'Neon Dreams' Gets Album of the Year for East Coast Music Awards, Plus List of Other Big Winners

The awards show was live streamed last Sunday on East Coast Music Award's social media channels and was aired on a show that was hosted by Heather Rankin. As reported by Global News the first batch of the EMCA winners was announced earlier last Thursday virtually with live performances. Check out the list of East Coast Music Awards winners for 2021!

2021 Roster of Winners for East Cost Music Awards

Halifax brings home the bacon as stars Rich Aoucoin, Rose Cousins, Les Hay Babies, and Maxim Cormiers are on the roster of the big winners for this year's East Coast Music Awards. Halifax Today reports that they each have bagged two of Atlantic Canada's greatest music prizes each for the annual competition. Neon Dreams has won the album of the year with "Happiness of Tomorrow."

For the album of the year, top awards went to Neon Dreams, the Canadian alt-pop duo featuring Frank Kadillac as the vocalist and Adrian Morris as the drummer with their 2020 album "The Happiness of Tomorrow."

The duo is known to produce and wirte their own music whilst collaborating with Corey Lerue. They are also known for their top hit songs "Survive", "Marching Band", and "High School Dropout."

For the songwriter of the year award, the Canadian singer songwriter Catherine MacLellan has won the top accolade. The artist based in Prince Edward Island is known to start her solo career singing before moving on to producing music and has completed songs including "The Raven's Sun" and "Silhouette".

For the fan's choice of entertainer of the year, the award went to Beolach, a four-member musical band from Cape Breton. The group has received a Juno award nomination for Traditional Folk Album of the Year with their 2020 album, "All Hands."

A new category to the awards giving body wasis the "African Canadian artist of the Year" which was given to Zamani from Halifax. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame was also added with another legend which was the late Rita MacNeil.

EMCA Expresses Gratitude to Everyone Who Has Adapted to Pandemic's Change

Although award events were different this year due to the global pandemic, ECMA CEO Andy McLean says everyone has adapted well to change making things possible although virtually. In a statement released, he said,

"We would like to express our sincere gratitude to each and every artist and industry professional, as well as our staff, contractors, and partners, who adapted to each change along the way with positivity and perseverance."

"We'd also like to thank all those who participated in the preparation of this show, those who tuned-in, and to Sydney and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality for their inimitable hospitality over the past year.", he added.

In total, artists from mainland Nova Scotia bagged 16 awards, New Brunswick brought nine, Cape Breton gained six, as well as that of Newfoundland and Labrador, while P.E.I artists brought home four.

For the awards ceremony next year, the ECMA event will be held in Fredericton, going back to the New Brunswick capital after almost 14 years.

This article is owned by Music Times

Written by Nikki Schmidt