Hamilton

Hamilton's Harrison Kennedy wins blues album of the year at Junos

Kennedy took home a Juno on Saturday night for the category of Blues Album of the Year. He had been nominated for Junos five times previously. His album "This Is From Here" earned him the prize this year.

Whitehorse also took home a Juno for Adult Alternative Album of the Year

Harrison Kennedy holds his award for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Gala dinner in Calgary Saturday. (Rachel Maclean/CBC)

For Harrison Kennedy, it seems the sixth time's the charm.

The Hamilton blues man took home a Juno on Saturday night for the category of Blues Album of the Year. The 73-year-old had been nominated for Junos five times previously. His album "This is from here" earned him the prize this year.

The 2016 Juno gala awards banquet was held at the Calgary Convention Centre on Saturday night. Kennedy was one of 35 award winners announced prior to Sunday night's live Juno Awards broadcast from the Calgary Saddledome. The gala hosted more than 1,100 music industry guests.

The Juno Awards presentation will be broadcast live on Sunday at 7 p.m. Click for a full list of award winners from the gala dinner.

Other winners included former Hamilton residents Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, the husband and wife duo known as Whitehorse. They took home the Adult alternative album of the Year for "Leave no Bridge Unburned." 

Burlington's Walk Off The Earth carried three nominations into the event, including nods for group of the year, the Juno fan choice award and pop album of the year for "Sing It All Away."

St. Catharines musician City and Colour, the alias for singer-songwriter Dallas Green, was also nominated for three Junos. He was nominated for artist of the year, producer of the year and song writer of the year for the songs Blood, Lover Come Back and Wasted Love from the album "If I Should Go Before You Leave."

Hamilton's Tom Wilson, also known as Lee Harvey Osmond, was nominated for Best Contemporary Roots album for the release "Beautiful Scars."

Daniel Romano, from Welland, was also nominated for Adult alternative album of the year and The City Harmonic, from Hamilton, was nominated for Contemporary Christian album of the year.

​Ottawa will play host to the 2017 awards, and the 2018 show is rumoured to be held in Toronto, but Hamilton will be making an effort to host either the 2019 or 2020 awards, according to Tourism Hamilton Manager Susan Monarch.