50, Mariah lead Billboard Music Awards finalists
50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Green Day are the top finalists for the 2005 Billboard Music Awards, which will be handed out Dec. 6 live on Fox from Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena. Rap legend LL Cool J will host the event, which will boast newly confirmed performances from Gwen Stefani and Daddy Yankee with Pharrell.
50 Cent is a finalist in eight categories, followed by Carey with seven and Green Day with six. All three will vie for artist of the year and album of the year for "The Massacre", "The Emancipation of Mimi" and "American Idiot", respectively. The other album of the year finalist is Eminem's "Encore", while Kelly Clarkson is the fourth artist of the year finalist.
Green Day is also a finalist for group of the year, along with the Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child and the Killers. In the new artist of the year category, the finalists are Stefani, Fantasia, the Game and Rob Thomas. Other multiple-award finalists are Fantasia, the Game and Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz (four), Stefani, Clarkson, Eminem, the Killers and Destiny's Child (three) and Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell, Mario, Ciara, Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails (two).
As previously reported, Tom Petty will receive the Century Award and Kanye West will be bestowed with the 2005 Artist Achievement Award at the ceremony. Green Day, Toby Keith, R. Kelly and Carrie Underwood will also perform. A number of surprise collaborations are also expected onstage. Executive producer Bob Bain says that as many as three performances will feature multiple artists.
The presenters' area onstage will resemble a cross between CNN's "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer and the NASDAQ stock market, according to producer Paul Flattery. Screens behind this area will display Billboard charts from throughout the year for the award category being presented. Once the winner is announced, the year-end chart in that category will then be shown in select cases. (Billboard)
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