Sting was at the 2019 Juno Awards in London, Ont. – but two of the night's big winners were not.
Shawn Mendes, who won Album of the Year during Sunday night's broadcast, was named winner of Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Pop Album of the Year, and Single of the Year (for “In My Blood”) at Saturday's gala. In all, he won five of the six categories in which he was nominated.
Mendes lost the Fan Choice Award, which he won in 2017 and 2018, to Avril Lavigne, who was also absent from the show.
(Mendes made a pre-taped appearance on the Junos show from a stop on the European leg of his world tour.)
bülow and Jessie Reyez did attend the Junos, though, and were rewarded with trophies. bülow was named Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Reyez won R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for her EP, Being Human In Public.
Other winners include the Arkells for Group of the Year (they also won Rock Album of the Year for Rally Cry on Saturday) and country artist Brett Kissel.
Sting, currently starring in The Last Ship in Toronto, made a surprise appearance to present the R&B Soul Recording of the Year award with David Foster, who accepted the Humanitarian Award on Saturday night.
Corey Hart, who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, closed Sunday night’s show with a performance of some of his hits, including “Never Surrender” and “Sunglasses at Night.”
Sarah McLachlan hosted this year’s show.