The American Music Awards
show is one of several annual major American music awards shows (among the others are the Grammy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, the currently dormant Billboard Music Awards, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony).
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AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS TICKETS
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History and overview
Conception
The AMAs were created by
Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to
Nashville, Tennessee led to
CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on
ABC.
Michael Jackson and
Donny Osmond co-hosted the first award show with
Rodney Allen Rippy and
Ricky Segall.
Differences between the AMAs and Grammys
While the Grammys are awarded based on votes by members of the entertainment industry, the AMAs are determined by a poll of music buyers, and as a result is more of a representative of
public opinion. The "big three" established awards shows (AMAs, Billboard Music Awards, and Grammys) compete for prestige and
television ratings, with the Grammys nominally rewarding quality and both the AMAs and Billboard Music Awards rewarding popularity. Stories of artists being pressured to participate in one awards show over the other have been fodder for
tabloid gossip and controversy.
The only other major difference between the Grammys and the AMAs is that the AMAs do not currently have an award for Best Single/Record but the Grammys do.
Favorite Artist of the Year
In 1996, the AMAs instituted a new award, Favorite Artist of the Year, which was awarded to
Garth Brooks. Brooks gave a short speech essentially saying he didn't deserve the award in a year he didn't do anything, and left the award on the podium. The category was discontinued.
In 2007, the AMAs brought in a new category entitled "T-Mobile Text-In Award", which resembled the Favorite Artist of the Year. The academy took one artist from 5 genres of music (rap, rock, pop, R&B, country) and merged them into one category, where America texted in their vote for their favorite artist of the selected five. Carrie Underwood won the first award, with Chris Brown winning the second.
International flavor
Although the American Music Awards is primarily for artists that originate from the United States, international artists like
Elton John,
Def Leppard,
Celine Dion,
Shania Twain,
George Michael,
Rihanna,
Enrique Iglesias,
Shakira and the have also won awards on the show, although this is in part of their large popularity in the United States.
Hosts
For the first decade or so, the AMAs had multiple hosts, each representing a genre of music. For instance,
Glen Campbell would host the country portion (Campbell, in fact, has co-hosted the AMAs more times than any other host or co-host), while other artists would co-host to represent his/her genre. In recent years, however, there has been one single host. For the 2008 awards, Jimmy Kimmel hosted for the fourth consecutive year.
From its inception in 1973 until 2003, the AMAs have been held in mid- to late-January, but were moved to November beginning in 2003 so as not to further compete with other major awards shows (such as the
Golden Globe Awards and the
Academy Awards) and allows for ABC to have a well-rated awards show during November
sweeps.
Artists with the most awards
The most American Music Awards for a group belongs to
Alabama who have collected twenty-two awards. The record for a solo artist belongs to
Whitney Houston who has amassed twenty awards.
The record for the most American Music Awards won in a single year is held by both
Michael Jackson (for
1983's
Thriller
), and Whitney Houston (for
1992's
The Bodyguard Soundtrack
), each with 8 awards to their credit (including the Award of Merit, with which both artists were honored in the respective years).
Most American Music Awards won by category
Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group: (
16
) Wins
Favorite Country Female Artist: (
12
) Wins
Favorite Country Male Artist: (
9
) Wins
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: (
8
) Wins
Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist: (
5
) Wins
Favorite Latin Artist: (
5
) Wins
Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo, or Group: (
4
) Wins
- Gladys Knight and the Pips
- Earth, Wind and Fire
Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist: (
4
) Wins
- Olivia Newton John
- Whitney Houston
- Kelly Clarkson
Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist: (
4
) Wins
- Aretha Franklin
- Mariah Carey
Favorite Alternative Artist: (
4
) Wins
Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist: (
3
) Wins
- Michael Bolton
- Eric Clapton
- Barry Manilow
Complete list of winners
See also
- Japan Music Award (similar Japanese music show)