He’s never worn a baseball uniform, but for Brian Evans, it’s been a busy off-season for a guy who wrote a song about a baseball park. Add to it multiple Grammy winning mega-producer Narada Michael Walden’s touch, the famed producer of such superstars as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Elton John, and George Michael, and it’s a song being taken seriously.

Evans, originally from Haverhill, left Massachusetts at 16 and began an acting career on such shows as “Full House” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Focusing on a singing career, he’s been opening for the likes of Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, Social Distortion, David Spade, Roseanne Barr, and Mick Fleetwood. His shows with William Shatner have become legendary. His major label debut is currently being produced by Walden. The new CD will be distributed in 60 countries.

But it’s “At Fenway,” that is garnering the most attention. Debuting at #3 on Amazon.com, unprecedented given it was released during football season, the song has already received accolades from the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, and United States Senator John Kerry. The Baseball Hall of Fame is adding the song to its library.

“From talk shows who know the 100th anniversary is forthcoming, to T-shirt companies, to corporations who are lining up corporate events, we’ve never had so many requests for Brian Evans to perform than we have in the past couple of months. Numerous companies associated with The Boston Red Sox have been clamoring to get the guy who sings the song about Fenway to appear at their event or to figure out a way to incorporate the song into their own advertising campaigns,” says Mark Biltz, creative director for Brian Evans Music.

“We’ve received a lot of support,” he adds.Support is putting it lightly, as Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer and current post-show commentator Jim Rice is now starring in a TV commercial with Evans in a Best Buy commercial promoting the new CD single.

“It’s obviously our hope that the organization (Boston Red Sox) itself gets behind the song,” says Biltz. “That’s a decision that they will have to make. Our mission has been to promote Brian’s song about the most beautiful baseball park in the world, in our opinion,” says Biltz. “The fans obviously love the song, and that’s all we can ask for. Thousands of downloads are occurring every day of the song. The closer we get to the season, the more the song is selling.”

“Our goal is to do a series of commercials promoting the song throughout the entire season, with different Red Sox players co-starring with Brian,” says Biltz. “It’s been a lot of fun so far, and everyone has been very helpful in helping implement the song into Red Sox Nation. Every player we have approached has said yes to appearing in a spot with Brian after hearing the song. From Donald Trump to Bud Selig to Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino, we’ve received some very nice responses to the song.”

Evans appeared in January at the Jimmy Fund sponsored event, “New Stars For Young Stars,” signing more than 500 donated CD’s for fans.

Image Courtesy of   Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com

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CTV and The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced today that Canadian icon William Shatner will host CTV’s broadcast of THE 2012 Juno Awards on Sunday, April 1 from Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Tickets for the 2012 Juno Awards go on sale on Friday Feb.10, beginning at 10 a.m. ET through the Scotiabank Place Box Office, The Sens Store locations at Carlingwood Mall and Place D’Orleans,

“I’m so pleased to be a part of The Juno Awards,” said William Shatner. “To be part of Canada’s entertainment industry is a point of pride.”

“A true Canadian icon, we are thrilled to welcome the man and the legend, William Shatner, as host of THE 2012 JUNO AWARDS broadcast,” said Phil King, President CTV Programming and Sports. “A recording artist himself, Mr. Shatner will bring his irreverent sense of humour and love for his home country to his role as host of Canada’s Music Awards.”

“We’re delighted to welcome one of our nation’s shining stars to Canada’s biggest night in music,” said Melanie Berry, President & CEO, CARAS/The Juno Awards. “William Shatner is a Canadian hero, and with his love for music, the stage, and entertaining as a whole, it’s sure to be an incredible show!”

Best known for roles as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek and the Emmy Award- winning role of Denny Crane on Boston Legal, Shatner is one of entertainment’s most recognizable stars. Born and raised in Montreal, Québec, Shatner has a career spanning over 50 years as an award-winning, actor, director, producer, recording artist and author.

His television and film credits span about 200 titles, including Shit My Dad Says, T.J. Hooker, Tekwar, The Practice and Miss Congeniality. And Shatner is no stranger to the music industry. Known for being a quirky and dramatic spoken word artist, Shatner has released three albums over the span of his career, titled The Transformed Man, Has Beenand the recently released Seeking Major Tom .

His renditions of “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” have become cult hits. In February, Shatner opens on Broadway with Shatner’s World at the Music Box Theatre in New York City.

Following announcements made by CTV and CARAS today, the current performance lineup for The 2012 Juno Awards broadcast is Blue Rodeo, City and Colour, deadmau5, Feist, Hedley and Nickelback.

Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

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On January 23, Priceline.com revealed that it will kill off the popular Priceline Negotiator, a character played by William Shatner, in its new national TV campaign.

Mr. Shatner has been Priceline.com’s celebrity spokesman for 14 years and remains under contract to the company.  He first stepped into the role of The Negotiator in 2007.  Priceline.com said it decided to kill off The Negotiator character in order to focus consumers’ attention on its published-price hotel service, which is the fastest-growing segment of Priceline.com’s hotel business.  Priceline.com said it will continue to offer its Name-Your-Own Price hotel service.

“The Priceline Negotiator has become very strongly associated with the Priceline.com brand and the concept of negotiating to get a deal on a hotel room,” said Brett Keller, Priceline.com’s Chief Marketing Officer.  “However, Priceline.com customers don’t have to negotiate themselves to get a deal.

Without bidding, they can choose from over 200,000 quality hotels around the world, with thousands of them on sale every day at rates we’ve negotiated for them.  In fact, in the past three years, Priceline.com has more than tripled the number of hotels available through our published-price hotel service.”

Keller continued, “We felt it was necessary to go to extremes to grab the attention of every consumer in America and drive home the message that you don’t have to negotiate to save money on a hotel at Priceline.com.  We know that The Negotiator has a lot of fans, and we hope that everyone understands this was something that just had to be done.”

The new campaign opens with The Negotiator coming to the rescue of a family whose bus is teetering on a bridge.  Heroically, The Negotiator manages to get them safely off the bus – and find a hotel for the night.  However, The Negotiator himself is unable to exit the bus before it plunges off the bridge.  Future spots in the campaign explore the aftermath of the crash.

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