Two Kingston Bands Get JUNO ‘Rock Album of the Year’ Noms

Published on: 2020/01/28 - in Entertainment

Announced earlier today, Kingston bands The Glorious Sons and Headstones have both been nominated for the JUNO 2020 Rock Album of the Year award. The local rockers are up against Big Wreck, Sum 41, and Dirty Nil with the winning band announced at the 49th annual Juno Awards broadcast on Sunday, March 15.

The Glorious Sons, who formed here in 2011, have been nominated for their third full-length album, ‘A War On Everything’, that was released last September.

The band has continually topped the charts this past year and also marked their second time opening for The Rolling Stones at the the legendary band’s Oro-Medonte Ontario concert last June. The Glorious Sons are currently on a North American tour in support for their new album and will be performing at the 2020 JUNO Awards show.

This is the Headstones’ third JUNO nomination since forming in 1987, having also received JUNO noms for Best Group and Best Rock Album in 1996. The Kingston band is nominated in 2020 for ‘PEOPLESKILLS’, which includes the single Leave It All Behind that has remained in the Top 5 of the Billboard Canadian Airplay mainstream rock chart since the album’s October release.

The band has been keeping-it-Kingston this year with music videos filmed in and around the city and headlining the Rockin’ the Big House concert to raise funds for the local United Way. Headstones are set to begin a Canada-wide tour this coming June.

Likewise demonstrating longevity in the music industry is Kingston-born Bryan Adams, who scored three JUNO nominations this year: Artist of the Year and both Album of the Year and Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for ‘Shine a Light’. Released in March 2019, his fourteenth studio album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and hit the top 10 in a number of other countries around the world.

Just as he did in the 1980s, the singer-songwriter continues performing to huge venues internationally and will be touring in Europe this March followed by concert dates in the U.S. and Canada.

Also from the Kingston region is Belleville-born and Napanee-raised Avril Lavigne, who is up for two JUNO awards this year. Her sixth studio album – and first new album in six years – ‘Head Above Water’ is nominated for Pop Album of the Year and she is also in the running for the Juno Fan Choice award. Lavigne begins her world tour 2020 in March.

Congratulations to all the nominees – and be sure to contact us if you know of others who studied or lived here in Kingston and received a JUNO nomination this year!

Update – Full list of 2020 JUNO winners


Photos: Video screen caps and via Facebook
[Article updated to include that The Glorious Sons will be performing at the 2020 JUNOs]