Australia Day is fast approaching, and for thousands around the island that means only one thing, the return of Triple J’s Hottest 100.

The first countdown was held in 1989, when voting was not restricted to songs from that previous year and Joy Division topped the poll with Love Will Tear Us Apart. The poll in its current format first appeared in 1993, American actor and comedian Dennis Leary claimed number 1 with the iconic Asshole.

Since then, the Hottest 100 has proved so popular that the 26^th of January has been declared ‘Australia Day’ in its honour, and a public holiday was announced to celebrate the countdown. Billions of people all around the world now vote, crowning winners such as Oasis, Spiderbait, Muse, Kings Of Leon, Powderfinger and The Offspring.

So, with an appreciation of the gravity of the occasion, let’s have a look at what to expect from Hottest 100 Day 2011.

Australian Music Will Do Quite Well, And This Success Will Be Wildly Celebrated.

Entertainment reporters around the country will revel in the number of Oz bands at the pointy end of the countdown, with Little Red’s Rock It and Angus & Julia Stone’s Big Jet Plane expected to battle it out for Number 1 with Cee-Lo Green’s Fuck You. Other locals poised for success and perhaps Top 10 slots include Washington with Sunday Best and Rich Kids, Sia with Clap Your Hands, John Butler Trio and their track Revolution, Boy And Bear’s cover of Fall At Your Feet and rockers Birds Of Tokyo with their crossover hit Plans.

Roughies include Tame Impala’s Solitude Is Bliss, Magic Fountain from Art Vs Science, Addicted by hip hoppers Bliss N Eso, and much spun J faves from the likes of Sparkadia, The Jezabels and Yolanda Be Cool.

Rest assured that Richard Wilkins and his entertainment reporting buddies will be all sorts of excited to see an Aussie at number 1, and they will bask in the glory of their wide-ranging coverage and support of Australian Music pushing a local band to the top. The Confidential section of the Herald Sun will run a large photo of Angus Stone and Isabel Lucas, and speculate on how Megan Washington celebrated her high placing at a trendy yet alternative nightspot, probably in Fitzroy.

Despite The Aussie Avalanche, An International Will Probably Still Win.

It’s going to be hard to dislodge internet sensation and commercial radio favourite Fuck You (or Forget You, as Nova listeners will tell you). Cee-Lo Green’s viral smash has enjoyed the mainstream success that previous number ones enjoyed, and has the all important novelty factor. And, it’s a damn catchy tune.

The only problem that may arise could be the confusion between the alternative versions of the songs, perhaps the Gnarls Barkley man could hold the top 2 spots with both versions.

Other overseas acts to look out for include The Wombats, the tragic Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, and funk master Mark Ronson.

The Winner Will NOT Be Leaked.

Embarrassment for the J’s last year when Mumford And Son’s Little Lion Man was accidently revealed as the winner before the countdown even began. Rest assured, this will not happen again. Richard Kingsmill probably has the winners name in an envelope already, and it is not leaving his jocks draw until sometime Australia Day evening.

The Winner Of The Golden Ticket May Just Be Too Intoxicated To Realise They Have Won.

They probably won’t even pick up the phone. 12 months of tears will follow.

Apple Stores Will Be Busy The Following Week.

Hottest 100 Days are usually just that, hot. Inflatable pools will be manually blown up all around the country, and in one of the great Australia Day traditions, fully clothed persons will end sitting right in the middle of them. Hundreds, if not thousands, of IPhones stand to be destroyed by water on the 26^th.

There Will Be Surprises.

Perhaps somewhere in the 15-30 range will come a song that will have everyone shaking their heads and wondering who voted for a song that received next to no airplay during 2010.

People Will Get Drunk And Sunburnt.

You know as well as I do that both of these will probably happen to you.

So, you’ve done all this before. You know what to expect. Wild predictions, fierce arguments and intricate preparations will ensue for the next week. Following the countdown, the heated discussions will continue as to the worthiness of number 1, and the misfortune of those more deserving.

