Drake, Krall, Mendes Earn Grammy Noms

By FYI Staff

Drake leads the list of Canadian nominees for the 2019 Grammy Awards with seven, placing him second overall with Kendrick Lamar scooping eight.

"God’s Plan” earns Drake Record and Song of the Year noms as well as Best Rap Song, while his Scorpion album is up for Album of the Year as artist and one of the songwriters. His contribution to “Sicko Mode” – recorded with Travi$ Scott, Big Hawk, and Swae Lee – is in the running for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance awards.

Shawn Mendes and Diana Krall each earn two nominations. Mendes is cited for Song of the Year ("In My Blood") and Best Pop Vocal Album (Shawn Mendes), and Krall (along with Tony Bennett) is nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("S Wonderful") and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Love Is Here To Stay).

Toronto hip-hop producer/songwriter Boi-1da, a.k.a. Matthew Samuels earns a nomination in the Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical category for his extensive body of work with Drake (his longtime musical colleague), Cardi B, Beyoncé and Jay-Z (The Carters), Eminem, and G-Eazy.

Canadian engineers/mixers Noel "Gadget" Campbell & Noah Shebib each receive nominations in the Record of the Year and Album of the Year categories, for their work on "God's Plan" and Scorpion respectively. 

Daniel Caesar is cited in the Best R&B Performance category for his featured vocal on "Best Part," by H.E.R.

Montreal duo Chromeo is nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, for Head Over Heels.  Also nominated in that category is Bahamas' Earthtones, with Canadian producer/engineer Robbie Lackritz and mastering engineer Philip Shaw Bova included in the nomination credits.

Canadian classical artists fare well on this year's list. Les Violons du Roy is nominated for ARC in the category of Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, and Marc-Andre Hamelin is nominated alongside Leif Ove Andsnes in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category, for Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring Concerto for Two Pianos. James Ehnes is nominated for  Best Classical Instrumental Solo for Kernis: Violin Concerto, conductor Peter Oundjian is nominated in the Best Classical Compendium category for Vaughan Williams: Piano Concerto; Oboe Concerto; Serenade To Music; Flos Campi, and Gerald Finley is nominated in the Best Opera Recording category for his work on Adams: Doctor Atomic.

Toronto music professor/author Rob Bowman earns a nomination in the Historical Reissue category as co-producer for the 2017 two-disc compilation Jackie Shane: Any Other Way.  In 1996, Bowman won a Grammy in the Album Notes category for The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles Vol. 3: 1972-75.

The final round of Grammy voting takes place between Dec. 13–Jan 9. The Awards will be broadcast live on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb. 10.

Nominees were selected from more than 21,000 submissions across 84 categories for recordings released between Oct. 1, 2017–Sept. 30, 2018.

See the complete list of Grammy Award nominees here

The 61st Grammy Awards air on CBS on Feb. 10.