Who is Johnny Orlando? Get to know the Juno breakthrough artist nominee
The childhood YouTube star is now a teen pop idol.
The Juno categories of breakthrough artist and group of the year have gone through a few different identities in their 45-year history, but what's never changed is the incredible pedigree of the categories' winners. A veritable who's who of now-established and future Canadian music industry icons have taken home these coveted Junos.
Breakthrough artist winners include Burton Cummings, k.d. lang, Colin James, Alanis Morissette, Jann Arden, Avril Lavigne, Michael Bublé, Feist, Drake, the Weeknd, Alessia Cara and Jessie Reyez. The list of breakthrough group winners is equally star-studded: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Rush, Glass Tiger, the Tragically Hip, Nickelback, Alexisonfire and A Tribe Called Red.
Think of the Junos as an opportunity to survey just a little bit more of the country's music scene, its depth and breadth, and then keep checking back as CBC Music posts its handy primers for each artist and group, as well as some context to help deepen your appreciation of these great musicians.
Who: Johnny Orlando.
Where: Mississauga, Ont.
Sound: Pop originals, pop covers, all the pop.
Why they're nominated: The 16-year-old has been posting videos to YouTube since before his 10th birthday, and thanks to his faithful covers of everybody from Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes to Pink and Post Malone, he's racked up hundreds of millions of views on the streaming site. He signed to Universal Music Canada in 2018 and released his first two original singles. He just finished work on his debut EP in January.
Previously: Famed vlogger, high-school student.
Fun fact: Managing Orlando's rise to fame was a "family business" for Orlando's parents and his older sister, Darian.
Quote: "Social media is a great tool to allow young artists and young creators of any kind to express themselves, to get content out there." — Orlando to CBC, 2018
'Last Summer' (2018)
'Everything' (2017)
'Cheerleader' (2015)
Wherever you are in the world, you can watch the 2019 Juno Awards on Sunday, March 17, broadcast live from London's Budweiser Gardens at 8 p.m. ET on CBC, CBC Radio and online at cbc.ca/junos.