Barenaked Ladies Headed For Juno Hall of Fame
The hit-filled 30-year career of the Toronto pop ensemble and one-time buskers will be recognised at the Juno Awards with co-founder Steven Page rejoining his former mates in a one-off performance on the broadcast.
By FYI Staff
Barenaked Ladies will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2018 Juno Awards, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced.
On hand to receive the honour will be the current lineup of the pop-rock favourites - Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart –plus original member, co-founder and singer-songwriter Steven Page, who left the band in 2009 to pursue a solo career.
The reunion will include Page rejoining his former mates in what is described as a "one-time special appearance" set for live broadcast by the CBC on Sunday, March 25.
The group celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Over those three decades, BNL has been one of Canada’s most celebrated collectives, with career accolades that include eight Juno Awards, two Billboard Music Awards and multiple Grammy nominations.
Other Canadian Music Hall of Famers include Alanis Morissette, Anne Murray, Blue Rodeo, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Oscar Peterson, Rush, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip, Shania Twain and 2017 inductee Sarah McLachlan.
Formed in 1988 in Scarborough, ON, BNL has sold over 15 million albums worldwide. The band’s style has evolved significantly over the course of their career, favouring acoustic in the early days and growing to encompass a mixture of genres. The 1991 release of The Yellow Tape, initially meant as a demo cassette, would go on to become the first independent tape to ever achieve platinum status, with over 100,000 copies sold in Canada thanks to the inclusion of the still-popular musical whimsy "If I Had A Million Dollars" and the unrepentant energy their manager of the time, Nigel Best, put into promoting the ensemble and making hay with their name.
Following multiple indie cassette releases, the band signed to Sire Records, with whom they released their first full album entitled Gordon. It was a cultural phenomenon in Canada and was certified Diamond (selling over 1 million records). Stunt, released in 1998, would become the band’s most commercially successful record, climbing all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, anchored by the smash hit “One Week,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The band has toured internationally over the years, performing at Madison Square Garden, The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley. Known for such hits as “Pinch Me,” “It’s All Been Done,” “Brian Wilson,” “If I Had $1,000,000,” “Jane,” and “Odds Are," the band also penned the theme song for the hit CBS series, The Big Bang Theory.
In 2013 Barenaked Ladies collaborated with Commander Chris Hadfield on the song “I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing),” recorded while the Canadian astronaut was in orbit in the International Space Station. Later that year their 10th studio release, Grinning Streak, debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200 followed by 2015’s Silverball and most recently Fake Nudes.
Tickets for The 2018 Juno Awards are currently on sale through the Rogers Arena Box Office, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 and online at ticketmaster.ca
For more information on the 2018 Juno Awards, visit junoawards.ca
The 47th annual Juno Awards and Juno Week 2018 will be hosted in Vancouver from March 19 through March 25, culminating in The Juno Awards Broadcast on CBC on Sunday, March 25, taking place at the Rogers Arena.
Tina DavisCourtesy of Girl Connected