MANITOULIN – Manitoulin Island’s superstar musician Crystal Shawanda has been nominated for two Juno Awards!
Ms. Shawanda is originally from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
One of Crystal’s award nominations is for Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year, and the second for Blues Album of the Year for her 2020 release ‘Church House Blues’ album.
“I was screaming and jumping up and down. I literally jumped into my husband’s arms off the ground,” Ms. Shawanda said upon receiving the good news. “After this crazy year of not being able to tour or play shows, it’s been really tough. We really needed this; it helped a lot mentally.”
Ms. Shawanda won her first Juno in 2013 as Aboriginal Album of the Year for her 2012 release, ‘Just Like You.’ She received her first Juno nomination in 2008 and also received nods in 2015 and 2017.
This year marks the first time she has been recognized in the blues category.
The broadcast of this year’s Juno awards had originally been slated to be held at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on March 28, but this was moved to May 16 and continuing COVID-19 restrictions mean it can’t be held in a packed indoor arena.
Instead, CARAS-Junos president and chief executive Allan Reid says Toronto’s outdoor Budweiser stage will be one of the venues from across the country features, but stopped short of calling it the host venue. He pointed out other venues are being considered as well.
