REIGNING ACM® ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR KEITH URBAN TO HOST THE
“55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™”
LIVE FROM THE MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA IN LAS VEGAS ON SUNDAY, APRIL 5 ON CBS
Nominations for Country Music’s Party Of The Year® to be Revealed on the
Academy of Country Music’s Social Media Platforms Starting at 8:30 AM ET
CBS and the Academy of Country Music® today announced that reigning ACM® Entertainer of the Year and 15-time ACM Award®-winner Keith Urban will host the 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™, Country Music’s Party of the Year®, honoring the biggest names and emerging talent in the Country Music industry. The awards show will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Sunday, April 5 (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network and be available to stream live and on-demand across digital platforms on the CBS All Access subscription service. This will be Urban’s first time hosting the ACM Awards.
“As if having a new song out today wasn’t enough, I also get to host the ACM Awards in April,” said Urban. “I’ll tell you – this year already feels like the most creative and energized year of my life… and there’s so much more to come. Incredibly grateful – and ready to roll!”
“We are thrilled to have our reigning Entertainer of the Year as the centerpiece of our 55th ACM Awards ceremony. Keith epitomizes greatness in our industry, is beloved by fans and fellow artists, and I can’t think of a better representative to be the face of our Awards show and to help usher in a new era at the Academy,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music.
“Keith Urban is the perfect choice to host the Academy of Country Music Awards,” said Jack Sussman, Executive Vice President, Specials, Music & Live Events, CBS. “He’s an incredible musician, a respected and revered member of the Country Music community and the music community worldwide, and our viewers love him. We’re thrilled to have him lead Country Music’s Party of the Year.”
Nominations for the 55th ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS will be announced today at a digital press conference hosted on the Academy of Country Music’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts starting at 8:30 AM ET. Participating talent include ACM Award-winning artist Lauren Alaina, this year’s ACM Radio Award National On-Air Personality of the Year winner Bobby Bones, Entertainment Tonight’s Cassie DiLaura and Kevin Frazier, CBS This Morning’s Gayle King, reigning ACM New Female Artist of the Year Ashley McBryde and more will announce select ACM Awards nominations categories via videos posted in real time to fans and media, simultaneously. The full list of nominations will be available on ACMcountry.com at 9:00 AM ET.
2020 is set to be a groundbreaking year of music for four-time GRAMMY® Award winner Keith Urban. Today, he releases a new single “God Whispered Your Name,” which is expected to be followed by several international releases before an album release later this year. Three distinctive shows each with its own production and set list, will highlight Urban’s year on stage, including 14 concert events at Las Vegas’ prestigious Caesar’s Palace Colosseum, a European tour this May and select fairs and festivals later this summer.
While 2020 shapes up to be a big year for Urban, it follows one that saw him take home both the ACM and CMA Awards for Entertainer of the Year. He officially wrapped a nearly two-year stretch that began with the #1 simultaneous debut (U.S., Canada and Australia) of his ninth studio album, Graffiti U, and concluded his critically acclaimed “GRAFFITI U WORLD TOUR,” which played to more than one million fans in seven countries on three continents.
Graffiti U followed 2016’s Ripcord, which featured five #1 hits, including “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” which won Best Single at the 2017 CMA Awards and Favorite Country Song at the American Music Awards, where he also collected trophies for Favorite Country Album and Favorite Male Country Artist.
Urban has twice had an album simultaneously atop the all-genre charts in the U.S., Canada and Australia and is the only male Country artist to have achieved the mark. He now stands at #8 on Billboard’s All-Time Country Airplay Chart as the artist with the most consecutive top 10 songs on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart (38) – a streak that started in August of 2000. Urban has won four Grammy Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, 13 Country Music Association Awards, four People’s Choice Awards and four American Music Awards. Also, he is a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
The 55th ACM Awards will feature exciting performances, unprecedented collaborations, surprising moments and more to be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets for the 55th ACM Awards are available for purchase now at ACMawards.com.
Media credential application to cover the Awards in Las Vegas are available now at ACMcountry.com/press.
For more information on the ACM Awards and all ACM events, visit www.ACMcountry.com. You can like Academy of Country Music on Facebook or follow on Twitter at @ACMawards, follow on Instagram at @ACMawards and sign up for the FREE ACM A-List for more immediate updates.
About the Academy of Country Music Awards™
The 55th Academy of Country Music Awards™ is dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the Country Music industry. The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will broadcast LIVE from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network, and will be available to stream live and on-demand across digital platforms on the CBS All Access subscription service. R.A. Clark, Barry Adelman, Mark Bracco and Amy Thurlow are executive producers. Damon Whiteside is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.