The Juno Awards of 1983, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 5 April 1983 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Burton Cummings and Alan Thicke at the Harbour Castle Hilton in the Metropolitan Ballroom.[1]
Western Canadian artists have proven to be a major force in the music industry in the 1980s with 1983 Juno winners such as Bryan Adams, Loverboy and the Payola$.
Awards ceremony
The Juno ceremonies were broadcast as a two-hour special on CBC Television from 7pm Eastern Time. Interest in the telecast was growing substantially, with 3.2 million viewers in 1982, and 4.4 million for this year's edition.
During their opening co-hosts Cummings and Thicke introduced the Compact Disc to the viewing audience, likely the first introduction to the new media for many people. Columbia Records had just released their first ever batch of titles on CD about one month before the broadcast. As Cummings recalled: "Alan held up Toto IV, and it was also the first time I held one in my hand. I don't think Alan had seen one before that night... It felt like 'show and tell' and it was pretty cool for that to happen on national TV."[2]
Payola$ were the top band this year with three awards including "Most Promising Group" and "Best Selling Single" for "Eyes of a Stranger". Bob Rock was absent (ironically he was mixing Loverboy's next album) and so band-mate Paul Hyde accepted their awards. For the "Most Promising Group" award he remarked "Somebody told us that to get this award is the kiss-off. Nobody's going to kiss us off."[3]
Bryan Adams won his first ever Juno award but was unable to accept it in person as he was touring in the U.S., so his manager Bruce Allen accepted it on his behalf.[3]