Whatever happens, I’m pinning my hopes on Rock It, and this year, I need to remember to pace myself.

Yeah right.

See you there.

The 2010 J Award winners have been announced, and it was rockers Tame Impala taking home the trophy for their album Innerspeaker. Critically acclaimed, the psychedelic sounds of the Western Australian groups debut LP won over the ears of Triple J presenters and listeners.

Triple J have unveiled the winners in the 2010 J Awards. In the six years they have been around, the J Awards have become highly sought after and have built a reputation for highlighting the best music Australia has to offer.

In the past, Triple J doyen Richard Kingsmill and his panel of industry heavies have awarded winners including Wolfmother, Hilltop Hoods, The Panics, The Presets and Sarah Blasko. In recent years, new categories Australian Music Video Of The Year and the Unearthed J Award have been introduced, crowning victors including The John Steel Singers, The Middle East and Art Vs Science.

2010 winners Tame Impala held off an exceptionally strong field to take out the award, beating fellow nominees Cloud Control, Sia, Washington, Birds Of Tokyo, Bliss N Eso, Parkway Drive, M-Phazes, Bag Raiders, as well as ARIA Award winners Angus and Julia Stone.

Innerspeaker was one of the most anticipated Australian releases for 2010. After several years of teasing EPs and raucous festival appearances, music fans were eagerly awaiting the debut album from the Perth band. And it didn’t disappoint. With tracks such as ‘Solitude Is Bliss’, ‘Lucidity’, and ‘Desire Be Desire Go’, the album was featured on Triple J and has received strong airplay all year. Innerspeaker was also a commercial success, reaching number 4 on the ARIA charts.

In the Unearthed Artist Of The Year category, Sydney folksters Boy And Bear emerged victorious, beating a field including a who’s who of next big things including The Jezabels, Big Scary, Gypsy And The Cat, and Stonefield.

It was a massive year for Boy And Bear, with their own headline shows all around the country, as well as being handpicked by Mumford And Sons and Laura Marling to provide support on their respective tours.

Washington capped of an enormous year, with Megan and co winning Music Video Of The Year for Sunday Best. The video was directed by Mairi Cameron and Stephen Lance who created a beautiful 60’s new wave clip.

The J Awards capped off AusMusic month on Triple J, and as the year winds down attention can now turn to voting in the Hottest 100, and anticipation can build for 2011 new releases.

The Red Bull prize, now in its fourth year, is awarded to an artist on the Australian Music Prize (Amp) shortlist.

The Melbourne band is one of nine artists in the running for the 2009 Amp.

“Winning the Red Bull Award will help us fund our second album, which we are currently writing,” band member Alexander Gow said.

“That’s particularly useful for Oh Mercy as it makes it a little easier for us to remain an independent band. Our debut album was very much our first attempt writing and recording our music and I am very much looking forward to writing and producing a stronger second album.

Commenting on being shortlisted alongside such artists as Urthboy, Sarah Blasko, and The Mess Hall, Gow said: “ We are honoured to have been Shortlisted amongst so many wonderful artists, in particular our friends Kid Sam and Lisa Mitchell and humbled by some of the fine Australian records of 2009, namely Rowland S Howard’s ‘Pop Crimes.’

Oh Mercy released their debut album, Privileged Woes, last year.

The Amp 2009 Winners will be announced on 12 March.

Washington’s song How to Tame Lions took out the $50,000 first prize that includes $20,000 cash, air fares, accommodation, studio time, video production assistance and a classic guitar. Runner-ups Eskimo Joe and Caitlin Harnett each received $3500.

”It couldn’t have come at a better time,” a thrilled Washington said yesterday.

”Just three days ago I got invited to play the South by South West Music conference in Austin Texas, which was great, but I didn’t know how we were going to afford it.”

