Manitoban artists continue to impact Christian music and are leading the charge into next month's GMA Covenant Awards with 45 nominations.
A total of 13 artists are nominated across a variety of categories, from rap to instrumental and everywhere in between. The GMA Covenant Awards are Canada's highest honour in Christian music.
Niverville's Jordan St. Cyr continues to see a seemingly meteoric rise in his career, receiving 11 nominations this year. However, his recent success comes after years of hard work and remaining faithful to proclaiming the good news of Jesus through music even when his own life is faced with difficulties. It was just four years ago that he shared his desire to start touring in the USA more and hoped to break into radio market south of the border. And, he's done just that in a powerful way.
St. Cyr recently received two nominations in the GMA Dove Awards, often called the "Christian Grammy's." Earlier this year he hit No. 1 on two different Billboard music charts. His nominations include album of the year, artist of the year, and two nominations in adult contemporary song of the year for "Weary Traveler" and "Fires."
Legendary singer-songwriter Steve Bell also continues to attract plenty of attention, and received seven nominations this year. His latest album, Wouldn't You Love To Know, earned an album of the year nomination, and he was also nomionated for artist of the year. The album is Bell's 22nd and also includes a book of the same name.
The Color helped push Manitoban artists into the majority for nominations in both the album of the year and artist of the year categories. No Greater Love earned them a nod for album of the year, and they've not only been nominated for artist of the year, but also group of the year, and pop artist of the year. The southern Manitoba band recently won their second Juno award, this time for Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album earlier this year.
Jake Fretz, a worship pastor at Prairie Alliance Church in Portage la Prairie, also managed to wrack up four nominations. While he's been writing music for worship for 20 years, the artist just recently began to focus again on releasing that music for a wider audience. He is nominated for breakthrough artist of the year among his other nominations.
Jaylene Johnson also continues to impact worship music despite losing her singing voice. She helps other artists find the voice of their songs and has gained three nominations for songs she's co-written, including Brant Pethick's "Hope" which was nominated for pop song of the year. Johnson has been instrumental in guiding many new artists, including Jordan St. Cyr who credits Johnson with helping him get connected in Nashville. Johnson currently serves as Vice President of GMA Canada and has been working to better connect Canadian Christian artists.
Manitoban artists nominated and the number of nominations
- Jordan St. Cyr - 11
- Steve Bell - 7
- The Color - 4
- Jake Fretz - 4
- Jon Buller - 3
- Jaylene Johnson - 3
- Rosemary Siemens - 3
- Mike Janzen - 3
- Robert Wilson aka Fresh IE - 2
- Kevin Mannes aka Messanjah - 2
- DJC2 - 2
- D. Bruce Moore - 1
- Jordan Janzen - 1
- James Shiels - 1
All categories and nominations
Album of the Year
Jordan St. Cyr - Jordan St. Cyr
No Greater Love - The Color
Wouldn't You Love to Know? - Steve Bell
Devotion - Live - Movement Worship
I'm Listening - Alisha Eich
Artist of the Year
Jordan St. Cyr
The Color
Steve Bell
Jon Buller
Marika Siewert
Musical Collaboration of the Year
Still - Brooke Nicholls, Movement Worship
Hope (feat. Chelsea Amber) - Brant Pethick, Chelsea Amber
Let The World Sing - Tehillah Worship & Marika Siewert
215 - Brian Doerksen, Cheryl Bear, Steve Bell, Carolyn Arends, Marika Siewert, Carly Reirson, Brenda Janz, Philip Janz, Brian Thiessen, Loralee Thiessen, Samuel Thiessen, Teresa Trask
Jesus - Kimberly Ade, Daniel Ojo and Michael Manhertz
Female Vocalist of the Year
Chelsea Amber
Brooke Nicholls
Marika Siewert
Carolyn Arends
Jennifer Lewin
Male Vocalist of the Year
Jordan St. Cyr
Steve Bell
Jon Buller
K-Anthony
