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Madonna, Abdul Top Billboard’s Music Vid Awards

LOS ANGELES — Paula Abdul and Madonna were the big winners at the 11th annual Billboard Music Video Awards presentation here Nov. 17, with the pair claiming half of the night’s 14 awards between them.

Leading the pack was Virgin Records’ Abdul, who collected three awards for “Straight Up” — best female video, best new artist’s video, and best editing — as well as the best-choreography award for “Cold Hearted,” which Abdul choreographed with Michael Darrin.

Madonna’s “Express Yourself” proved to be appropriately named: The video nabbed the night’s top honor as best video, as well as awards for best direction and best cinematography. David Fincher was director on the project, with cinematography by Mark Plummer. Fincher received two other nominations as best director.

Other multi-award winners included Tears For Fears and Living Colour, each taking two categories. PolyGram’s Tears For Fears claimed the best-special-effects and best-art-director awards for its “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” clip; Epic act Living Colour scored similarly with its “Cult Of Personality” video, which took the best-group-video and best-stage-performance prizes.

Winner of the best-concept-video award was Hank Williams Jr.’s “Tear In My Beer,” the much-acclaimed clip featuring the singer in a duet with his late father via the magic of video editing.

Two seasoned artists also received recognition: Elvis Costello’s “Veronica” took top honors as best male video, while The Art Of Noise Featuring Tom Jones won the most-experimental-video award for its version of Prince’s “Kiss.”

Presenters at the awards show — which was held at the Director’s Guild of America here in conjunction with the American Video Conference Awards (see story, page 3) — included Don Was of Was (Not Was), Gene Simmons of Kiss, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Toni Basil, and Nina Blackwood.

The winners were chosen from a ballot sent to more than 200 professionals in the music video field, including producers, directors, programmers, and record company personnel.

Here is a complete list of Music Video Awards winners:

  • Best video: Madonna, “Express Yourself,” Warner Bros.
  • Best male video: Elvis Costello, “Veronica,” Warner Bros.
  • Best female video: Paula Abdul, “Straight Up,” Virgin.
  • Best group video: Living Colour, “Cult Of Personality,” Epic.
  • Best concept video: Hank Williams Jr., “Tear In My Beer,” Warner Bros.
  • Best stage performance: Living Colour, “Cult Of Personality,” Epic.
  • Best new artist’s video: Paula Abdul, “Straight Up,” Virgin.
  • Best direction: Madonna, “Express Yourself,” Warner Bros.; direction by David Fincher.
  • Best editing: Paula Abdul, “Straight Up,” Virgin; editing by Jim Haygood.
  • Best choreography: Paula Abdul, “Cold Hearted,” Virgin; choreography by Paula Abdul and Michael Darrin.
  • Best special effects: Tears For Fears, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” PolyGram; special effects direction by Joanna Priestly, Joan Gratz, and John Logue.
  • Best cinematography: Madonna, “Express Yourself,” Warner Bros.; cinematography by Mark Plummer.
  • Most experimental: The Art Of Noise Featuring Tom Jones, “Kiss,” PolyGram.
  • Best art direction: Tears For Fears, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” PolyGram; art direction by Laura DiTrapani, Chet White, Don Wallace, John Norris, and James Bradrick.