haul. The show was attended by some 12,600 people and broadcast live on CTV.
“I want to thank the Junos, of course,” Tesfaye said on accepting his award for single of the year. “Come on Canada make some noise.”
Later he thanked his mother as well as “the fans, without you I wouldn’t be here.”
It was the second year in a row that The Weeknd had won the prestigious Artist of the Year category, having also won it in 2015 when the Junos were held at Hamilton’s First-Ontario Centre.
Other multiple winners were Canadian folk icon Buffy Sainte-Marie and international pop superstar Justin Bieber, who each won two awards. Buffy Sainte-Marie, 75, took the honours for best aboriginal album and best contemporary roots recording (beating Hamilton’s Tom Wilson.) “The inspiration that comes through music can be crafted into a song that inspires the whole world … it can even make you get up and dance and keep on playing,” said Sainte-Marie.
Bieber, a 22-year-old native of Stratford won the pop category for his album “Purpose” and claimed his fifth Juno fan choice award in six years. Bieber is on tour in the United States, however, and did not attend the awards’ show in Calgary. Instead he sent a bizarre thank you video of him boxing with a sparring partner.
Toronto rap/R&B sensation Drake (a.k.a. Aubrey Graham), who also did not attend the awards, won the rap category for the fifth time.
Other winners included Hamilton’s Harrison Kennedy (blues), Whitehorse (adult alternative), Braids (alternative), Death From Above 1979 (rock), and Johnny Reid (adult contemporary).
The star-studded live show, co-hosted by Calgary native Jann Arden and “Amazing Race Canada’s” Jon Montgomery, featured performances by Shawn Mendes, newcomer Alessia Cara (who won for breakthrough artist of the year), Whitehorse, Dear Rouge, Scott Helman, Dean Brody (who won for country album of the year), Shawn Hook and Bryan Adams.
The show ended with a medley of solo hits by Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Burton Cummings backed by Arden, his band The Carpet Frogs and classical singing quartet The Tenors.
Cummings, former lead singer for the Guess Who, was inducted into the hall of fame by the four members of Alberta rock band Nickelback and received a lengthy standing ovation.
“God Bless you, thanks folks, that’s quite remarkable,” said Cummings, clearly moved by the applause. “First and foremost I dedicate this to the city of Winnipeg. I learned everything in Winnipeg that would equip me for what would happen.”
Check out the Junos Awards. It’s all at thespec.com. More photos and a full list of winners.
You’ve got to love what you do, because if you do what you love, what you do will love you back.
SARAH BLACKWOOD