The 2017 APRA Music Awards were held tonight at the International Convention Centre Grand Ballroom in Sydney culminating in Harley Streten pka Flume being named as Songwriter of the Year. Flume also took home the awards for Dance Work of the Year and Most Played Australian Work for Never Be Like You feat. Kai.
It’s been a stellar 12 months for Flume, who recently followed up his haul of eight ARIA Awards with a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album for Skin.
The prestigious Song of the Year award was taken out by Oliver Perry pka D.D Dumbo for his work Satan. D.D Dumbo released his long-awaited, universally acclaimed debut album, Utopia Defeated, late last year to rave reviews from local and international publications including Rolling Stone, Line of Best Fit and Mojo, before going on to win the J Award for Australian Album of the Year.
Troye Sivan has been named the Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year. From his humble beginnings in suburban Perth, Troye quickly evolved into a YouTube superstar and now has more than 4 million subscribers to his channel. His critically acclaimed debut album, Blue Neighbourhood exploded on music charts around the world upon its release, and was one of the most streamed albums on Spotify in Australia in 2016.
Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, Sam Dixon has received the Overseas Recognition Award. Sam’s production and songwriting credits include Adele, Sia, Christina Aguilera, Carly Rae Jepsen, Paloma Faith and Jack Savoretti. Sam is also a Golden Globe nominee and his compositions have featured on multiple Grammy, BRIT, APRA and ARIA award winning albums.
Pop Work of the Year was awarded to Sia’s Cheap Thrills, which takes the international superstar’s APRA Music Award tally to eight.
Aleyce Simmonds took home her first APRA Music Award, winning Country Work of the Year for Greatest Companion.
The Blues & Roots Work of the Year award was taken out by 2013 triple j unearthed winner, Robbie Miller for The Pain, co-written with Nathan Morrison.
The Rock Work of the Year award was won by Perth’s Birds of Tokyo (writers Ian Berney, Ian Kenny, Glenn Sarangapany, Adam Spark and Adam Weston) for I’d Go with You Anywhere from their singles compilation, Playlist. This was Birds of Tokyo’s fourth career APRA Music Award win.
Papercuts feat. Vera Blue, the lead single from Illy’s fifth studio album Two Degrees, took home Urban Work of the Year. Composed by Alasdair Murray pka Illy, Mark Landon pka M-Phazes, Thomas Macken and Celia Pavey pka Vera Blue, the song is Illy’s highest charting single to date.
The Most Played Australian Work Overseas was Vance Joy’s Riptide. As previously announced, the International Work of the Year was Adele’s global smash hit Hello and the inaugural Licensee of the Year award was given to Adelaide live music institution, The Gov, aka The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel.
Award winning journalist, Stan Grant, presented the 2017 Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music to legendary songwriter, storyteller and activist, Archie Roach. Paul Kelly and A.B. Original with Dan Sultan closed the ceremony with a tender tribute to their friend performing Took the Children Away.
Julia Zemiro hosted the 2017 APRA Music Awards which also featured guest presenters Bernard Fanning, Hayley Mary (The Jezabels), Tex Perkins and Morgan Evans.
The awards showcased special musical performances including Tkay Maidza who opened the show with Simulation. Cloves performed her take on D.D Dumbo’s Song of the Year winner, Satan, and Busby Marou put their stamp on Amy Shark’s Adore. Kate Miller-Heidke performed Tim Minchin’s Come Home (Cardinal Pell) and Holy Holy took on Julia Jacklin’s Pool Party. Song of the Year nominee Julia Jacklin wowed the crowd with her interpretation of Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
The 2017 APRA Music Awards were filmed by our broadcast partner MAX and will be transmitted exclusively on MAX in the days following the awards featuring exclusive interviews from the red carpet and backstage interviews with the Song of the Year performers. These unique nomination performances for the night’s most prestigious prize are not to be missed! MAX is available, as ever, on Foxtel.
A selection of winners from this year’s APRA Music Awards is available on Apple Music and Spotify.
APRA AMCOS thanks its event sponsors Ableton, Aon, Delta Air Lines, Forbes Street Studios, Melissa Sassine, Natalie Anne Hair, Wheels & Dollbaby and media partners, Foxtel and MAX.