JJ Wilde becomes first woman in 25 years to win Canadian Rock Album Of The Year prize

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By ( Classic Rock ) last updated

This year's Juno award for JJ Wilde's Ruthless comes 25 years after Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill triumphed in 1996

JJ Wilde
(Image credit: Black Box Recordings)

JJ Wilde has become the first woman in 25 year's to win Rock Album Of The Year at Canada's annual Juno Awards, for her debut album Ruthless.

The ceremony was originally due to take place in December 2020, but organisers postponed the show until June due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. Instead of the usual red carpet event, the broadcast consisted of prerecorded or live performances filmed at various venues throughout Canada.

Ruthless won its category against nominations including the Breakthrough Group Of The Year winner Crown Lands' debut album, All Of Us by the Sam Roberts Band, Silverstein's A Beautiful Place To Drown, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Colorado.

Previous winners include The Glorious Sons, who won in 2020 for A War On Everything and two years previously for Young Beauties And Fools, plus Rush, whose Clockwork Angels triumphed in 2013, and The Sheepdogs, whose Learn & Burn won the year before that. The last female winner in the Rock category was Alanis Morissette, whose classic Jagged Little Pill took home the ward in 1996. 

"Walking in those footsteps is pretty unreal," says Wilde. "I feel extremely lucky and grateful. And I think it says a lot for the music industry and how it’s turning and putting women to the front."

Last year, Wilde also become the first woman to hit number one on all three rock charts in Canada (modern rock, active rock and mainstream rock) for the Ruthless single The Rush.

Wilde will be performing live on two streaming music events on June 12 and 13. The two shows will be broadcast from the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, and will feature the singer performing tracks from Ruthless and new EP Wilde, which was  released last month. 

Tickets are on sale now.

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.