For ten years, the New York Music Awards honored New York-based and New York-identified artists, in 50+ categories, and has been credited for helping break then-burgeoning genres like hip-hop and Latin freestyle into the mainstream. Its impressive collection of participants, presenters, performers and winners range from Miles Davis to the Ramones, Lou Reed to Billy Joel and Cyndi Lauper to Paul Simon. Adding great credibility to the NYMAs is its past winners of the Best Unsigned Artist and Rising Star categories, including Whitney Houston, Vanessa Williams, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Joan Osborne, and L. L. Cool J, who were all relatively unknown when first introduced by the NYMAs. Artists like Madonna and Mary J. Blige received their first-ever awards from the NYMAs. Genre-busting hip-hop artist Kalae All Day now joins that illustrious group of musical superstars, with the announcement of the 2010-11 New York Music Award winners.
Highlights of the 2010-11 New York Music Awards winners include a Hall of Fame nod for Gil Scott-Heron, for his remarkable comeback after 15 years, Collecting the most wins is Lady Gaga, who scored 9 awards including “Artist of the Year.” “Debut Artist of the Year” Nicki Minaj was next with 5 wins, and she was closely followed by LCD Soundsystem, winner of 4 awards including “Band of the Year,” and the Scissor Sisters, also with 4 wins. Other multiple winners include Sleigh Bells (3 awards) and three-time winner Kelis, who won in the R&B, Dance and Video categories. “Best Rock Band,” “Best Rock Single” and “Best Rock Vocalist” recognition went to Vampire Weekend. Other multiple winners include Alicia Keys, Sharon Jones, Barbra Streisand, Marc Anthony, Cyndi Lauper, Mose Allison, Judy Collins, and Lili Anel, who scored big in the jazz and singer-songwriter categories.
In the past, there were many years when the NYMAs were dominated by Top-40 acts, but this year the dominant trend is indie and alternative acts such as the National, the Walkmen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer, Suckers, Hold Steady, MGMT, and the Scissor Sisters. In honor of that trend, a new category was created for “Best Brooklyn Band.” The winner of that extremely competitive category was the Hold Steady.
Nominations were made by music journalists, music-industry representatives, and the public in an open-nomination ballot, and the top finalists and winners were determined by a combined music-industry/music critic vote.
Here are the winners. We’re looking forward to the New York Music Awards ceremony, which will be held in Spring 2012, honoring winners from the 2010-11 and upcoming 2012 awards.
2010-11 NEW YORK MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS
HALL OF FAME
Gil Scott-Heron
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lady Gaga
BAND OF THE YEAR
LCD Soundsystem
DEBUT ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Nicki Minaj
DEBUT BAND OF THE YEAR
Sleigh Bells
RISING STAR
Kalae All Day
BEST UNSIGNED ARTIST
Alice Tan Ridley
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening
EP OF THE YEAR
The Pierces, Love You More
VIDEO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lady Gaga
BEST MALE VOCALIST
Rufus Wainwright
BEST FEMALE VOCALIST
Mariah Carey
BEST POP ALBUM
Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster
BEST FEMALE POP ARTIST
Lady Gaga
BEST MALE POP ARTIST
Ryan Star
BEST POP SINGLE
Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”
BEST POP COLLABORATION
Lady Gaga & Beyonce, “Telephone”
BEST POP VIDEO
Lady Gaga & Beyonce, “Telephone”
BEST POP/ROCK COMPILATION
Suzanne Vega, Close Up Volumes 1 & 2
BEST MALE ROCK
VOCALIST
Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend
BEST FEMALE ROCK VOCALIST
Regina Spektor
BEST ROCK BAND
Vampire Weekend
BEST ROCK SINGLE
Vampire Weekend “Holiday”
BEST LIVE ROCK BAND
Gogol Bordello
BEST ROCK VIDEO
LCD Soundsystem “Drunk Girls”
BEST FEMALE HIP-HOP ARTIST
Nicki Minaj
BEST MALE HIP-HOP ARTIST
Joell Ortiz
BEST HIP-HOP ALBUM
Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli/Hi-Tek), Revolutions Per Minute
