APRA Song of the year nominees
Put simply, the APRA Music Awards are about honouring composers and songwriters. So with this simple ideology in mind, we are proud to announce the nominees for 2006 APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Music Awards.
APRA is also proud to pay tribute to songwriters representing urban and blues & roots music for the very first time. These new categories will be a feature of the 2006 awards and will provide a broader reflection of the Australian song writing panorama.
The prestigious SONG OF THE YEAR category is dominated by a diverse group of songwriters whose styles are as unique as the Australian landscape. It also features 3 young songwriters who make their APRA nominations debut.
Currently overseas conquering the world, Sydney hard rock trio WOLFMOTHER have been nominated for Minds Eye, their first ever APRA nomination. Perth’s END OF FASION has also scored their debut APRA nomination with their impossibly catchy song O YEAH! PETE MURRAY receives his first nomination in the Song of the Year category for his beautiful ballad Better Days. The reigning Australian King of Pop, BEN LEE is nominated for the very first time for his multi award winning song Catch My Disease. And last year’s Song of the Year winner and Breakthrough Song Writer recipient MISSY HIGGINS returns with a nomination in the same category for Special Two.
As decided by more than 30,000 APRA registered songwriters, the APRA SONG OF THE YEAR is the biggest peer voted music award in Australia. All eligible songs must be written by an APRA member and released in the preceding calendar year for consideration.
APRA is proud to announce the nominees in the inaugural MOST PERFORMED BLUES AND ROOTS WORK category. The nominees in this category feature three of the finest & most popular songwriters in the genre – previous APRA Song of the Year recipient JOHN BUTLER TRIO (nominated twice), THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS (nominated twice) and LIOR who is nominated for his song Daniel.
In the 2nd brand new category for the awards, APRA can announce the nominees for the MOST PERFORMED URBAN WORK. They are JOEL TURNER AND THE MODERN DAY POETS (nominated twice), GUY SEBASTIAN (also nominated twice) and the so-hot-right-now JADE MACRAE who is nominated for her song You Make Me Weak.
The MOST PERFORMED AUSTRALIAN WORK category has come down to the following four artists. Nominated in this category last year, PETE MURRAY returns with a nomination for Better Days, APRA newcomer BEN LEE is nominated for Catch My Disease. THIRSTY MERC, who scored huge airplay with Someday Someday receive their first APRA nomination and MISSY HIGGINS returns to be nominated with not one but two songs – Ten Days and Special Two.
Nominees in the MOST PERFORMED DANCE WORK category include INFUSION with Natural and MR TIMOTHY with I AM THA 1. The ROGUE TRADERS receive their first ever APRA nomination with Way To Go while ANDREW FARRISS and the late MICHAEL HUTCHENCE are nominated for their composition Tilt My Hat performed by ANDY J. And last but certainly not least, the charming PAUL MAC is nominated for his composition Sunshine Eyes.
APRA stalwart and previous Song of the Year winner KASEY CHAMBERS has again dominated the all-female MOST PERFORMED COUNTRY WORK category with no less than 3 nominations. She is joined by BECCY COLE who, last September, was announced the CMAA Entertainer of the Year at the Achiever Awards held in Sydney. Beccy is nominated for Rainbow Dreams and Butterflies. The final nominee in this category is LYN BOWTELL who composed She Still Believes as performed by her group BELLA.
In the MOST PERFORMED JAZZ WORK category, last year’s winners avant trio THE NECKS return with a nomination for Mosquito. Also included in this high-powered category is jazz heavyweight PAUL GRABOWSKY who is nominated for his composition Silverland. The SYDNEY ALLSTAR BIG BAND (composer Graham Jesse) is nominated for Shoalhaven Surprise while JOHN HIBBARD of SIDECAR is nominated for his composition Goodbye Greg. The final nomination goes to highly respected jazz composer SAM KEEVERS for Grace, a work he performed with Jamie Oehlers.
Although they’ve been quietly beavering away on their new album JET continue to receive significant airplay aboard and this year receive no less than 3 APRA nominations in the MOST PERFORMED AUSTRALIAN WORK OVERSEAS category (Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Look What You’ve Done and Cold Hard Bitch). Also proving that Australian rock is alive and kicking on international airwaves, AC / DC is nominated for their classic anthem Highway To Hell. And finally HARRY VANDA and GEORGE YOUNG receive another nomination in this category for Love Is In The Air a song that was made famous by the performance by John Paul Young.
Pop is the order of the day in the MOST PERFORMED FOREIGN WORK category. The nominations include ROB THOMAS with Lonely No More, KELLY CLARKSON with Since U Been Gone, JESS MCCARTNEY with Beautiful Soul and DANIEL POWTER for his huge Australian hit Bad Day. And finally British based (and therefore affiliated with a UK collecting society) Australian born singer / songwriter NATALIE IMBRUGLIA is nominated for the delightful Shiver.
The celebrated SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR (last year’s winners were Jet) and the TED ALBERT AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICES TO AUSTRALIAN MUSIC (previous recipients include Slim Dusty, Ian Meldrum, Harry Vanda & George Young, national youth radio network Triple J, AC/DC’s Malcolm & Angus Young and Michael Chugg) are decided by APRA’s Board of Writer and Publisher Directors.
The BREAKTHROUGH SONGWRITER AWARD, which recognises emerging songwriter talent, is also decided by APRA’s Board of Writer and Publisher Directors.
Now in its 15th year in its current format, the APRA Music Awards, will be hosted by the irrepressible Jonathan Biggins and will feature live performances and special guest presenters.
Attached is the full list of APRA Music Award nominees for 2006. Please stay tuned for further details on the 2006 APRA Music Awards.
2006 APRA Music Awards
Monday June 5th
Four Seasons Hotel,
Sydney
[From press release by Fantin Comes Alive]