The competition, named after legendary producers and former Easybeats members Harry Vanda and George Young, has also raised $130,000 for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia.

“The calibre of songs was high and that made it very exciting to judge,” said judge Jenny Morris. ”We are very pleased with the winning entry and also pleased that this song will in many ways be the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy song for the next year.”

Washington, 23, was born in Papua New Guinea, moved to Brisbane when she was 13 and now lives in Fitzroy.

She has played in bands with jazz composer Paul Grabowsky, Ben Lee and Old Man River, but only recently started her own group. The win was giving her plenty of confidence as she headed into the studio to start recording her debut album last night.

”Everyone said to me, ‘Just do it,’ but I didn’t feel ready until recently. Now people are digging the songs and it’s all coming together. I can’t wait to get in the studio.”

So what inspired the winning song? ”I had a dream that I called an EP How to Tame Lions, so I did, and then I wrote a song about it,” said Washington, who plays with Sia at the Palace Theatre on Sunday.

”I had just got dumped, so it’s a Polaroid of a day – an examination of the tangible versus the imaginary.”

Was it worth the pain for the $50,000 gain? ”We actually got back together. So I got the song, the boy and the prize!”

Dan Kelly, Midnight Juggernauts, the Fuses and the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra were some of the recipients of the $235,715 handed out yesterday by Arts Minister Lynne Kosky in the latest funding through the Victoria Rocks program.

Patrick Donovan
The Age

Dan Stevenson (Director), Mathew Harrington (Producer) and David Rusanow (Production Design/ Post Production) have been working together to produce clips for independent bands for a number of years, pouring in hours of hard work for the love of it with very little exposure or financial gain to speak of.

To their delight their clip for Intercooler’s track Carving Others was chosen as the outright winner by festival punters at the Festival of the Sun in Port Macquarie over the weekend, where all 16 clips that made the finals were screened on the main stage in between sets.

Present at the festival Mathew Harrington made comment of the SunScreen competition: “For us it’s a great showcase of what other independent filmmakers are doing; it’s a great forum and is very exciting to be a part of”.

A Vision Films now have $10, 000 worth of services and products to make their next music, which they already have plans for. “We plan to throw it back into making the next Intercooler clip”, explained Harrington enthusiastically.

Taking out second place this year is Jason Brown’s clip for The Fumes track Automobile for which they will receive a $2000 editing package from Red Rug. In third place is Denson Baker’s clip for Amanda Baker’s track Addictions, receiving a one year subscription to Usync.

The following three clips will join Carving Others, Automobile and Addictions on the SBA Network in a special SunScreen package for their national network:

Yunyu – Lenore’s Song
Violent Soho – Bombs Over Broadway
Glasshouse – Dissapointment

In addition SBA have just announced the creation of a specific SunScreen channel throughout their network, providing the opportunity for national exposure for many more of the clips that are entered into the competition each year.

SunScreen is a national competition to uncover Australia’s most talented music clip makers. Now in its second year SunScreen was created to give Australian independent artists and music video makers the chance to showcase their videos to Australian audiences, minus the competition of massive budgets and major label promotion teams. The quality of entries received in the first 2 years of the event have shed some light on the incredible talents of our independent music video makers, and in 2007 the competition will make a much welcomed return for a third year.

In what promises to be a big night for Australian composers of music for film and television, we are proud to announce the following presenters and special guests who will help take part in celebrations.

The 2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS will be hosted by Spicks and Specks team captains MYF WARHURST and ALAN BROUGH and will feature music of nominated compositions as performed by an orchestra conducted by 2006 APRA – AGSC Screen Awards nominee PAUL GRABOWSKY. Respected composer and 2005 APRA – AGSC Screen Music Awards winner DAVID BRIDIE and co composer KADU will also perform a song from the nominated (Best Soundtrack Album)
soundtrack R.A.N.

