Some of Canada's brightest music stars will be toasted in Edmonton tonight as a pre-telecast Juno Awards celebration gets underway.
More than 40 Juno categories will be handed out at the Juno Opening Night Awards, which stream live on YouTube and CBC Gem from the Edmonton Convention Centre, co-hosted by "Run the Burbs" star Andrew Phung and CBC Music's Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe.
Toronto singer the Weeknd holds a leading six Juno nominations, with four of those categories set to be handed out tonight, including contemporary R&B recording, artist and single of the year.
Tied with five nods this year are Napanee, Ont. pop princess Avril Lavigne and Calgary newcomer Tate McRae. They'll compete with each other in two of those categories tonight — single and pop album of the year.
The industry show will toast several others, including Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew who receives the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award for his philanthropic contributions to music education.
The headline Juno Awards show airs live on CBC and CBC Gem on Monday, hosted by Simu Liu with performances from Tate McRae, Tenille Townes and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Nickelback.