BEST DEBUT HIP-HOP ALBUM
Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday
BEST HIP-HOP SINGLE
Fabolous “You Be Killen Em”
BEST DEBUT HIP-HOP SINGLE
Nicki Minaj, “Your Love”
BEST HIP-HOP ALBUM
COLLABORATION
Nas & Damien Marley, Distant
Relatives
BEST HIP-HOP VIDEO
Fabolous, “You Be Killen Em”
BEST FEATURED HIP-HOP ARTIST
Nicki Minaj, Kanye West’s “Monster”
BEST SINGLE BY HIP-HOP GROUP/DUO
Lloyd Banks/ Juelz Santana, “Beamer, Benz or Bently”
BEST FEMALE R&B ARTIST
Mary J. Blige
BEST MALE R&B MALE ARTIST
John Legend
BEST R&B SINGLE
Alicia Keys, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart”
BEST R&B SONGWRITER
Alicia Keys
BEST R&B ALBUM
Kelis, Flesh Tone
BEST R&B LIVE PERFORMANCE
Mary J. Blige, “Hard Times Come Again No More” Hope for Haiti Now telethon
BEST R&B VIDEO
Kelis “Acapella”
BEST ALTERNATIVE FEMALE VOCALIST
Laurie Anderson
BEST ALTERNATIVE MALE VOCALIST
Antony Geraty (Antony and the Johnsons)
BEST ALTERNATIVE FRONTPERSON
Jake Shears, Scissor Sisters
BEST ALTERNATIVE BAND
Scissor Sisters
BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM BY A SOLO ARTIST
Laurie Anderson, Homeland
BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM BY A BAND
MGMT, Congratulations
BEST DEBUT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM
Ghost of the Sabre Tooth Tiger, Jardin du Luxembourg
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
James Maddock, Sunrise on Avenue C
BEST FEMALE AMERICANA VOCALIST
Allison Moorer
BEST MALE AMERICANA VOCALIST
Justin Townes Earle
BEST DEBUT AMERICANA VOCALIST
James Maddock
BEST MALE SINGER-SONGWRITER
Freedy Johnston
BEST FEMALE SINGER-SONGWRITER
Lili Anel
BEST DEBUT SINGER-SONGWRITER
Lucy Wainwright Roche
BEST FEMALE FOLK ARTIST
Judy Collins
BEST MALE FOLK ARTIST
Steve Earle
BEST FOLK ALBUM
Judy Collins, Paradise
BEST FOLK COMPILATION
Bob Dylan, The Witmark Demos
BEST FOLK GROUP
Peter Stampfel & Friends
BEST INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Toby Walker, Speechless For Once
BEST JAZZ ALBUM BY A MALE ARTIST
Mose Allison, Way of the World
BEST JAZZ ALBUM BY A FEMALE
Lili Anel, Every Second In Between
BEST FEMALE JAZZ VOCALIST
Lili Anel
BEST MALE JAZZ VOCALIST
Mose Allison
BEST FEMALE SOUL ARTIST
Sharon Jones
BEST MALE SOUL ARTIST
Gil Scott-Heron
BEST SOUL GROUP
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
BEST SOUL ALBUM
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
BEST POP/SOUL SINGER
Kristina Train
BEST TRADITIONAL POP ALBUM
Barbra Streisand, Love is the Answer
BEST FEMALE TRADITIONAL POP VOCALIST
Barbra Streisand
BEST MALE TRADITIONAL POP VOCALIST
Neil Diamond
BEST CONCERT
Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium
BEST LATIN VOCALIST
Marc Anthony
BEST LATIN ALBUM
Marc Anthony, Iconos
BEST MALE BLUES ARTIST
Mose Allison
BEST FEMALE BLUES ARTIST
Cyndi Lauper
BEST BLUES ALBUM
Cyndi Lauper, Memphis Blues
BEST LIVE BLUES ARTIST
Robert Ross
BEST FEMALE TV/BROADWAY VOCALIST
Lea Michele, Glee
BEST MALE TV/BROADWAY VOCALIST
Constantine Mouralis, Rock of Ages
BEST POP-ELECTRONIC ALBUM
LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
BEST LIVE RECORDING
Regina Spektor, Live In London
INDIE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The National, High Violet
BEST INDIE ROCK GROUP
The Walkmen
BEST MALE INDIE ROCK VOCALIST
Quinn Walker, Suckers
BEST FEMALE INDIE ROCK VOCALIST
Alexis Krauss, Sleigh Bells
BEST INDIE VIDEO
Sleigh Bells, “Infinity Guitars”
BEST INDIE RISING STAR
The Drums
BEST MUSIC-COMEDY ARTIST
Reggie Watts
BEST MUSIC-COMEDY GROUP
Lonely Island
BEST HARDCORE BAND
Sick of it All, Based on a True Story
BEST BROOKLYN ROCK
BAND
The Hold Steady
BEST CLUB BAND
Scissor Sisters
BEST METAL ALBUM
Helmet, Seeing Eye Dog
BEST DANCE REMIX
A-Trak, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll”
BEST FEMALE DANCE ARTIST
Lady Gaga
BEST MALE DANCE ARTIST
Jake Shears, Scissor Sisters
BEST DANCE ALBUM
Scissor Sisters, Night Work
BEST DANCE SINGLE
Kelis, “Acapella”
BEST FREESTYLE DJ
DJ KYS
BEST DANCE/REMIX ALBUM
Lady Gaga, The Remix
BEST MUSIC WEBSITE