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Press Release - April 3rd, 2005
More Award Nominations for Stratford’s, Ali Matthews Singer-songwriter receives 3 Nominations for the 2005 Shai Awards
Stratford singer-songwriter Ali Matthews has once again been given National recognition in the form of 3 award nominations for her 2004 CD "Where You Remain".
Vibe Gospel Music (VGM) has just announced the nominees for the 2005 Shai Awards, the “fan’s choice” awards for Christian music. The Mayor of Mississauga, the Honourable Hazel McCallion, was amongst the special guests at the launch on March 29th, as VGM announced nominees for all 23 categories at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
The nominations were dominated by British Columbia’s artists, Carolyn Arends, Brian Doerkson and Greg Sczebel, but Ali Matthews picked up an impressive three nominations for Album of the Year in each of the Inspirational, Country/Bluegrass and Folk categories. The exciting news comes in the wake of Matthew’s recent success at the 2004 Canadian Gospel Music Association Covenant Awards, where she received 5 nominations and was awarded Inspirational Album of the Year and Country/Bluegrass Song of the Year.
“It’s been such an incredible year for my music.”, reports Matthews who’s third CD, Where You Remain was released nationally last month by CMC Distribution. “This kind of recognition is not only validating to me as an artist but it has opened so many doors of opportunity for my music to be heard by more and more people. That is really the ultimate desire of any musician – to be heard.”
Matthews’ co-producer and performing partner, Rick Francis has been working with Ali for six years, recording her three CD’s at his Stratford studio. “It is very gratifying to see such hard work pay off. I’m so proud of Ali.” adds Francis.
Nationwide fan voting for the winners runs from April 5th until May 10th over the Internet at www.shaiawards.com where fans can go online and vote for their favourite artists. Matthews hopes that her loyal Ontario fans will step up to the plate by casting their votes for her in all three categories. “I haven’t toured nationally”, says Matthews. “so I will really be counting on my local fanbase to come through with the votes”.
Vibe Gospel Music is once again taking the awards out of its hometown of Calgary, Alberta into Southern Ontario where the city of Mississauga has welcomed them with open arms as they host VGM Week 2005. This will be a six day event commencing on May 9th, with showcases including some of Canada’s emerging Christian artists, educational workshops, a media/industry breakfast and the gala awards banquet. VGM Week will end on May 14th with VGM’s marquee event the Shai Awards, taking place at the beautiful Hershey Centre. The show will be taped for national broadcast over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC Television).To download a 300 dpi image of Ali's "Where You Remain" CD album cover
CLICK HERETo download the following 300 dpi image of Ali Matthews
CLICK HEREAli can be reached at ali@alimatthews.com or (519) 272-9658
©2004 Copyright Ali Matthews
