DIANA ROSS WILL PERFORM
Dick Clark Productions and ABC have announced that music superstar Diana Ross will be honored at the 2017 American Music Awards with the “American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement,” in recognition of her remarkable career and her outstanding artistic contributions to the entertainment industry and popular culture. A seven-time American Music Awards winner, Ms. Ross has a long-standing connection to the AMAs. In addition to attending the very first show in 1974 and leading several show-stopping performances throughout the years – including a star-studded performance of “We Are The World” in 1986, she hosted the show in both 1986 and 1987 and was on-hand in 2014 to present the first ever “Dick Clark Award for Excellence” to Taylor Swift. As this year’s “American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement” recipient, the legendary singer will take the stage for a rare performance. The 2017 American Music Awards, the world’s largest fan-voted awards show where music enthusiasts watch their favorite artists and pop culture icons come together to honor idols, newcomers and record-breakers in the contemporary music scene, will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 19th at 8 pm ET on ABC.
“I have endless memories of all the years that I have appeared on the American Music Awards,” says Ms. Ross. “It started with Dick Clark and The Caravan of Stars and American Bandstand. It was Dick Clark who said, ‘Music is the soundtrack of our lives.’ So true. I am so excited to be receiving this honorable award.”
The “American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement,” formerly the “American Music Award of Merit,” is only given to artists who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry. The award was last given in 2016 to Sting. Additional previous honorees include Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Annie Lennox, Loretta Lynn, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Prince, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Tammy Wynette.
Nominations for the 2017 American Music Awards were announced earlier this month, revealing Bruno Mars leads with eight nominations, including Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, and Favorite Male Artist – Pop/Rock. The Chainsmokers, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd tied with five nominations each, while Justin Bieber, Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi received four nominations each. Additionally, Keith Urban earned three nominations, and Rihanna and Halsey earned two nominations each.
The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting is open in all categories except New Artist of the Year presented by T-Mobile and Collaboration of the Year presented by Xfinity, which will both open on Wednesday, November 1st. For New Artist of the Year and Collaboration of the Year, fans can vote for each award 100 times per day, per voting platform in one or two ways — billboard.com/amas and theamas.com/vote and by posting a tweet on Twitter that includes the nominee’s name or Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the tweet.
The Artist of the Year nominees are Bruno Mars, The Chainsmokers, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Ed Sheeran. Voting for Artist of the Year will close on Thursday, November 16th at 8:59:59 pm PT. Voting for all other editorial categories closes on Monday, November 13th at 8:59:59 am PT.
American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital song sales, radio airplay, streaming, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound.
