GLOBAL SUPERSTAR BRUNO MARS TO OPEN THE '2016 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS(R)'

dick clark productions and ABC announced today that singer, songwriter, producer and musician Bruno Mars will open the "2016 American Music Awards." The "2016 American Music Awards," the world's biggest fan-voted award show, will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC.

This marks Bruno Mars' first performance on the American Music Awards stage. In 2011, he took home the trophy for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, and has been nominated seven times throughout his career.

Mars recently released his brand new single "24K Magic," which debuted this week at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Mars' highest debut to date and his 13th Hot 100 Top 10. Mars is set to release his highly anticipated third album, "24K Magic," on November 18th.

Bruno Mars is a 20-time Grammy Award nominee and multi-Grammy winner. The critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer, musician has sold over 170 million singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Mars most recently dominated charts with hit single "Uptown Funk." The worldwide smash is the longest-leading Billboard Hot 100 single of the 2010s, and is only the 10th single in the Hot 100's 57-year history to spend at least 14 weeks at Number 1. "Uptown Funk" took home 3 Grammy Awards this past year, including the coveted Record of the Year award. The companion video for the hit single was also nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards in 2015, winning the award for Best Male Video. This past February, Bruno Mars returned to the Super Bowl Halftime stage to perform alongside Beyoncé and Coldplay at the Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show. In 2014, Bruno Mars made NFL history with the second most watched Super Bowl Halftime Show, which saw a record-breaking total viewership of over 115.3 million, all while being the youngest artist ever to serve as the sole NFL Super Bowl Halftime headliner. According to Billboard, Bruno Mars scored his first five Hot 100 No. 1s faster than any male since Elvis Presley. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, Bruno Mars has an impressive catalog of 35 Hot 100 hits.

The nominations for the "2016 American Music Awards" were announced earlier this month, revealing that Drake leads with 13 nominations, while Rihanna received seven and Adele and Justin Bieber received five nominations each. Beyoncé and The Chainsmokers each received four nominations. Additionally, Bryson Tiller, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd earned three nominations each.

The Artist of the Year nominees are Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood and The Weeknd. The ten nominees will be narrowed to five based on the votes received through Monday, November 14, at 8:59:59 a.m. PST. Voting for Artist of the Year will close on Thursday, November 17, at 8:59:59 p.m. PST. The winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.

Nominees for New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile are Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Shawn Mendes and Zayn. Voting for this category opens November 2.

American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital song sales, radio airplay, streaming, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound.

The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting is now open in all categories except New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, which will open on November 2nd.

Fans can vote for all categories once per day, per platform in one or both of the below ways. For New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, fans can vote 100 times per day, per platform.

· Via AMAvote.com

· Posting a tweet on Twitter that includes the nominee's Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s).

Preceding the ABC broadcast for the 8th consecutive year will be the "Coca-Cola(R) Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2016 AMAs" pre-show. This live show will stream online for fans worldwide on November 20th.

The "2016 American Music Awards" is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro and Mike Mahan are Executive Producers. Larry Klein, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco are Producers.

For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs. Facebook: Facebook.com/AMAs Twitter: @AMAs Instagram: @AMAs Snapchat: TheAMAs Tumblr: amas.tumblr.com Vine: TheAMAs

Tickets are now on sale at www.axs.com.

For a full list of nominees, please visit: http://www.theamas.com/nominees/2016-nominees/

About the American Music Awards

The American Music Awards, the world's biggest fan-voted award show, features performances from today's hottest artists and presents fan-voted awards in the categories of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM and Soundtrack, Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, Collaboration of the Year, Tour of The Year and Video of the Year. The American Music Awards pays tribute to today's most influential and iconic artists. The show is produced by dick clark productions and is seen in more than 200 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.theamas.com, www.dickclark.com or abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards.

About dick clark productions

dick clark productions (dcp) is the world's largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the "Academy of Country Music Awards," "American Music Awards," "Billboard Music Awards," "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," "Golden Globe Awards," "Hollywood Film Awards," "Miss America" and the "Streamy Awards." Weekly television programming includes "So You Think You Can Dance" from 19 Entertainment, a division of CORE Media Group and dcp. dcp also owns one of the world's most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with more than 55 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.