Preston Pablo of Timmins receives three Juno Award nominations

Preston Pablo, 21, of Timmins is a singer, songwriter and musician who's been nominated for three Juno Awards.

The announcement was made Tuesday. Pablo will also be performing at the 52nd Juno Awards show on March 13 in Edmonton.

He has been nominated in three categories, including Single of the Year for 'Flowers Need Rain,' which also features fellow Juno Award nominees Banx and Ranx from Montreal.

Some of the other contenders in this category include Avril Lavigne, The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes.

Pablo only signed with Universal Music Canada about a year ago and his debut single, 'Flowers Need Rain,' was one of the top 30 most listened to songs of 2022. It has amassed more than 51 million streams globally.

In an interview with CTV News, Pablo said he was still living in Timmins when he wrote the song.

"I just remember sitting on the bed,” he said.

“Picked up my guitar and I was just kind of messing around with the guitar and the melody for the chorus of ‘Flowers Need Rain’ just came out and I was just like mumbling the melody and as soon as I heard the melody come out, I knew that ... it sounded great.”

Pablo also has nominations in the 'Breakthrough Artist' and 'TikTok Juno Fan Choice' categories.

“It hasn’t actually been more than like a few years that I actually started making music,” he told CTV News.

“For me moving away from Timmins less than a year ago to now playing at the Junos … just saying that out loud is crazy to me. So it definitely, it feels like a long time because of how much work I put into it. But I think we’ve got a long road ahead so this is just the beginning.”

The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist now lives in Toronto with his brother Dawson, who’s also a musician.

Carla Comand-Desmarais, their former music teacher in Timmins, said the brothers stopped by for a visit before Christmas to talk to her students.

“I was Preston Pablo’s music teacher in Grade 7 and Grade 8 so when he came to R. Ross Beattie Public School, he was already quite an accomplished drummer,” Comand-Desmarais said.

“He had been taking some drumming lessons so when he got to Grade 7, we bumped him right away to Grade 8 band.”

Cheryl and Reg Pablo, Preston's parents, are glad to see him succeed.

'PRESTON'S HAVING FUN'

“Preston’s having fun,” said Cheryl.

“We’ll just see where his music takes him. We’re here to support him. He’s got a good team behind him and we’ll see what happens.”

“Fingers crossed,” added Reg.

A new song from Pablo, 'Ay Ay Ay,' was released in early January.

Another northerner, Crystal Shawanda from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, is also a Juno nominee for 2022 for Blues Album of the Year for her album, 'Midnight Blues.’