ST. JOHN – The 2002 Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys, will take place April 14 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The event will be hosted by the Barenaked Ladies and will feature performances by Alanis Morissette, Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall, and many others.
Toronto-based modern rock act Our Lady Peace leads this year’s nominees with five nominations. Following close behind with four nods each are hard rock act Nickelback and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.
Rhythm-and-blues newcomer Ashanti, 21, enters Billboard’s Top 200 Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts at Number One with her self-titled debut collection. The set sold more than 500,000 copies its first week of release. This week, Ashanti’s first single, Foolish, climbs two rungs to Number One on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart. It also remains in the top spot of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart for the fourth consecutive week.
A tribute to Willie Nelson will take place on April 14 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The salute will include appearances by Dave Matthews, the Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas, Emmylou Harris, Brian McKnight, and others. Mark Knopfler and his band will back the guest artists. The tribute will air May 6th on the A&E cable network.
April 15 – the 2002 Florida Heroes Awards will take place in Miami. This year’s honorees are saxophonist Clarence Clemons, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, reggae group Inner Circle and MCI recording equipment founder Jeep Harned. The Recording Academy’s Florida chapter sponsors the event.
On April 16, A&M Records will release Sheryl Crow’s first new album in more than three years. C’mon C’mon features guest appearances by Stevie Nicks, Liz Phair, Don Henley and Emmylou Harris. Sheryl describes the project as an album made for summer. It’s first single, Soak Up The Sun, was the Hot Shot Debut at Number 73 on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 Singles chart for the week ending April 16.
April 16 – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will kick off a North American concert tour in Los Angeles. The outing was originally set to begin last fall, but was cancelled after the September 11 attacks. The group will be promoting its current album, No More Shall We Part.
“Together We Stand: The Winans Family Tour” will begin on April 17 in North Charleston, South Carolina. The outing will feature more than a dozen members of the Winans family of gospel singers, including brother and sister duo, BeBe and CeCe. The 40-city tour is scheduled to run through the end of June.
