Niagara Juno nominees include REZZ, Hicks
Hosted by Michael Buble, awards will be held March 25 in Vancouver
Country singer Tim Hicks, veteran producer Thomas (Tawgs) Salter and new EDM star Rezz are among the Niagara artists nominated for this year’s Juno Awards.
Nominations announced Tuesday include Hicks’ Shake These Walls for Country Album of the Year, the Niagara Falls singer’s first Juno nomination since 2014, and a nod for Electronic Album of the Year for Mass Manipulation, the debut effort from Niagara Falls’ REZZ, real name: Isabelle Rezazadeh.
“I’m really thrilled and honoured!” she said when contacted Tuesday. “Mass Manipulation means so much to me, and always will, so for it to be recognized this way is indescribable.”
The 22-year-old former AN Myer student came under the wing of Niagara Falls’ EDM icon Deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman), whose mau5trap label released her first single Serenity in 2015. She was soon joining Deadmau5 at major festivals, and became one of Canada’s most buzzed-about EDM artists last year.
Mass Manipulation, released in August, cracked the Top 20 of the U.S. dance charts. In December, Billboard Magazine named REZZ as dance music’s breakout artist of 2017.
When asked about her breakthrough year and the sudden attention, Rezazadeh said it makes her “excited to continue with my vision which I’ve had from the start.”
REZZ is up against Blue Hawaii, CRi, Dabin and Kid Koala (with Emiliana Torrini) for the award.
Hicks will also be going for his first Juno Award, after nominations in 2014 for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Country Album of the Year (Throw Down).
Shake These Walls, released in late 2016, has spawned four Canadian Top 10 country hits and solidified Hicks as one of Canada’s top male country stars.
While recording new material in Nashville Tuesday, Hicks called the nomination “incredible news” when contacted.
“I was totally taken aback by this nomination,” he said. “Huge thanks to anyone and everyone that bought or streamed Shake These Walls, as well as my producer Corey Crowder, all the musicians that played on it, and all the co-writers that helped make this album what it is. I am extremely humbled.”
Hicks is nominated alongside Jess Moskaluke, The James Barker Band, High Valley and Dean Brody.
Ridgeway’s Salter is up for Producer of the Year for his work on Serena Ryder’s Electric Love and Scott Helman’s PDA. The Vineland-born musician and recording engineer has worked with Josh Groban, Lights, Walk Off the Earth and Chantal Kreviazuk.
He’s up against Diana Krall, Felix Cartal, Brian Howes & Jason Van Poederooyen and Jordan Evans & Matthew Burnett.
Fort Erie’s DJ Shub, who won a Juno in 2014 with his former group A Tribe Called Red, will vie for his first as a solo artist. He’s nominated for Indigenous Music Album of the Year for PowWowStep, up against Indian City, Iskwe, Kelly Fraser and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Hosted by Michael Buble, the Juno Awards will be held March 25 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, broadcast on CBC starting at 8 p.m.