Britney to Host American Music Awards

November 2 -- Teen superstar Britney Spears has been tapped to host the 28th Annual American Music Awards, it was announced Wednesday. The ceremony, slated for Jan. 8 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, will be broadcast live on ABC.

A total of 20 publicly voted awards, in categories spanning a variety of musical genres, will be doled out. The nominations will be announced Nov. 13 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

There has been no word as to whether or not Spears will actually sing any musical numbers on the program. Based on her countless appearances at other awards shows of late, AMA viewers can look forward to a splashy performance, regardless. Spears wowed viewers of the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in September with her lightning-speed costume changes.

Spears, who turns 19 Dec. 12, will be the youngest artist to host the show since 1989; that year, duties were assumed by singer-songwriter Deborah (nee Debbie) Gibson. Gibson, who sold 3 million copies of her 1987 debut, Out of the Blue, later turned her talents to Broadway, starring in the musicals Les Miserables and Beauty and the Beast.