By Keith Sharp
Spurred on by lead vocalist Gord Downie’s brave battle against terminal brain cancer, Kingston Ontario’s The Tragically Hip have scored three key nominations for 2017 Music Express Awards and Downie himself has been nominated for two separate awards on this year’s ballot.
The Hip have been nominated as Top Canadian Band, Top Canadian Album (for `Man Machine Poem’ ) and Top Canadian Live Act while Downie himself is up for Top Canadian Male Vocalist honours as well as his `Secret Path’ solo release has also been nominated for Top Canadian Album.
Two artists; Shawn Mendes and Meghan Patrick have been nominated for four awards each with Mendes up for Top Canadian Single; “Treat You Better”, Top Canadian Male Vocalist, Top Canadian Album; `Illuminate’ and Top Canadian Live Act while Patrick dominated the Country Music category, nominated as Top Canadian Country Artist, Top Canadian Country Album, `Grace And Grit”, Top Canadian Female Vocalist and Top Emerging Artist.
All winners will be determined purely by fan votes and will win special Microphone Awards sponsored by Long And McQuade. All nominees are listed below and complete balloting information will be featured in our special Music Nation Digital Magazine on Thursday January 12th and will run for four weeks closing Thursday February 9th.
Vote for your favourites as often as you like, it’s you the fans who determine who wins these prestigious awards.
TOP RECORD ALBUM (POP/ROCK).
* Afraid Of Heights – Billy Talent.
* Illuminate – Shawn Mendes
* Man Machine Poem – The Tragically Hip
* Secret Path – Gord Downie
* Taking One For The Team – Simple Plan
TOP RECORD ALBUM (COUNTRY)
* Dear Life – High Valley
* Grace & Grit – Meghan Patrick
* Hearts On Fire – Chad Brownlee
* Shake These Walls – Tim Hicks
* Side Effects – Dallas Smith
TOP RECORD ALBUM (R&B)
* Partynextdoor 3 – Partynextdoor
* Starboy – The Weeknd
* To You – Neon Dreams
* Views – Drake
* Views From The Stix – K-os
TOP RECORD ALBUM (INTERNATIONAL)
* A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead
* Darkstar – David Bowie
* Lemonade – Beyonce
* The Life Of Pablo – Kanye West
* 24 K – Bruno Mars
TOP CANADIAN SINGLE
* Boyfriend – Tegan & Sara
* One Dance – Drake
* Spirits – The Strumbellas
* Treat You Better – Shawn Mendes
* Wild Thing – Alessia Cara
TOP CANADIAN GROUP
* Billy Talent
* Hedley
* Simple Plan
* The Tragically Hip
* The Trews
TOP CANADIAN COUNTRY GROUP
* Cold Creek County
* High Valley
* The Lovejoys
* The Road Hammers
* Washboard Union
TOP CANADIAN R&B GROUP/ARTIST
* Drake
* Justin Bieber
* Kardinal Offishall
* Neon Dreams
* The Weeknd
TOP CANADIAN MALE VOCALIST
* Drake
* Gord Downie
* Justin Bieber
* Shawn Mendes
* The Weeknd
TOP CANADIAN FEMALE VOCALIST
* Alessia Cara
* Alyssa Reid
* Lights
* Meghan Patrick
* Serena Ryder
TOP CANADIAN COUNTRY ARTIST M/F
* Brett Kissel
* Chad Brownlee
* Dallas Smith
* Meghan Patrick
* Tim Hicks
TOP EMERGING ARTIST/GROUP
* The Deep South
* Meghan Patrick
* Neon Dreams
* The Strumbellas
* Wintersleep
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
(Established Artists Who Staged A Comeback In 2016)
* Alan Frew
* Helix
* Lee Aaron
* Sum 41
* Tom Cochrane
TOP CANADIAN LIVE ACT/ARTIST
* Hedley
* Johnny Reid
* Mariannas Trench
* Shawn Mendes
* The Tragically Hip
