TORONTO - Canadian singing legend Anne Murray is questioning the integrity of the Juno Awards after initially being left off the list of best album nominees.
An error in the way sales figures were calculated at first omitted Murray, and after being corrected resulted in six candidates vying for a trophy instead of the usual five.
Speaking by phone from a tour stop in Bethesda, Md., Murray said Tuesday that means "the person who is not supposed to be in there could conceivably win."
"It was strange because I knew what my (sales) numbers were and I saw some of the other numbers and I thought, 'Well, how did they figure that?"' Murray says of the initial list of nominees announced Feb. 5 in Toronto.
"Because it is strictly numbers with the album of the year, and so I was surprised."
"You wonder how seriously they take it, the counting and all of that."
The Juno Awards will be handed out April 6 in Calgary.
Ten days after revealing the nominees, officials said they had incorrectly factored in digital sales and should have included Murray's disc, "Duets: Friends and Legends" in the best album category and Jill Barber in the best new artist category.
That put "Duets" up against Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing," Celine Dion's comeback disc, "Taking Chances," Dion's French disc "D'Elles," Feist's breakout "The Reminder" and Michael Buble's chart-topping "Call Me Irresponsible."
Nominees for the best album category are determined by calculating the average of net sales, in part drawn from figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. The winner is then voted on by members of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS).
CARAS, which runs the Junos, would not say which of the other five albums or best artist nominees would have been excluded if the error had not occurred, but said the differences between the fifth and sixth rankings were very small.
Spokesman Stephen Stohn said the error only came to light when Murray's label, EMI, and others contacted CARAS with concerns a mistake had been made.
In order to make sure the incident is never repeated, Stohn said CARAS has formed a committee of music label representatives that will review all future nominee lists one day before they are officially announced.
"Next year this type of discussion, rather than happening after the nominations are announced, will happen with a very closed and very confidential group of people who are in the know, to just look and say, 'Listen, does this all make sense? Does this jive with what we know?' " said Stohn, who admitted he's had to field questions from several people trying to figure out who are the unintended nominees in the two categories.
Music watcher Larry LeBlanc said the bungle has sent waves through the industry, noting he, too, has been drawn into speculation with other insiders over who is the "weak link" in the best disc category.
"The Anne Murray gaffe was flabbergasting," says LeBlanc, a veteran music journalist who wrote the liner notes for the "Duets" disc.
"It casts a doubt on all but one album" in that category, Murray's disk.
Barber said she has mixed feelings about the incident, in which she was belatedly added to the roster of best new artist nominees.
"I felt a little bit of disappointment that I wasn't included in the initial big unveiling but I mostly just felt really excited to now be included," she said by phone from Vancouver.
Barber faces off against Belly, Jeremy Fisher, Justin Nozuka, Serena Ryder and Suzie McNeil. She's also up for best roots and traditional album.
Despite her comments, Murray said the flap doesn't bother her that much.
"It matters not, it's splitting hairs at that stage," said Murray, who is also up for best pop album and is slated to perform on the show.
"They're all really good-selling albums and all good, upstanding artists, so whoever wins, may the best man win."
Juno organizers also made a mistake in the rap recording of the year category.
After they realized that rapper Classified had been nominated for the same release last year, they dropped him from the category and added rapper JDiggz.
James Morton
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