Latest
Music News
Fiona Boyes Nominated In 2008 Blues Awards
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Australian blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Fiona Boyes, has been named in the five final nominees for the ‘Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year’ award at the up-coming 2008 BLUES MUSIC AWARDS, to be held on Thursday May 8, 2008 at the 2,500 seat Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica, Mississippi.
Now in their 29th year, the Blues Music Awards (formerly known as the WC Handy Awards), are often called ‘The Grammies of the Blues' and are the world's premier accolades for Blues Musicians.
The most important night in Blues will be held for the first time ever in the birthplace of the Blues - the Mississippi Delta - just a half hour down the road from Memphis, the Awards’ previous home.
Presented by the Blues Foundation and sponsored by the Gibson Foundation, the event brings together Blues performers, industry representatives, and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year. Each year, the Blues Foundation presents The Blues Music Awards to the artists selected by its members. They are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists.
In 2007 Fiona Boyes achieved a unique honor by becoming the first Australian Blues artist ever to be nominated for a Blues Music Award, when her 2006 debut US album release, Lucky 13, was a contender for ‘Contemporary Blues Album of the Year'.
Lucky 13 received wide acclaim from reviewers, high rotation radio play, and climbed the international blues charts, reaching #1 on the House of Blues commercially syndicated program, #1 0n XM Satellite Blues Chart, #5 on the Living Blues Polls (where it stayed in the Top Ten for 5 months), #4 on Canadian Blues Polls, and #6 on the Roots Music Chart.
Described by noted critic, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Awards adviser Jeff Tamarkin as `one of the most sizzling blues albums - by anyone - in years' Lucky 13 propelled Fiona Boyes into the international spotlight.
With her second consecutive BMA nomination Fiona Boyes not only makes Australian musical history, but she joins a proud list of legendary blues women previously nominated for this award, including Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Koko Taylor, Big Moma Thornton, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter, Maria Muldaur, Sippie Wallace, Marcia Ball, and Shemekia Copeland.
Back to Articles