Six may be Shy-Anne Hovorka’s new favourite number.
It’s the number of nominations and wins the Thunder Bay singer-songwriter walked away with at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards last Friday in Winnipeg.
“It was unbelievable. There were a lot of shocks,” said Hovorka Tuesday.
Hovorka and her band were slated to perform at the show at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre and were solely focused on coming home with a good performance.
“When you’re up against these types of musicians, you don’t expect to win. We’re ecstatic now about the wins and the performance,” she said.
Hovorka won every award she was nominated for and took home the trophies for Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year, Best Album Cover Design for her album Interwoven Roots, Best Music Video for her song Too Young, Too Late and Single of the Year for the song The Glue. Her album also won in the Best Country CD and Best Producer and Engineer category.
That makes Hovorka the top-winning female artist in the history of the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards and brings her total to eight.
And the wins made her nervous for her performance in front of the 5,000 people in the audience.
The producers asked Hovorka to sing The Glue, a song she wrote for her boyfriend. But when the show’s producers heard her mother was in the audience, just one day after undergoing surgery for breast cancer treatment, they made sure she was up front.
Hovorka brought her mother up on stage with her and got the audience to give her a 5,000-person standing ovation.
“For me, it was amazing because I got to honour my mom and women in general,” said Hovorka, adding that people fighting diseases of all kinds also deserve awards and recognition for their courage and strong battles.
And with the sweep at the APCMAs, Hovorka has her fingers crossed she might score a Juno nomination in the near future.
“It’s always hit or miss,” she said. “Sometimes you have an artist that cleans up at the APCMAs and gets nothing at the Junos… there’s no expectations, just hope.”
And Hovorka said without the support of her fans and her hometown, her streak this past weekend wouldn’t have been possible.
“For all of you that took the time out to vote for us, I want to say thank you very much,” she said.
