WINNIPEG – It was an amazing night of music at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards hosted in Winnipeg last night. Northwestern Ontario’s Shy-Anne Hovorka was the winner of six awards including Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year. Shy-Anne was nominated for six awards, and won all six. Three of the awards that Shy-Anne won were on Thursday night and three on Friday night.
“THANKS everyone for voting for me. I owe all of my success to you all who took the time to support me. I also owe my band members and back-up singer a great thanks for making me sound so good on stage. Bass: Dave Angell, Drums: Josh Hogan, Electric Guitar: Justin Sillman, Acoustic Guitar: Todd Kivihlati, Backups: Jory Zechner.
I also want to thank Nathan Ogden for all of his work and coming to the awards and helping out so much. He really was pivotal and instrumental in making the weekend a success. I almost ALMOST feel bad that he promised to stay away from fast food one month for each award. He can’t eat fast food for 6 months!
The event was amazing and awesome and well, words can’t explain. I also want to thank the Manito Ahbee Music Festival for giving us Aboriginals a chance to shine! Miikwich!” Says Shy-Anne
Northern Ontario’s Shy-Anne has been an solid voice for positive vibes with her music, demonstrating how with determination and focus all obstacles can be overcome.
As well after 19 nominations in seven years, Don Amero finally takes home an award. He’ll walk away with Male Entertainer of the Year.
“It feels great to finally get one, I’ve had a spot waiting for it on my shelf for a long time now,” jokes Amero, who received three nominations this year. “The APCMAs do a lot to promote Aboriginal music and it’s nice to come together for this celebration. We owe a lot to all the organizers, and everyone who supports the music scene.”
You can call Winnipeg’s Don Amero one of the hardest working independent musicians in showbiz today. Since leaving his job as a hardwood flooring installer five years ago to pursue music fulltime, the singer/songwriter has toured coast-to-coast, headlined concerts, presented at festivals, performed with the symphony, and played national television.
Don’s musical style has been likened to John-Mayer-meets-Keith-Urban. In addition to just winning Male Entertainer of the Year at the 2012 APCMAs, his three albums (Change Your Life, Deepening, The Long Way Home) have generated five national and international awards – Best Country Song (2012 Indian Summer Music Awards), Aboriginal Recording of the Year (2011 Western Canadian Music Awards), Best Folk Recording (2011 Native American Music Awards), Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year (2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards), Male Artist of the Year (2009 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards) – and 20 more nominations.
Don’s just released his fourth album, a self-produced labour of love, and his most personal album to date. If you listen from beginning to end, Heart On My Sleeve tells a story. The album was released in October at an “intimate and international” house concert streamed live on APTN.ca.
On the radio front, Don has seen four songs climb to #1 on the National Aboriginal Countdown. On commercial radio, two tracks – Turn These Grey Skies Blue and original holiday song All I Need This Christmas – earned notable “most active download” designations on DMDS.com, and were spun on stations across Canada.
Don Amero has a way of captivating audiences of all ages with his powerful vocals, percussion-style guitar play, and engaging storytelling. He is often called upon as a keynote speaker, and to deliver workshops for youth. His story inspires, and his message is one of encouragement, positivity and beauty. He continues to impress wherever he goes.