Don Amero
Don Amero (born September 11, 1980) is a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Prior to launching his career as a musician, Amero worked as a hardwood flooring installer, and unsuccessfully tried out for "Canadian Idol" in 2006. He released his debut CD "Change Your Life" in 2006, and left his flooring job in 2007. The album garnered five Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award nominations, for best new artist, songwriter, folk or acoustic CD, album cover and producer/engineer. His second album, "Deepening", followed in 2009. The album again garnered several Aboriginal Peoples Choice nominations , and Amero won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year. In 2010, he performed on the bill for APTN's "Aboriginal Day Live" concert, and released his third album "The Long Way Home". The album won the awards for Best Folk Recording at the 2011 Native American Music Awards, and for Best Aboriginal Recording at the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2012, he performed at a fundraising benefit concert for indigenous music pioneer Shingoose, and released his fourth album "Heart on My Sleeve". He also collaborated with Vince Fontaine of Eagle & Hawk in Indian City, a  band whose album "Supernation" fused traditional First Nations music with experimental rock. Amero won Male Entertainer of the Year, and "Supernation" won Best Pop Album, at that year's Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards. "Heart on My Sleeve" garnered Amero his first Juno Award nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2013, won the award for Best Folk/Acoustic Album at the 2013 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, and was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award. His fifth album, "Refined", was released in 2015. In the same year, he collaborated with country singer Brett  Kissel on "Rebuild This Town", a song about cultural reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and other Canadians. At the Juno Awards of 2016, "Refined" garnered Juno Award nominations for Aboriginal Album of the Year and Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. In August 2018, Amero released his sixth album, "Evolution", which launched him into the country music genre. In 2019, Amero released the single "Music Lover" to Canadian country radio. In September 2020, Amero released his extended play "The Next Chapter".