Award Winners

Steven Lee Olsen’s Miraculous Trek To the Grand Ole Opry

The songwriter behind Keith Urban’s hit ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color’ was working at an Audi dealership in Newmarket when he got his first big break. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star This Sunday night, Scarborough-born country singer and songwriter Steven Lee Olsen will realize another lifelong dream. Olsen, 37 — and currently on Canadian country radio airwaves with his Top 10 hit “Outta Yours,” — will be making his…

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TikTok and the Junos: how app supports for artists like Dax turns into award nominations

Popularity of TikTok and other social media platforms means artists can bypass more traditional mediums of music discovery. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Initially, Canadian rapper and singer/songwriter Daniel Nwosu Jr. – known in the music world as Dax – wasn’t thrilled about the app known as TikTok. The 28-year-old native of St. John’s and Labrador, Newfoundland, nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year on Monday’s Juno Awards…


Why the Juno Awards matter to artists: Just ask William Prince, Caity Gyorgy or Loud Luxury

Being nominated, winning or just being on the televised awards show can have tangible benefits, but even off-camera moments can have an impact. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Have you ever wondered about the impact of being nominated for – or winning – a Juno Award has on an artist’s career? Well, wonder no more: it turns out it can be quite substantial. For example, when Caity Gyorgy…


Blue Rodeo on the making of new album Many A Mile: ‘Everybody was willing to let go of how everything was before and it was really great’

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Sometimes fate intervenes in mysterious ways. For example, take Blue Rodeo: the creation of the Toronto collective’s new album Many A Mile, released Friday, was as much a surprise to the band’s co-founding songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor as anyone. Even though it’s been five years since their last studio effort, 1000 Arms, it seemed it would be another little while before…


Choir Director Johnny Shepherd Brings Gospel-Infused Soul to Daniel Lanois Project Heavy Sun

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star For his new,  brilliant gospel-flavoured soul album Heavy Sun, seven-time Grammy winner Daniel Lanois had to convince a Shepherd to leave his flock. Describing himself as a “now-and-again” guitarist for the Hallelujah Train band at the Shreveport, Louisiana-based Zion Baptist Church run by Brady Blade Sr., the Hull, Québec-born artist and award-winning producer of blockbuster albums by Peter Gabriel, U2 and Robbie Robertson says…