Having returned home to Australia from a successful U.S. tour, singer and sound healer Lia Scallon is honored to announce her inclusion on the official 53rd Grammy ballot, with three albums from the Sounds of Sirius label under consideration in the Best New Age Album and Best Spoken Word album categories.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) has included Scallon's albums Breath of Life and Song of Love for the Animals in the offering for Best New Age Album of the year, while her one-of-a-kind album The First Little Angels on Earth is presented in the Best Spoken Word Album category.

On Breath of Life -- a favorite among Scallon's Australian following though new to the U.S. market -- the angelic voice of Scallon fuses with the genius talents of David Jones, Australia's 2010 Melbourne Prize winner and percussion master. Jones is featured on most of Scallon's Sounds of Sirius 8-album series of sacred song and meditations to uplift the soul. Jones was the honorary recipient of Australia's Melbourne Prize for Music in November of 2010, a prize awarded to a professional musician, or group of musicians, whose body of work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian music and has enriched cultural and public life.

"Working with David is an utter joy," says Scallon. "My recording work is somewhat unique in that there is no prepared score; the sacred song is channeled through in real time in the recording studio. It takes a very sensitive, intuitive and spiritual person to respond with such delicacy to the call of Spirit in the moment. I consider myself blessed indeed to have found someone like David, who not only totally understands the process, but immeasurably enhances the outcome for both myself and the listener."

Scallon's extensive recordings are often referred to as relaxing musical meditations. Her unique vocal harmonics are accompanied by an ancient "Language of Light" which Scallon describes as the "original language of the soul." In keeping with the philosophy of the New Age category, it is Scallon's intention that these sacred songs and chants assist in raising the energetic vibration of every human being, by gifting the listener with an increased sense of harmony and oneness with the universal energy of unconditional love.

In a review of Breath of Life, Nova Magazine wrote, "There is a mood of dignity, majesty and awe evoked by this music. Lia's singing has been described as the voice of the Eternal Mother - gentle and caressing, nurturing and protective. Her music is unique and this is possibly the most profound of her recordings."

Further to that, when listening to her work, Scallon says "The soul seems to recognize what is being said and is stirred into remembrance of its true origins."

With the final five nominees still to be decided, the Best New Age Album category promises to be an interesting one to watch in this year's competition, as it is also includes superstars Olivia Newton-John and Tina Turner. Tina Turner's recent collaboration with Regula Curti and Dechen Shak-Dagsay is called Beyond: Buddhist and Christian Prayers. Inspired by her own spiritual experience, like Scallon, Tina's compelling message is the importance of love and the healing power of song.

If Turner's inclusion spurs Grammy voters to ask "What's love got to do with it?" then the answer is "everything," for in the New Age category, intention is judged hand-in-hand with talent. With top artists like Scallon, Turner and Newton-John expressing their intent of compassion, unity and healing for humanity through their music, it is foreseeable that these artists will uplift and change the world one album at a time.

As the celebrated poet Sidney Lanier once said, "Music is love in search of a word."

About Lia Scallon and the Sounds of Sirius:
Irish-born Lia Scallon is a singer and sound healer currently living in Australia. Upon graduating from Trinity College in Dublin, she became an actress, sharing the stage and screen with the likes of Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett and Glenn Close. In more recent years, Scallon has developed a new expression for her creative talents through her intuitive gift of sacred song. Scallon's eight albums, newly available in the USA, are said to provide a joyous, uplifting and healing balm for the soul.

Website: Lia Scallon - Sounds of Sirius
Music: http://www.soundsofsirius.com/breath/breath02.mp3