Jon Slater
Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Movement Worship
Rachelle Luk
Jake Fretz
Damara Melissa
Marika Siewert
Producer of the Year
Steve Lensink
Steve Wingfield
Murray Pulver
Odum Abekah
Eli Bennett
Canadian Christian Song of the Year
Brant Pethick, Jaylene Johnson, Arun Chaturvedi - Hope (feat. Chelsea Amber)
Andrew Marcus - Abide In Me
Jake Fretz - Here Comes The Kingdom
Elenee - Good to Me (feat. Ricardo Hatfield
Darren Hamilton - Not Powerless (Pray)
Video of the Year
Rhonda Louise - Brave Girl
Manic Drive - Thank God I'm Alive
Steve Bell - In Memoriam
Jennifer Lewin - Stay With Us
Waterloo Region Mass Choir - Not Powerless (Pray)
Live Music Artist of the Year - Online or Concert
Steve Bell
Jordan St. Cyr
Chelsea Amber
Manic Drive
Rosemary Siemens
Group of the Year
Kevin Adams & Voices of Praise
Manic Drive
The Color
Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year
Rachelle Luk
Marika Siewert
Jordan St. Cyr
Carolyn Arends
Stephanie Reddicopp
Children's Artist of the Year
Elevate Kids Choir
Sandy Baldwin
Q-Town
KiDs Worship
Norine Gallimore
Country Artist of the Year
The Fehr Family Band
Jeff Catto
Martine Kelsey
Folk Artist of the Year
Rob Berg
Steve Bell
Carolyn Arends
The Fehr Family Band
Gospel Artist of the Year
Powerhouse Fellowship Soul Choir featuring Shawn Cotterell
Yemisi Ogunjimi
Jennifer LEWIN
Kevin Adams & Voices of Praise
Folarin and Keziah
Instrumental Artist of the Year
Jonathan Wong
SaxAndViolin (Eli Bennett & Rosemary Siemens)
Steve Wingfield
Sean Spicer
Johnny Summers
Jazz or Blues Artist of the Year
Yeshua Cornejo
Nancy Bodsworth
Earl MacDonald
Johnny Summers
Katrina Van Humbeck
Pop Artist of the Year
Brant Pethick
Jordan St. Cyr
Manic Drive
The Color
DJC2
Rap Artist of the Year
One8tea
DJC2
Messanjah
Jordan Barr
Jachin Israelson
Rock Artist of the Year
All Above Me
Manic Drive
The 8th Line
Worship Artist of the Year
Jennifer LEWIN
Brooke Nicholls
Movement Worship
Jon Buller
Mike Janzen
Adult Contemporary Song of the Year
O My Soul - Rachelle Luk
To Cry for You - Carolyn Arends
Weary Traveler - Jordan St. Cyr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis
Fires - Jordan St. Cyr, Krissy Nordhoff and Micah Kuiper
Abide In Me - Andrew Marcus
Country Song of the Year
Walk on the Water - D. Bruce Moore
Always - Martine Kelsey
Dangerous With Your Love - Jeff Catto, Jonathan Turner, Josh Fata
The Greatest Gift - Nancy Bodsworth
Folk Song of the Year
Lifespan - Rachelle Luk
Remembers Me - Mike Janzen
Without Music - Carolyn Arends
Follow You - Terry Posthumus
I'll Always Be With You - Rosemary Siemens, Troy Samson
Gospel Song of the Year
True On The Outside - Rachelle Luk
FREE - Kevin Anthony Fowler and Kevin Winebarger
For your Glory - Claire Odogbo, Jonathan Turner
Only You - Yemisi Ogunjimi
I'm Not Alone - Suanesha Laing, Kennedy Obioha, Ayomide Oso
Pop Song of the Year
Call Of The Wild - Jordan Janzen, James Shiels, Carter Frodge, Taylor Agan
Good to Me - Elenee Young
Fires - Jordan St. Cyr, Krissy Nordhoff and Micah Kuiper
Weary Traveler - Jordan St. Cyr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis
Hope - Brant Pethick, Jaylene Johnson, Arun Chaturvedi
Rap Song of the Year
Still Standing Here - Kevin Manness
Reconciliation - Jordan Barr
The Wind and the Waves - Robert Wilson, David Farnsworth, Blessingtone Malinga,
I Guess It's Complicated - Teah Bailey
You Are - Robert Wilson
Rock Song of the Year
Light It Up - Russ Smith, Rick Colhoun
The Show Must Go - Guiller Contreras
You Can't Stop This - Russ Smith, Rick Colhoun
He Is Our God - Terry Posthumus
Wouldn't Let Me Go - Michael Boucher
Seasonal Song of the Year
Emmanuel God With Us - Jake Fretz
Just Before The Silent Night - Brian Doerksen, Jaylene Johnson
Our Saviour Has Come - Allen Froese
Christmas Is Here - Marika Siewert, Zoey Siewert, Lilah Fitzgerald
Saviour Of The World - Terry Posthumus
Worship Song of the Year
Even Now - Rachelle Luk
Abounding in Love - Mike Janzen
Here And Now - Jon Slater, Chris Serna
Take All Of Me - Andrew Marcus
Still - Brooke Nicholls, Jon Slater
Here Comes the Kingdom - Jake Fretz