Joel Plaskett Emergency captures 6 ECMAs

Halifax band Joel Plaskett Emergency were big winners at the 20th East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs), capturing six trophies in all.

The band won for best group recording, recording of the year and best rock recording of 2007 for Ashtray Rock, as well as group single of the year and video of the year for Fashionable People. Joel Plaskett himself captured Songwriter of the Year for that same song.

Dave Gunning, the Rankin Family and Jamie Sparks were all double winners.

Gunning nabbed male solo recording of the year for House For Sale as well as top folk recording. The Rankin Family won DVD of the Year for Back Stage Pass and Roots Group Recording of the Year for Reunion.

Sparks was a winner in the African-Canadian Recording of the Year for It's The Music and best urban single for If You Were.

The ECMAs are a four-day music industry conference and ceremony which took place in Fredericton this year.The event culminated in a gala on Sunday night at the Aitken Centre in the capital city.

Other winners included:

• Entertainer of the Year: George Canyon.
• Female Solo Recording of the Year: If You Were For Me (Rose Cousins).
• Rising Star Recording of the Year: Brand New Skin (Stephanie Hardy).
• Bluegrass Recording of the Year: Saddle River String Band (Saddle River String Band).
• Blues Recording of the Year: Into The Dirt (Thom Swift).
• Gospel Recording of the Year: New Beginnings (Chelsea Nisbett).
• Pop Recording of the Year: Little Jabs (Two Hours Traffic).

In addition, the Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to New Brunswick group 1755.The group helped to popularizeAcadian music in Atlantic Canada, paving the way for francophone artists over the last 25 years.

The ECMAs will be featured in a special one-hour show on CBC Television, Barenaked East Coast Music!, hosted by Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies, to be broadcast March 2.