Presenters on the night will include the acclaimed actor JOHN JARRATT, most recently seen in the Best Feature Film Score nominated Wolf Creek. Director of acclaimed feature films The Bank and Three Dollars ROBERT CONNOLLY is confirmed to present an award as is the indefatigable writer and broadcaster LIBBI GORR. Independent film and television producer PENNY CHAPMAN will also take to the podium. Previous Screen Music Award winners (Best Original Song in 2004 and 2005 Feature Film Score of the Year for Somersault) DECODER RING will step up be involved in the Screen Awards presentation. And the highly respected film director GILLIAN ARMSTRONG will be a very special guest presenter at the 2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS.

Nominated composers who will attend the 2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS include: David Bridie, Burkhard Dallwitz, Iva Davies, Christopher Elves, Paul Grabowsky, Roger Mason, Andrew Hansen, Chris Harriott, Jay Stewart, Jonathan Nix, Elliott Wheeler, Michael Yezerski, Afro Moses, Garry McDonald and Laurie Stone, Peter Best, Francois Tetaz, Brett Rosenberg, Cezary Skubiszewski plus composers including Jenny Morris, Helen Reddy, Dave McCormack, Eric Chapus, Barbara Griffin, Jodi Phillis, Brendan Gallagher, Paul Mac, Rick Price, Amanda Brown and Charlton Hill

Winners across 12 categories will be announced at the event on Monday November 6th. The recipient of the prestigious APRA International Achievement Award will also be honoured at the 2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS.

2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS
Monday Nov 6th
Recital Hall,
Angel Place
Sydney

www.apra.com.au

The APRA SONG OF THE YEAR is the biggest peer voted music award in Australia. BEN LEE’s Catch My Disease has also won the award for MOST PERFORMED AUSTRALIAN WORK.

BERNARD FANNING, who has had phenomenal success in the past year as a solo songwriter, has been named the prestigious APRA SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR. With his band Powderfinger, he has taken out APRA Song of the Year twice (in the year 2000 for The Passenger and 2001 for My Happiness). This time BERNARD FANNING is acknowledged as a solo composer with his breakthrough album Tea and Sympathy. Recorded mostly at the world famous Real World studios in England, the album is chock full of musical riches – running the gamut of lyrical emotion and style. Mr Fanning – we salute you.

Two other artists who are in the midst of world domination have won some of the major awards at the 2006 APRA MUSIC AWARDS.

The BREAKTHROUGH SONGWRITING AWARD has been bestowed upon Sydney trio WOLFMOTHER who have had great domestic and international success with their unique blend of flat out rock and other wordly song lyrics. WOLFMOTHER are currently touring the US and in a recorded acceptance speech singer Andrew Stockdale said, “What a great honour….when we were first going through this stuff, we didn’t even know what a verse or chorus was. We just followed our instincts so to get a songwriting award – this is cool.”

Proving that rock n’ roll is alive and kicking on international airwaves, JET have won the category of MOST PERFORMED AUSTRALIAN WORK OVERSEAS with Are You Gonna Be My Girl for the 2nd year in a row. The band are currently in the US putting the finishing touches to their much anticipated new album.

Awards in the brand new categories of MOST PERFORMED URBAN WORK and MOST PERFORMED BLUES AND ROOTS WORK were handed out for the very first time. GUY SEBASTIAN was the winner of the inaugural award for MOST PERFORMED URBAN WORK with his song Oh Oh while previous Song of the Year recipient JOHN BUTLER has won the inaugural award for MOST PERFORMED BLUES AND ROOTS WORK with Somethings’s Gotta Give.

KASEY CHAMBERS continues her extraordinary winning streak by taking out the award for MOST PERFORMED COUNTRY WORK for the fourth year, this time with her song Pony.

In the category of MOST PERFORMED JAZZ WORK, legendary outfit THE NECKS have won an APRA Award for the 2nd year running, this time for their composition Mosquito.

