Home Ent

Posted: Sun., Apr. 6, 2008, 7:00pm PT

Feist sweeps Junos

Songstress wins five prizes at music awards

MONTREAL -- Feist, the Nova Scotia-born, Calgary-raised singer-songwriter, handily dominated the Junos this weekend in Calgary, winning five trophies, all in major categories. She won in every category in which she was nominated.

Leslie Feist -- who goes by the single-name moniker -- won three Junos Sunday night during the main awards ceremony at the Saddledome in Calgary, a show broadcast live coast-to-coast on the CTV network. Those wins were in the addition to the two trophies she nabbed at a non-broadcast ceremony Saturday night in Calgary.

On Sunday, she won for single of the year for her catchy pop dittie "1234," a song that shot to the top of the charts last year thanks to its use in TV commercials for the iPod nano. Feist's "The Reminder" also won as album of the year and for pop album.

On Saturday, Feist took the honors as artist of the year, besting Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Michael Buble, and Pascale Picard. She also won on Saturday as songwriter, for the songs "I Feel It All," "My Moon My Man" (co-written with Gonzales), and "1234" (penned with Sally Seltmann).

Prior to "The Reminder," Feist was a critical darling with a cult following, but she burst into the pop mainstream last year following the success of "1234" and that breakthrough was underlined when she nabbed four nominations at the Grammy Awards. "The Reminder" -- an eclectic collection that includes dance numbers, gritty rock tunes and dark, late-night ballads -- has sold more than 1 million units around the world so far.

The leading nominee was Dion, but the Quebec chanteuse was completely ignored by Juno voters. The other main winner on Junos weekend was seasoned Toronto country-rock outfit Blue Rodeo, which took home group of the year, for adult alternative album (for "Small Miracles") and video (for "C'mon").

The Juno Fan Choice Award went to contemporary crooner Michael Buble, and Wintersleep was annointed top new group. The award for international album was given to Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad."

Other winners included Serena Ryder as new artist; Arcade Fire's Neon Bible as alternative album; Finger Eleven's "Them Vs. You Vs. Me" as rock album; Sophie Milman's "Make Somebody Happy" as vocal jazz album; The Chris Tarry Group's "Almost Certainly Dreaming" as contemporary jazz album; Brandi Disterheft's "Debut" as traditional jazz album; Daniel Belanger's "L'Echec du materiel" as francophone album; Jully Black's "Revival" as R&B soul recording; Mikey Dangerous's "Don't Go Pretending" as reggae recording; and Fathead's "Building Full of Blues" as blues album.

The Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award was given Saturday to City-TV and MuchMusic founder Moses Znaimer. Country singer Paul Brandt was handed the first Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his support of community and international organizations.


TALKBACK:

Have an opinion about this article? Be the first to comment



Print Variety
Bookmark
Get Variety:
Variety Mobile Variety Digital Variety Home Delivery
Newsletter Signup:

Featured Jobs

Variety Real Estate