PRODUCER and musician Stephen 'Lenky' Marsden and dancehall poster boy Sean Paul both garnered nominations in major categories of the 2003 Billboard Music Awards. The annual awards show recognises the year's biggest acts, songs, and albums based on Billboard magazine's weekly charts.

Marsden's Diwali rhythm spawned a slate of hits in the dancehall, two of which crossed over onto the US mainstream charts in 2003. The songs which ignited the US Billboard charts were Get Busy by Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder's No Letting Go. However, the success of both songs was not limited to the US, as they dented the UK singles charts as well as several charts in major European territories.

Marsden, a former keyboardist with Buju Banton's Til Shiloh band, has been nominated in the category Hot 100 Producer of the Year. R Kelly, the Neptunes and Timbaland are also competing in the same category.

Sean Paul, who has been enjoying a fruitful year in his career, is up against several titans in the categories Artiste of the Year, Hot 100 Single of the Year (for Get Busy), Rap Artiste of the Year, and Hot 100 Male Artiste of the Year.

The 2003 Billboard Music Awards will be held on December 10 at the MGM Grand Garden Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rapper 50 Cent leads the pack with six nominations.

The only Jamaican artiste to have won any of the major awards at the Billboard Music Awards is Shaggy. At the 2001 awards show, he picked up trophies for Hot 100 Male Artiste of the Year and Album of the Year for Hot Shots.

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