Radio Disney has lined up five fan-favorite stars across music and TV to host the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards (RDMA). Grammy Award nominee Kelsea Ballerini, Broadway’s “Hamilton” star and Hollywood Records recording artist Jordan Fisher, Disney’s “Descendants” star and Hollywood Records/Republic Records recording artist Sofia Carson, Interscope Records recording artist and Radio Disney host Alex Aiono, and Disney Channel star Jenna Ortega (“Stuck in the Middle”) are scheduled to host the popular performance-filled event, now in its fifth year.
Known as music’s biggest event for families with performances and appearances by today’s biggest artists and tomorrow’s rising stars, the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards takes place Saturday, April 29, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The special two-hour telecast, “Disney Channel Presents the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards,” will be available Sunday, April 30 (7:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), across multiple Disney-branded platforms. The RDMA includes fans from around the world voting to determine which artists will win the Radio Disney “ARDY” statuettes. Last year, a record 238 million votes were tallied via five polling platforms (the Radio Disney App, Disney.com/RDMA, Twitter, Facebook and Google OneBox).
Kelsea Ballerini made her first RDMA appearance during the pre-show festival at Microsoft Plaza in 2015. In 2016, she was Radio Disney’s “NBT” (Next Big Thing) featured artist and performed with Daya at the 2016 RDMA in a mash-up of “Peter Pan” and “Hide Away,” their respective hit singles. She also won an “ARDY” for “The Freshest – Best New Artist.” Ballerini received a Grammy Award nomination this year for “Best New Artist.”
Jordan Fisher is a Hollywood Records recording artist and currently stars on Broadway in “Hamilton.” He is a Radio Disney “NBT” alumnus and starred in the Disney Channel Original Movies “Teen Beach Movie,” “Teen Beach 2” and in the Emmy Award-winning production of Fox’s “Grease: Live.” He was a presenter at the 2016 RDMA and he released his self-titled EP, featuring the hit song “All About Us,” in summer 2016. He recently sang the song “You’re Welcome” with Lin-Manuel Miranda, on the soundtrack for Disney’s Academy Award-nominated “Moana.”
Best known for her role as Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen in the hit Disney Channel Original Movie “Descendants” and its upcoming sequel “Descendants 2,” Sofia Carson performed her hit single “Love Is The Name” for the first time on television at the 2016 RDMA. She signed to Hollywood Records and Republic Records in 2016 and is also an alumna of the Radio Disney “NBT” program. Her second single, “Back To Beautiful,” is scheduled to release this Friday.
A fan-favorite musician and online personality, Alex Aiono has been the host of the “Radio Disney Insider” since March 2016. He recently signed to Interscope Records with his first single, “Work The Middle,” releasing this Friday. His online covers of popular songs have amassed over 400 million views on YouTube and Facebook. For the 2016 RDMA, Aiono co-hosted the red carpet and was the RDMA backstage correspondent for the telecast.
Jenna Ortega, star of the Disney Channel hit comedy series “Stuck in the Middle,” also voices Princess Isabel, Elena’s brilliant younger sister in Disney’s “Elena of Avalor.” Ortega is also known for her role in the Golden Globe-winning series “Jane The Virgin” and starred alongside the Radio City Rockettes in Radio City Music Hall’s “New York Spectacular” in 2016.