TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) – The SOCAN Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the third annual SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards – Adria Kain, AHI, Desarae Dee, Nonso Amadi, and Zach Zoya.
The Black Canadian Music Awards were created to recognize and celebrate the artistic merit demonstrated by Black music creators of any genre. This year, SiriusXM Canada has doubled their support for the Awards, with the five selected winners each receiving a prize of $10,000 to support their career development.
Kain is a Toronto-based artist known for sharing lived experiences through soulful melodies and lyricism. She came up through The Remix Project alongside Jessie Reyez. Her debut album, When Flowers Bloom, got her a Polaris Prize nomination.
AHI is a Brampton-born singer/songwriter known for tightly-crafted lyrics, catchy melodies, and driving rhythms. He’s toured with Mandy Moore and Milow in support of his latest album, Prospect, and has garnered over 60M streams worldwide. The album received a JUNO mod for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year and his first-ever Polaris Prize nomination.
Amadi is an Afro-R&B, soul singer/songwriter and producer from Nigeria. Currently recording his debut album supported by Universal Music Canada, it should showcase his R&B approach to storytelling with the rhythm of Afrobeats.
Dee is a Toronto-based pianist and multi-instrumentalist who has come on as an instrumental fusion artist in Canada. Dee’s career includes 21 singles and four project releases over the last eight years, with a recent Top 100 finish in the 2022 CBC Music Searchlight competition.
Zoya was raised in a rural French-speaking community and learned English by listening to American hip-hop, R&B, and soul music. He signed with Universal Music Canada and released his debut EP, Spectrum – earning him critical acclaim and several awards nods. His sophomore effort, No Love is Ever Wasted earned him the YouTube Trending Artist on the Ride award, two Top 40 radio hits, and three nominations at the Gala Dynastie Awards in 2022.
“What an honor to participate in amplifying Black creatives. So many of the submissions were incredible, making this the hardest jury process to date,” said Keziah Myers, Executive Director at ADVANCE Music Canada, and chair of the jury. “I learned of writers and composers that I didn’t know about, automatically looked up their projects, and it inspired me to think of ways to amplify them within the industry and provide more vehicles for opportunity. Congratulations to the winners!” Myers was part of the SOCAN Foundation committee that created the Black Canadian Music Awards, and she has also served as a jury member for the last three years.
This year the Awards had a record number of applications from artists across Canada, spanning a multitude of genres. Winners were selected by a jury and advisory council of prominent Black artists and industry leaders. Jury members include Keziah Myers (Executive Director at Advance), Nicolas Ouellet (Radio Host at Radio-Canada), Lord Quest (Executive Creative, Black Music at SOCAN), Marika Siewert (Recording Artist) and Wayne Samuels (President and CEO at Wired Management Inc).
“We’re so proud to help bring this program to life for a third year and to double the prize money for these incredibly talented and deserving recipients,” said Michelle Mearns, VP, of Programming and Operations, SiriusXM Canada. “SiriusXM is committed to supporting Black Canadian artists and I can’t wait to see what these artists create in the future.”