Electro dance outfit ROGUE TRADERS have had their first APRA win in the category of MOST PERFORMED DANCE WORK for Way To Go while ex Matchbook 20 songwriter ROB THOMAS has won the category of MOST PERFORMED FOREIGN WORK with his solo hit Lonely No More.

The legendary BILL ARMSTRONG was named this year’s recipient of TED ALBERT AWARD FOR OUSTANDING SERVICES TO AUSTRALIAN MUSIC. His recording studios were considered to be the engine room of Australian music in the 60s and 70s. Armstrong Studios were the largest studio complex in the Southern Hemisphere at the time, featuring the latest state of the art technology, which had the first 8 track recorder in Australia and were responsible for 80% of the hit records for the major labels. A tireless contributor to Australian music and the arts his resume is rich and varied. But anyone involved with making music in Australia over the past 50 years knows the name BILL ARMSTRONG. He broke new ground, set new standards and played an integral role in the evolution of Australian music over the past six decades and is still going strong.

The 2006 APRA MUSIC AWARDS were held at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney and were hosted by JONATHAN BIGGINS. The event featured very special performances by JADE MACRAE, BECCY COLE, END OF FASHION, JOEL TURNER AND THE MODERN DAY POETS and LIOR. APRA’s 2006 Professional Development Award winner AMIRA (TECOMA) performed a sensational version of Catch My Disease while AUGIE MARCH’s GLENN RICHARDS performed with DAN KELLY AND DAN LUSCOMBE a special tribute to the late, great GRANT MCLENNAN. And in a nod to IVA DAVIES one of the great all-time Australian songwriters, ICEHOUSE performed a rare version of the evocative 1982 smash hit Great Southern Land.

APRA would like to congratulate winners and nominees for their musical contributions. We’ll see you next year.

Full list of winners to follow.

www.apra.com.au

For further information please contact:
Viv Fantin – Ph 02 9518 0503 / viv@fantincomesalive.com.au

2006 APRA MUSIC AWARD WINNERS

Songwriter of the Year – Bernard Fanning
Breakthrough Songwriter – Wolfmother
Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music – Bill Armstrong

Song of The Year

Title: Catch My Disease
Artist: Ben Lee
Writers: Ben Lee/McGowan Southworth (BMI)
Publisher: BMG Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

Most Performed Australian Work

Title: Catch My Disease
Artist: Ben Lee
Writers: Ben Lee/McGowan Southworth (BMI)
Publisher: BMG Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

Most Performed Australian Work Overseas

Title: Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Artist: Jet
Writers: Nicholas Cester/Cameron Muncey
Publisher: BMG Music International / Famous Music OBO Get Jet Music, Inc

Most Performed Dance Work

Title: Way To Go
Artist: Rogue Traders
Writers: Jamie Appleby*/Isaac Moran
Publisher: ORiGiN Music Group*

Most Performed Urban Work

Title: Oh Oh
Artist: Guy Sebastian
Writers: Guy Sebastian/Jarrad Rogers*
Publisher: Marlin Publishing Pty Ltd*

Most Performed Country Work

Title: Pony
Artist: Kasey Chambers
Writer: Kasey Chambers
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Aust) Pty Ltd

Most Performed Blues and Roots Work

Title: Somethings Gotta Give
Artist: The John Butler Trio
Writer: John Butler
Publisher: Family Music Pty Ltd

Most Performed Jazz Work

Title: Mosquito
Artist: The Necks
Writers: Christopher Abrahams/Anthony Buck/ Lloyd Swanton

Most Performed Foreign Work

Title: Lonely No More
Artist: Rob Thomas
Writer: Rob Thomas (ASCAP)
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

Nominees who will perform at the 2006 APRA Music Awards are END OF FASHION (nominated for Song of the Year) and BECCY COLE (nominated for Most Performed Country Work). The event will also feature performances by nominees in APRA’s inaugural categories. Nominee LIOR will represent Most Performed Blues & Roots Work while both JADE MACRAE and JOEL TURNER AND THE MODERN DAY POETS (both nominated for Most Performed Urban Work) will deliver maiden performances at the APRA MUSIC AWARDS.

