Ben Kowalewicz to Host the 48th Annual JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) today announced the JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards Presented by SOCAN will be held at theLondon Convention Centre on March 16, 2019 for an evening in honour of Canadian music. The event will be live streamed starting at 6pm ET on Saturday, March 16, on cbcmusic.ca/junos, the free CBC Gem streaming service and CBC Music's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.

The highly anticipated industry event, hosted by Ben Kowalewicz, lead singer of the 7-time JUNO Award winning band Billy Talent, and co-hosted by CBC Music's Julie Nesrallah, will feature the presentation of 36 JUNO Awards. Click here to check out his announcement reveal video. This year's special achievement award recipients will also be recognized, including the Humanitarian of the Year Award Presented by Music Canada (David Foster), the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award (Duff Roman) and the 2019 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year (Kim Hastings).

Five live performances will light up the evening including 2019 JUNO Award nominees Dizzy (2019 Breakthrough Group of the Year Sponsored by FACTOR, The Government of Canada and Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters, Alternative Album of the Year Sponsored by Long & McQuade), four-time JUNO nominee Donovan Woods (2019 Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year Presented by SOCAN), five-time JUNO Award winner and seven-time nominee Exco Levi (2019 Reggae Recording of the Year), and Hubert Lenoir (2019 Album of the Year Sponsored by Music Canada, Francophone Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year). One of the 2018/2019 Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class winners, Port Cities, will also grace the JUNO Gala stage.

"The JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards Presented by SOCAN is an important platform for the music industry and fans to discover the phenomenal creators we have in this country," said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards and MusiCounts. "We're so proud of the nominees attending and performing, and we thank SOCAN for their continued dedication to celebrating the achievements of Canada's artistic community."

"It's impossible to find more passion, heart and soul than what's experienced at the JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards," said Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN. "The evening glows with the incredible talent of Canada's greatest music creators, composers, publishers, performers and professionals as they catapult Canadian music to even greater levels of success here and worldwide, and SOCAN is honoured again to present this incomparable night."

The 48th Annual JUNO Awards and JUNO Week will be hosted in London, ON from March 11 through March 17, 2019, with The JUNO Awards Broadcast live from Budweiser Gardens at 8pm ET on Sunday, March 17, on CBC, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, the free CBC Gem streaming service in Canada and globally on cbcmusic.ca/junos.