Sting honored with The American Music Award of Merit

Dick Clark Productions and ABC have announced that composer, singer, actor, author, and activist Sting will be honored with “The American Music Award of Merit” at the 2016 American Music Awards. The iconic musician will take to the stage to perform a medley of songs, including the raucous first single, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You” off his new rock/pop album, 57th & 9th, as well as some of his greatest hits. This will be Sting’s American Music Awards performance debut. He joins previously announced show opener Bruno Mars. The 2016 American Music Awards, the world’s biggest fan-voted award show, will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20th at 8 pm ET on ABC.

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 2008 to Annie Lennox. Previous honorees include Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Prince and Frank Sinatra.

On November 11th, Sting will release 57th & 9th, his first rock/pop album in over a decade, which features the raucous, guitar-driven first single, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You”. Produced by Martin Kierszenbaum, the album takes its title from the Manhattan street corner that Sting crossed each day as he walked to the studios in Hell’s Kitchen where the recordings were done.

Sting has appeared in more than 15 films and authored two books, including The New York Times best-selling memoir, Broken Music. His support for human rights organizations mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world’s rainforests and the indigenous people living there.

The nominations for the 2016 American Music Awards were announced earlier this month, revealing that Drake leads with 13 nominations, while Rihanna received seven and Adele and Justin Bieber received five nominations each. Beyoncé and The Chainsmokers each received four nominations. Additionally, Bryson Tiller, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd earned three nominations each.

The Artist of the Year nominees are Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood and The Weeknd. The ten nominees will be narrowed to five based on the votes received through Monday, November 14th at 8:59:59 am PT. Voting for Artist of the Year will close on Thursday, November 17th at 8:59:59 pm PT. The winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.

New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile nominees are Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Shawn Mendes and Zayn. Voting for this category opens November 2nd.

At the American Music Awards, artists will be honored in multiple musical genres. Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM and Soundtrack, are some of the genres alongside the awards for Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Collaboration of the Year. This year, new categories include Tour of the Year and Video of the Year, while Favorite Song categories in the genres of Pop/Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop and Soul/R&B have been added in lieu of the Song of the Year category.

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.

The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting is now open in all categories except New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, which will open November 2nd.

Fans can vote for all categories once per day, per platform in one or both of the below ways. For New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, fans can vote 100 times per day, per platform.

  • Via AMAvote.com
  • Posting a tweet on Twitter that includes the nominee’s Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s).

Preceding the ABC broadcast for the eighth consecutive year will be the Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2016 AMAs pre-show. This live show will stream online for fans worldwide on November 20th.

The 2016 American Music Awards sponsors include Coca-Cola, Kohl’s and T-Mobile. Media partners include Cumulus Media | WestwoodOne and Music Choice.

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Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com