Big wins for Brampton artists at 50th annual Juno Awards

Brampton | Caledon | Latest News |

Published March 14, 2023 at 1:13 pm

Brampton’s musical talent was on display at the 2023 Juno Awards with three wins for artists with roots in the Flower City.

The 50th annual Junos were held in Edmonton last night with star-studded performances from Alexisonfire, Banx & Ranx and Brampton’s Jessie Reyez.

Reyez – who grew up in Brampton before moving to the U.S. to pursue her career in music – took home the award for Contemporary R&B recording of the year for her album Yessie, while Nigerian-born and Brampton-raised rapper TOBi won for Rap album/EP of the year for his three-song release Shall I Continue?

Jessie Reyez took home the award for contemporary R&B recording of the year at the 50th annual Juno Awards.

Brampton’s Kirk Diamond also won for Reggae recording of the year with his track Reggae Party, beating out fellow Bramptonian and walk of fame inductee Exco Levi in the category. Diamond has a park named after him in Brampton and has previous Juno nods and a No. 1 single on Rebel Vibez Top Ten Canadian Reggae charts.

Kirk Diamond (right) poses with Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown in front of the park named in his honour.

And while it was a big night for the hometown winners, one notable Brampton artist nominated at this year’s awards came home empty-handed.

Brampton’s Alessia Cara was up for pop album of the year but lost out to the Weeknd who took home an impressive five wins, earning the Toronto artist the second-highest number of Juno Awards ever behind Anne Murray. Cara was the first Canadian to ever win a Grammy in the best new artist category, and her debut single Here ranked 21 on Rolling Stone’s list of 50 best songs of 2015.

Brampton’s Alessia Cara was the first Canadian to ever win a Grammy in the best new artist category

The 50th annual Junos were hosted by Mississauga’s Simon Liu for the second year in a row.

Most of the awards were handed out Saturday night, with just Album of the Year, Contemporary R&B Recording (Yessie, Jessie Reyez) and Rap Album (Shall I Continue, Tobi) reserved for Monday’s televised show.

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