By David Friend in Toronto
Rapper Drake, roots singer Allison Russell and folk legend Joni Mitchell have landed nominations at the Grammy Awards.
It was a comeback for the Toronto rapper, born Aubrey Graham, who ended his multi-year boycott of the music awards show by submitting his 2022 album "Her Loss" for consideration.
That helped him land four nominations, including one for best rap album, as well as best rap performance for the track "Rich Flex" with 21 Savage.
Montreal singer-songwriter Russell also picked up four nods, including best Americana album for "The Returner."
Engineer and mixer Serban Ghenea holds seven nominations, including in the marquee record and album of the year categories for work with Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Jon Batiste.
The Romania-born, Canada-raised pop wizard will compete against himself for record of the year, holding nominations for Swift's "Anti-Hero," Rodrigo's "Vampire" and Batiste's "Worship." He also scored album of the year nominations for Swift's "Midnights" and Rodrigo's "Guts."
Ghenea also had a fruitful year with DJ and producer David Guetta in the pop dance recording category. He shares nominations for two Guetta hits: "Baby Don't Hurt Me" and "One in a Million."
The dance categories were populated with a number of other notable Canadians.
Joel Zimmerman, better known as Toronto DJ Deadmau5, shared a nomination with U.S. producer Kaskade for their collaborative self-titled project "Kx5," which is up for best dance or electronic album
Henry Walter, known as producer Cirkut, picked up a nod for the song "Higher Than Ever Before" by Disclosure competes for best dance/electronic recording.
Joni Mitchell earned a nomination in best folk album race for "Joni Mitchell at Newport," a live recording of her surprise 2022 comeback concert.
"Belinda Says" landed Alvvays their first Grammy nomination. The Prince Edward Island dream pop band is named in the alternative music performance category.
Three-time Grammy-winning conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin extended his good fortunes at the show by pocketing two more nominations.
The Montreal-born musician will contend for his conducting work on Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4 and William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, which is in the running for best orchestral performance, while his work with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and The Metropolitan Opera Chorus for Terence Blanchard’s "Champion" competes for best opera recording.
The 66th Grammy Awards will broadcast Feb. 4 on Citytv and CBS.
Banner image: THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mark Zaleski
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023.
