Lauryn Hill, Ricky Martin and Fatboy Slim Dominate The Final MTV Video Music Awards Of The Century

Business Wire, Sept 10, 1999

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1999--

Madonna is MTV's Most Honored Artist of the 20th Century

Ricky Martin Snags Five Awards, Including, Best Pop and Best Dance,

Along With Viewers Choice Nods In Latin America and Russia

MTV's Annual Live Awards Ceremony Takes Over New York's Historic

Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center

"The 1999 MTV Video Music Awards," honoring the best in music video, blazed back into New York City on Thursday, 9.9.99, with a historic telecast from The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Chris Rock hosted the ceremony where Lauryn Hill, Ricky Martin and Fatboy Slim were the big winners of the evening.

Lauryn Hill topped the list of winners with four awards for her hit "Doo Wop (That Thing)," capturing the top honor of Best Video of the Year, along with Best Female, Best R&B Video and Best Art Direction in a Video. Superstar Will Smith took home Best Male Video honors for "Miami" and TLC won Best Group Video for "No Scrubs." Ricky Martin won Best Dance and Best Pop categories as well as the Viewers Choice Awards for both of MTV's Latin American networks and MTV Russia. Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" took home nods for Best Direction, Best Choreography and Breakthrough Video, and KoRn were honored for Best Rock Video and Best Editing. Best New Artist in a Video went to Eminem for "My Name Is."

Madonna made history by becoming the most honored artist in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards by snagging the moonman trophy for Best Video From A Film with "Beautiful Stranger" from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This win brings her career total to eighteen. Aerosmith, who made a special appearance at the show, and Michael Jackson are the second and third top honorees of the 20th century, respectively.

Performance highlights from this year's show included Kid Rock joined by Aerosmith and Run DMC for a boisterous rendition of "Walk This Way" and Eminem joined by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, marking the first time the two rap superstars have performed together since 1993. Global-sensation Ricky Martin got the crowd on its feet with a medley of his mega-hits "She's All I Ever Need" and "Livin' La Vida Loca." The 1999 MTV Video Music Awards also marked the first ever appearance on a network awards show by nine inch nails.

In a night full of memorable pairings of presenters, the evening culminated by two of rock's mega-stars -- Madonna and Paul McCartney -- presenting Lauryn Hill with the award for Best Video of The Year. Other presenters at the annual telecast included Will Smith, the Artist, Janet Jackson, Susan Sarandon, Heather Locklear, Diana Ross, Renee Zellwegger, N'SYNC, Jennifer Lopez, Bush's Gavin Rossdale, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, limp Bizkit, Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, Mira Sorvino, Jay Mohr, Janeane Garofalo, Dr. Dre, Joshua Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Method Man, Pamela Andersen Lee, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath, Denise Richards, Puff Daddy, young opera singer Charlotte Church, Regis Philbin, Stone Cold Steve Austin, MTV's Tom Green, Carson Daly. Dr. Drew Pinsky and Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard from The Blair Witch Project who presented with Buddy Hackett.

The 1999 MTV Video Music Awards also included performances from the Backstreet Boys, TLC, Britney Spears and 'N SYNC, Lauryn Hill, nine inch nails, Fatboy Slim and Jay-Z. DJ/producer/engineer Moby kicked out techno tracks as House DJ at this year's MTV Video Music Awards, the first rock 'n' roll event to ever be held at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Following is a list of winners:

BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR

LAURYN HILL Video: "DOO WOP (THAT THING)" LP: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Production Co.: Academy Producer: Kathy Hood Director: BIG TV! Record Label: Ruffhouse/Columbia Records

BEST R&B VIDEO

LAURYN HILL Video: "DOO WOP (THAT THING)" LP: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Production Co.: Academy Producer: Kathy Hood Director: BIG TV! Record Label: Ruffhouse/Columbia Records

BEST HIP HOP VIDEO

BEASTIE BOYS Video: "INTERGALACTIC" LP: Hello Nasty

Production Co.: Grand Royal Producer: Bettina Schneider Director: Nathaniel Hornblower Record Label: Grand Royal/Capitol Records

BEST DANCE VIDEO

RICKY MARTIN Video: "LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA" LP: Ricky Martin

Production Co.: A Band Apart Producer: Dana Marshall/Joey Plewa Director: Wayne Isham Record Label: C2/Columbia Records

BEST ROCK VIDEO

KoRn Video: "FREAK ON A LEASH" LP: Follow The Leader

Production Co.: SEED/Todd McFarlane Entertainment Producer: Bart Lipton & Terry Fitzgerald Director: Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris

Todd McFarlane/Graham Morris Record Label: Immortal/Epic Records

BEST POP VIDEO

RICKY MARTIN Video: "LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA" LP: Ricky Martin

Production Co.: A Band Apart Producer: Dana Marshall/Joey Plewa Director: Wayne Isham Record Label: C2/Columbia Records

BEST NEW ARTIST IN A VIDEO

EMINEM Video: "MY NAME IS" LP: Slim Shady LP