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Will Carrie Underwood steal Kenny Chesney’s crown?
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Carrie Underwood has become country music’s biggest star since she exploded onto the scene after winning American Idol in 2005, but so far she’s been passed over as the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, which has gone to only six women in 39 years.
In fact in recent years, country superstar Kenny Chesney has had a lock on the Entertainer of the Year award, taking it home in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
But this could be the year for Carrie, who has achieved enormous crossover success, winning four Grammy awards already in her short career. She is the lone woman nominated in 2009, facing off against Brad Paisley, George Strait , Keith Urban and – of course – Chesney. (Updates to four Grammys).
And remember, Chesney touched off a country music furor last year when, after winning Entertainer of the Year for the fourth straight time, he criticized the Academy for allowing the award to be chosen by fans voting on the Internet.
“I don’t think its right that they picked the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrificed the most for, and turned it into a … sweepstakes,” Chesney said at the time.
Those remarks prompted some wags to suggest that he should give the trophy back.
The suspense ends on Sunday night at the 44th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be handed out at a ceremony hosted by Reba McEntire at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and broadcast live on CBS.
Whether Carrie wins or not, one thing is certain. She has come a long way from Checotah, Oklahoma and her appearance on “American Idol” — where judge Simon Cowell predicted during that season that she would not only win the competition but outsell all previous winners.
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“But this could be the year for Carrie, who has achieved enormous crossover success, winning three Grammy awards already in her short career. ”
Underwood has won 4 Grammys, not 3. She won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2007, and she has won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2007, 2008, and 2009 for singing Jesus, Take The Wheel, Before He Cheats, and Last Name respectively.
It would be great to see Underwood recognized as Entertainer Of The Year. Brad Paisley is also long overdue to win that honor.
I feel that the honor should go to Kenny Chesney. I think that with the fact that he had the 6th top grossing tour for 2008, sold out shows time and time again, did huge stadium shows where he invited other artists to perform he deserves the honor. Not to mention the honor of having the title for 5 times. Success did not come to Kenny on a silver platter, he paid his dues now he deserves the rewards.
Uh, hello, Keith Urban is also nominated for EOY… And sorry, but he deserves to win. If you’ve ever seen him in concert, you know why:)
She doesn’t deserve it. The other nominee’s don’t have American Idol to boost their sales every time they come out with an album and/or single, they worked for everything they have. Lets see her do it without American Idol, IF she can.
Uh hello did any of you go to her concerts this past year? Prob. b/c they were sold out! Entertainer of the year means you entertain!
Kenny deserves this award more then any of the others nominated especially Carrie. Kenny is the only one who for 7 years has been in the TOP 4 highest grossing concerts of any genre….he sells more tickets then anyone and the whole time he is on that stage he ENTERTAINS!! All this fan based crap does is discredit the award IMO. I think the ACM’s should be ashamed to take such a prestigious award like EOTY and put it in hands of whos fans can vote the most. Totally assinine!!
i totally agree with Kenny Chesney. That is not the way to decide entertainer of the year.
YES! She won!!!! And YES, she DID deserve it!
Carries show is a rip off of Sugarland. Not creative in her show design.
Chesney is the ultimate entertainer of all of these. I cannot believe a silly American Idol Gimic won.
go to a CU show and fall asleep. Go to a KC show and rock your socks off.
Kenny Chesney is THE entertainer of the year every year. He is the only one to sell out all of his concerts. Carrie Underwood is great and I love all of her songs but sorry she has only headlined one tour and not even a full one! What the heck? Fans should not be credited on this one, sorry for anyone who disagrees. It is supposed to be based on how well they entertain!!!!
I like Carrie Underwood because she has class and can sing.
also she is not jealous of other preformer’s
Carrie Underwood did not deserve to win. When people gets one artist embedded in their heads they win and win and win, year after year. Sure she is good, but so are a lot of other artists. George Strait has one too many times. So did Alabama and.Kenny Chesney. Wake up people and listen to someone else once in a while. Not another American Idol winner. She was not self made it was handed to her. And yes I am ticked off royally that Kieth Urban won nothing. He deserved Entertainer of the Year. Thanks for letting my express my thoughts
Do you ever wonder if the American people really pick these winners? I certainly don’r think so. The Academy gives it to whom ever they choose. George Strait had a look of disbelief on his face when Carrie Underwood won Entertainer of the Year. She is no entertainer, just a good singer. Her shows suck. Go see A keith Urban show and see how he entertains. An unbelievable, fantastic show. Next year I have someone else wins, that has been nominated many times but never got a shot at it.
I have seen Kenny in concert and he was good but most of the audience was so drunk they didn’t even know who was singing. Many pay to go to his concerts so they can say they did. Entertainment can be found in your car or on your IPOD. I dare say that some singers would never have made it through the humiliation of American Idol. She put the songs out there and someone is buying them and listening to her “entertain”. Look at her Grammys and other awards. She is entertaining. Maybe they need a “tour” award. But, then I think Tim McGraw and Faith Hill would have won. Check the numbers.
I absolutely love Carrie and I’m not a teeny bopper, I’m in my late 40′s. She has the most incredible voice to come along in quite a while. I went to one of her concerts last year and I was very impressed. I don’t need all the flash, her voice is entertainment enough for me. I’m also a huge Keith Urban fan, and I went to one of his concerts last year too. I went mainly to watch him play his guitar, and again, he doesn’t have all the flash and gimmicks some folks have when you go to their concerts.
I’m glad to see Carrie win. She can out sing any of them. Move over, a new generation is taking over country music and it’s lead by Ms. Underwood!
Carrie did not deserve to win. Keith Urban or Brad Paisley deserve to win. George Strait did, too…but he’s already won so many times.
I’m getting sick of all the American Idol producers pimping out Carrie. It’s like every time she is nominated, she wins, and that must be so frustrating for all the other artists who work so hard and got there on their own, and don’t have American Idol producers to pimp them out.
Might as well just call the awards shows the Carrie Underwood variety show and save ourselves the time of even watching it.
Carrie is great, but i saw her when she toured with keith urban and he was much better in concert. But kenny chesney was #1 in ticket sales this year (which was the old criteria for this award) i think he should have gotten it. I think carrie got a lot of the female vote, and the guys split the rest.
Congratulations, Carrie on a much deserved win for Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist! I saw Carrie twice last year and once was with Keith Urban. She was amazing! Her vocals are just the best! I don’t see how she did it night after night! She was very entertaining…I hated for it to end. That is why I went to another show of hers. Great, job Carrie!
I’m just so glad Chesney did not win! He may sell more tickets but he also has more people touring with him and he parties to too many drunks! Not my idea of entertaining! Carrie is really good, but my vote was for Keith Urban. When Carrie toured with Keith, the reviewers all stated she needed to learn from Keith. That she should sit in the audience during his gig and take notes. Maybe after she has more experience at touring like the others, then she could have a chance of winning. But if the ACMs keep with the fan voting, my guess would be that Taylor Swift would win next year!! How pathetic will that be? And honestly, she is nowhere near being a country artist! She is all POP!