STING TO RECEIVE 'THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARD OF MERIT' AND PERFORM AT THE '2016 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS(R)'

The Live Broadcast Will Air SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC

dick clark productions and ABC announced today that composer, singer, actor, author, and activist Sting will be honored with "The American Music Award of Merit" at the "2016 American Music Awards." The iconic musician will take to the stage to perform a medley of songs, including the raucous first single, "I Can't Stop Thinking About You" off his new rock/pop album, "57th & 9th," as well as some of his greatest hits. This will be Sting's American Music Awards performance debut. He joins previously announced show opener Bruno Mars. 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.

The "American Music Award of Merit" is only given to artists who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry. The award was last given in 2008 to Annie Lennox. Previous honorees include Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Prince and Frank Sinatra.

Composer, singer, actor, author, and activist - Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five studio albums, earned six Grammy Awards and two Brits and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Since 1989, Sting has released fourteen solo albums and received an additional 10 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he received the Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2014. Throughout his enduring career, he has sold close to 100 million albums from his combined work with The Police and as a solo artist. In 2015, Sting received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score for his Broadway musical, The Last Ship.

On November 11, Sting will release 57th & 9th, his first rock/pop album in over a decade, which features the raucous, guitar-driven first single, "I Can't Stop Thinking About You". Produced by Martin Kierszenbaum, the album takes its title from the Manhattan street corner that Sting crossed each day as he walked to the studios in Hell's Kitchen where the recordings were done.

Sting has appeared in more than 15 films and authored two books, including The New York Times best-selling memoir, Broken Music. His support for human rights organizations mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world's rainforests and the indigenous people living there. www.sting.com

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 8:59:59am PT. Voting for Artist of the Year will close on Thursday, November 17 at 8:59:59pm PT. The winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.

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

At the American Music Awards, artists will be honored in multiple musical genres. Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM and Soundtrack, are some of the genres alongside the awards for Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Collaboration of the Year. This year, new categories include Tour of the Year and Video of the Year, while Favorite Song categories in the genres of Pop/Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop and Soul/R&B have been added in lieu of the Song of the Year category.

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 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" sponsors include Coca-Cola, Kohl's and T-Mobile. Media partners include Cumulus Media | WestwoodOne and Music Choice.

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.