What started out as a Queen鈥檚 Drama Department class project 10 years ago has led to the first Juno Award nomination for a pair of alumni.
Children鈥檚 entertainers Taes Leavitt (Artsci鈥04) and Nick Adams (Artsci鈥04, Ed鈥05), known professionally as Splash鈥橬 Boots, are up for Children鈥檚 Album of the Year for Coconuts Don鈥檛 Fall Far From the Tree.
鈥淚 can't even begin to tell you how excited we were to find out about the nomination,鈥 says Taes. 鈥淲e feel so honoured to be recognized among such great Canadian talent.鈥
Taes and Nick give a lot of credit to the Queen鈥檚 Drama Department for inspiring their careers, which they have been successfully building over the past 10 years. Splash鈥橬 Boots have performed hundreds of shows across North America and the world, sold thousands of CDs, and have appeared on Treehouse, a popular Canadian children鈥檚 TV channel.
鈥淲e always laugh thinking back to that class project. It was during that show, at the Kingston Public Library, that we decided we were going to do everything we could to make a living doing this. We were always really determined, even way back then, so it's exciting that it's happening for real. Mostly we are really grateful to be able to spend every day doing what we love. We owe a lot to Queen鈥檚 Drama for leading us in this direction,鈥 says Taes.
Alumnus Joel Corriveau (Artsci'04) producedCoconuts Don鈥檛 Fall Far From the Tree, making him eligible to win the Children's Album of the Year Juno along with Nick and Taes.
Congratulations also go to alumna Amanda Balsys (MEd鈥11, Ed鈥12). Amanda is a vocalist/violinist with The Wilderness of Manitoba and her band鈥檚 album,Island of Echoes, is up for Best Roots and Traditional Album of the Year (Group).
The 2014 Juno Awards take place in Winnipeg from March 24-30.
