Avril Lavigne and Missy Elliot to spice up 2003 MTV Asia Awards

An upstart pop artist, Avril Lavigne, and an R&B stalwart, Missy Elliott, will perform at the 2003 MTV Asia Awards at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Jan. 24, 2003. Joining previously announced Nick Carter, Lavigne and Elliott will purvey their unique brand of rock and hip-hop. Additional performances and presenters will be announced shortly.

The 17-year-old Avril Lavigne has been nominated for two award categories, Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Breakthrough Artist. She shot to fame with the launch of her debut album, "Let Go," which reached platinum within five weeks of its release. The single, Complicated album nabbed the number one spot on Billboard’s singles chart while topping MTV’s "Total Request Live" countdown. "Let Go" has sold over seven million albums worldwide in less than five months.

Artist/producer/writer/arranger/rapper/singer/executive Missy Elliott is at the tip of hip-hop’s cutting edge. This multi-talented star has garnered four Grammy nominations and one award and has broken a Billboard record with her massive hit single Hot Boyz from her sophomore album "Da Real World." Missy’s newest album, "Under Construction," twists old-school samples into a fresh new sound, generating her latest smash, Work It.

Online voting for the 19 categories started Nov. 1 and will end on Dec. 31. Viewers can get more information about the show and nominees as well as the latest updates on the MTV Asia Awards official website at www.mtvasiaawards.com. As part of the promotional campaign to drum up voting, seven voting parties will be held around the region in December with "Favorite Artist" nominees in each country to attending and soliciting support from their fans. In the Philippines, the MTV Asia Awards Voting Party will be held on Dec. 13 at Streetlife, Glorietta at the Ayala Center.

The MTV Asia Awards is the only pan-regional event of its kind in Asia that brings together the largest gathering of international and local talents ever seen at one venue. The awards show will be filmed before a live audience of over 7,000 music lovers and will be broadcast to over 150 million homes across the region. Fans can dig deep into the content-rich MTV Asia web sites for all the event’s details, and portions of the programming will be aired on MTV’s global network, the world’s largest, with 35 channels reaching more than 366 million households and a billion viewers worldwide.

The official partner sponsors of 2003 MTV Asia Awards are MasterCard, Nokia, Panasonic and Toyota. The associate sponsor of the Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets is San Miguel Beer. Local sponsors include Shenzhen New Power Technology Limited in China, Korea Telecom Freetel in Korea, Smart Communications in the Philippines and StarHub in Singapore. The event is also supported by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) which will be promoting Asia’s biggest music award show beyond the shores of Singapore.