WCMA Hosts & International Achievement Award

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The Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMA) are pleased to announce the hosts for the 5th Annual Western Canadian Music Awards show will be Jian Ghomeshi and Tara Spencer-Nairn.

Jian is a broadcaster, writer and musical artist from Toronto. He is currently best known as a national on-air personality on CBC Television and Radio (The National Playlist, Sounds Like Canada, Zed, The End, and Q). He first came to public attention as a member of the multi-platinum selling folk and rock group, Moxy Früvous.

Tara was hailed by TV Guide as “one of Canada’s Top Ten Superstars”. She is best-known as the familiar face of deadpan police office Karen Pelly on the hit Canadian sitcom Corner Gas. Spencer-Nairn's big breakthrough came in 1999, when she was cast in the highly-acclaimed film New Waterford Girl. Last year she finished filming a starring role in The Third Eye, an independent psychological thriller as well as the romantic comedy Password, a short film in which she plays the female lead.

Also just confirmed are the recipients of the WCMA International Achievement Awards. The International Achievement award honours the work of western Canadian artists who have achieved considerable national and/or international stature in the industry and who have achieved significant album sales over the course of their career.

Jann Arden (AB)
Recording artist, Jann Arden continues to be one of Canada’s most talented songwriters and performers. Starting 2007 as Chatelaine’s covergirl and with a personal transformation that people can’t stop talking about, her star will only continue to shine. With 9 CDs, 15 top ten singles, a substantial collection of industry related awards and honours, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, acting, writing and charity work, Arden is truly an entertainment icon.

Nelly Furtado (BC)
It stands to reason that gold and multi-platinum certifications (for 2003’s Folklore and 2000’s Whoa Nelly!, respectively), a pair of Top 10 singles (“I’m Like a Bird” and “Turn Off the Light”), and a Grammy Award (for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) to name just a few accomplishments, would afford a certain level of confidence. Indeed, the raw, lightning-in-a-bottle spontaneity of the collaboration process is at the heart of her current release, Loose. “This record shows who I am in a jam-type environment, where I really feel the excitement of the creativity flowing” Furtado reveals. “It’s who I am at my most artistic. I live for that, and I’m very grateful to be able to share it.”

Diana Krall (BC)
GRAMMY award winning Diana Krall – for the few still unknowing – is the 41-year old sensation whose cool, heavy-lidded vocals and strikingly sensitive piano-playing has helped her transcend barriers of genre to become a popular artist of the first order who has carved herself a permanent position at the top of the jazz charts. Her current release, From This Moment On, is a recording that cannot help but expose Krall’s feelings of being a wife and expectant mother, “It’s a reflection of who I am and where I am at this time”.

Tickets to the WCMA awards show to be held Sunday October 21 in Snowbirds Hangar 6 in Moose Jaw, SK, go on sale Saturday, September 15 through Ticketmaster Charge-by-phone (306) 938-7800 (Saskatoon) or 1-800-970-7328, at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.ca.

Tickets for the WCMA festival will also go on sale this weekend through Ticketmaster. Stay tuned for the announcement of festival acts next week.

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