Special guest presenters will include former Song of the Year recipient JOHN BUTLER along with BERNARD FANNING. TIM FREEDMAN, JOE CAMILLERI, CHIT CHAT VON LOOPIN’ STAB and MAYA JUPITER with others to be announced.

Hosted by JONATHAN BIGGINS, the APRA MUSIC AWARDS is an annual celebration of Australian songwriters, honouring both composers and their publishers. The recipients of the following awards will be announced on Monday June 5th: Most Performed Urban Work, Must Performed Blues & Roots Work, Most Performed Dance Work, Most Performed Australian Work, Most Performed Australian Work Overseas, Most Performed Foreign Work, Most Performed Jazz Work and Most Performed Country work.

The recipients of the APRA Board of Writer and Publisher Directors voted Songwriter of the Year, Breakthrough Award and the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music will also be announced at the APRA Music Awards.

And the final honour to be revealed will be the prestigious APRA Song of the Year, Australia’s biggest peer voted music award.

Those with access to subscription television will be able to watch a special presentation on MAX called They Write The Songs. This special will premiere on Sunday June 18th at 8.30pm exclusively on MAX and will feature special interviews and artist profiles along with presentation and performance highlights from the 2006 APRA MUSIC AWARDS.

Who will win ‘Song of the Year’? All will be revealed Monday June 5th at the 2006 APRA Music Awards.

[Media release by Fantin Comes Alive]

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]

Album of the Year – Missy Higgins, The Sound Of White (Eleven/emI)
Single of the year – Ben Lee, Catch My Disease (Inertia)
Breakthrough Artist – Album – Missy Higgins, The Sound Of White (Eleven/emI)
Breakthrough Artist – Single – End Of Fashion, O Yeah! (emI)
Best Group – Eskimo Joe, Older Than You (FMR)
Best Male Artist – Ben Lee, Awake Is The New Sleep (Inertia)
Best Female Artist – Missy Higgins, The Sound Of White (Eleven/emI)
Best Rock Album – Grinspoon, Thrills Kills And Sunday Pills (UMA)
Best Country Album – Keith Urban, Be Here (Capitol/emI)
Best Blues and Roots Album – Mia Dyson, Parking Lots (Black Door Records/MGM)
Best Children’s Album – The Wiggles, Live Hot Potatoes (ABC Kids)
Best Dance Release – Infusion, Six Feet Above Yesterday (Sony BMG)
Best Urban Release – Daniel Merriweather, She’s Got Me (FMR)
Best Adult Contemporary Album – The Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart (Capitol/emI)
Best Pop Release – Missy Higgins, The Sound Of White (Eleven/emI)
Best Independent Release – Ben Lee, Awake Is The New Sleep (Inertia)
Best Comedy Release – Tripod, Middleborough Road (Liberation)
Best Music DVD – Jet, Right Right Right (emI/Capitol)
Highest Selling Album – Missy Higgins, The Sound of White (Eleven/emI)
Highest Selling Single – Anthony Callea, The Prayer (Sony BMG)
ARIA Awards Hall of Fame Inductee – Jimmy Barnes
Best Classical Album – Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Sanctuary
Best Jazz Album - Paul Grabowsky and Katie Noonan Before Time Could Change Us
Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album – Severed Heads The Illustrated Family Doctor
Best World Music Album – Monsieur Camembert Monsieur Camembert
Producer of the Year- David Nicholas Drag The Way Out
Best Video – Ben Quinn for End Of Fashion’s O Yeah
Best Cover Art – Ben Lee, Lara Meyerratken, Dan Estabrook for Ben Lee’s Awake Is The New Sleep
Engineer of the Year – Matt Lovell for The Mess Hall’s Notes From A Ceiling