BUENA PARK, CA (December 9, 2004) — The Billboard Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the success of musicians and artists who top the charts, charm the nation and generate extraordinary album sales. This year, two Yamaha artists,
Alicia Keys and
Usher, out sang, outplayed and outsold all of the competition and took home 18 awards between the two of them.
Usher opened the show and got the fans screaming. His night did not end there. Usher reached the podium 11 times and accepted awards including the top honor of Artist of the Year, Billboard 200 Artist of the Year, Billboard 200 Album of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year for "Confessions," Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Mainstream Top 40 Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Artist for Hot 100 Single of the Year, Hot 200 Airplay Single of the Year and Mainstream Top 40 Single of the Year.
Usher performed one of his hits during the show, using several Yamaha
pro audio products that he uses for all of his performances, like the Yamaha
workstations,
speakers and
amps.
Alicia Keys also performed for the Billboard Awards at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. Keys won several awards including Female Artist of the Year, Female Hot 100 Artist of the Year and R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Artist of the year. The single "If I Ain't Got You" off of her album "The Diary of Alicia Keys" also won for R&B/Hip-Hop Single of the Year and R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Single of the year.
Keys, who favors playing on the Yamaha
Concert Grands, performed her latest hit from her album, "Karma," along with another Yamaha keyboard artist,
Onree Gill.
Other Yamaha artists also performed on December 8, during the nationally televised Billboard Awards on the Fox network, including
Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and
Gwen Stefani. Usher and Keys are just a branch of a vast family of
Yamaha artists that encompasses more than 3,000 artists from all over the world, of every age and from every genre of music. Yamaha artists also include noted Grammy, Oscar and Tony award winners and members of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.
To learn more, contact Tiffany Napper at
tnapper@yamaha.com, write Yamaha Corporation of America at P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; or telephone (714) 522-9011.
