32nd Annual Blues Music Awards May 5th – FEATURING buddy guy, denise lasalle and john hammond, among others
Annual Blues Music Awards is May 5th – FEATURING performances by honorees buddy guy, denise lasalle and john hammond, among others
Special Tribute to 2011 BMA Nominees Solomon Burke, Pinetop Perkins & Robin Rogers, as well as to Robert Johnson, in the centennial of his birth
Memphis, TN (April 5, 2011) – The Blues Foundation is pleased to announce 2011 Grammy® winner, five-time 2011 Blues Music Award nominee, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Buddy Guy will perform at its annual Blues Music Awards at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN on May 5, 2011. Performers, industry representatives and fans from around the globe will have the chance to celebrate the best in Blues recording and performance from 2010.
Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite share the honor of five nominations. Janiva Magness garnered four and three each went to Derek Trucks, Eden Brent, Joe Louis Walker, James Cotton, Nick Moss, Paul Oscher and The Mannish Boys each. Steve Miller received his first nomination with his return to the blues Bingo.
Just back from his first Bluesmasters Festival, Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship and vocalist on Elvin Bishop’s ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love’ will join Big Llou of Sirius XM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville as BMA event hosts.
Here are just a few of the scheduled 2011 Blues Music Awards highlights:
· Big Head Todd will lead a Robert Johnson tribute by performing ‘Love in Vain,’ the same Johnson song to be inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before. Todd has released Big Head Todd’s Blues Club as a tribute to Robert Johnson and is currently on tour with 95-year-old Honeyboy Edwards, a personal friend of Robert Johnson.
· John Hammond performs as a 2011 BMA nominee, also a 2011 HOF inductee. John is celebrating his 50th year as a blues musician. He has been nominated for seventeen Blues Music Awards and has won seven. He also been nominated for seven Grammy® Awards including in 2010 for his 33rd album since 1962.
· Denise LaSalle performs as a 2011 BMA nominee, also a 2011 HOF inductee. Her first #1 single was in 1971. She is considered the Queen of Southern Soul Blues.
· Three BMA nominees this year will give a one song tribute to each of the nominees that passed this year – Solomon Burke, Pinetop Perkins and Robin Rogers.
To share the coolness with the masses, for the fifth consecutive year, The Blues Music Awards will be broadcast live in their entirety on Sirius XM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville – the next best thing to being there. They will be subsequently broadcast on public television in the fall of 2011.
The Blues Music Awards are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists. The Presenting Sponsor for the 32nd Blues Music Awards in 2011 is once again The Gibson Foundation. BMI and I-55 Productions are the Blues Music Awards Sustaining Sponsor. Major funding is provided by ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission. The 32nd Blues Music Awards are also sponsored by Eagle Rock Entertainment, FedEx, Global Electronic Technology, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and Sony/Legacy Records.
The Blues Music Awards are produced by The Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. The Foundation consists of a worldwide network of 190 affiliated Blues societies and has individual memberships spanning the globe. In addition to the Blues Music Awards, the Foundation also produces the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the International Blues Challenge and the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards. It fosters education through its Blues in the Schools programming and Generation Blues scholoarships, supports the medical needs of Blues musicians with its HART Fund, and offers health insurance access through its Sound Healthcare program. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the worldwide Blues community with answers, contact information and news. For more information or to join The Blues Foundation, log onto www.blues.org.
32ND ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS
THURSDAY, MAY 5TH
5:30pm – Reception in Grand Lobby, Convention Center
7pm -1am – Dinner, Awards & BMA nominee performances, Convention Center
Ticket prices:
$125 each, $1200 for table of ten, $1500 for premium table of ten
To purchase tickets, go to: www.blues.org or call 901-527-2583
For media inquiries:
Amanda Sweet
Bucklesweet Media
347-564-3371
amanda@bucklesweetmedia.com