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Three Prince George's County musicians and groups nominated for the 2010 Wammies said they consider the honor to be the local version of a Grammy nomination.

The Washington Area Music Association, based in Washington, D.C., recognizes the career achievements of area musicians, nominating local artists who help the region achieve national recognition for its live and recorded music.

The 24th annual Wammies are scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday at The State Theatre in Falls Church, Va.

Prince George's County residents Mike Surratt, Marilyn Ashford-Brown and seven women who comprise the jazz band Be'la Dona are just some of the nominees in the 24 categories who will be recognized at the ceremony.s

Mike Surratt

Even 25 years ago, when he was working full time as a sheet metal worker, Mike Surratt dreamed of a career in music.

"I'm a musician — I have no choice," Surratt said. "You're just drawn to it. I guess I have a choice, but why? When people can do what they love, they're lucky."

When Surratt suffered a finger injury on the job 25 years ago, he decided to devote all his time to playing music. Today, he performs independently and with his two band multiple times each week, playing polka, ballroom swing and variety music at restaurants and retirement homes, among other venues.

"I remember when I first decided to go full time," he said. "I had three bookings a month."

But bookings are no longer a problem for Surratt, 54, who is nominated for six Wammies, as a soloist and with two of his bands. His nominations include World Music Instrumentalist; Big Band Swing/Group for Mike Surratt and The ECB; Electronica Vocalist; Electronica Recording; World Music Vocalist and World Music Group for The Continentals Polka Band.

Since 2006, Surratt has had 15 Wammie nominations and two wins.

"Getting six nominations, I was like, ‘Wow times two,'" he said. "Just to have won two Wammies out of all the nominations I've gotten, I'm just thrilled with nominations. I don't expect to win at all — it's always a surprise."

For Surratt, a Wammie nomination is so thrilling it might as well be for a Grammy.

"I have been kinda lucky since 2005 — I've been nominated at least once every year. I'm really thrilled about that," he said.

Surratt began playing music as a boy. At the insistence of his German mother, he began playing the accordion at age 11. He also sings in Polish, Czech and German.

As a child, he learned piano and accordion at the Columbia School of Music in College Park, which has since closed. At 15, he joined the band The Happy Rheinlanders, a six-piece German polka band comprised of German teenagers.

When the band dissolved less than two years later, Surratt and a couple of The Happy Rheinlanders formed the band, The Continentals, which still performs today.

In 2007, Surratt formed The Eclectic Coalition Band, or The ECB. The band, which is comprised of the same members as the Continentals, assumes this name when it isn't playing polka music.

In addition to performing in the Washington metropolitan area, Surratt, drummer Joe Stec and saxophonist Al Jones perform regularly as far north as Lancaster, Pa., and as far south as Richmond, Va.

Surratt has performed as far west as South Dakota and as far south as Florida

Marilyn Ashford-Brown

For Glenn Dale resident Marilyn Ashford-Brown, being nominated for her first Wammie is just one step closer to her goal of one day being nominated for a Grammy.

"It means I can only look forward to my first nomination for a Grammy. Even though this isn't a big thing, it's a big thing to me," said Ashford-Brown, who declined to give her age. "I can rest assured that I can hope to be nominated some day for a Grammy."

Ashford-Brown is nominated for the Urban Contemporary Vocalist category and a presenter at Sunday's awards ceremony.

To support her singing career, Ashford-Brown is an employee of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and works in the automatic train control department, which maintains train tracks.

"I'm always singing. I make my living doing what I do for Metro, but I am a singer and a songwriter and a recording artist," she said.

While the R&B and jazz singer does perform in Maryland and the metropolitan area, Ashford-Brown doesn't perform locally too often. Instead, her music career has taken off overseas, specifically in Europe and Japan.

Ashford-Brown said her single "I've Got a Feeling" off of her new CD "Just Doing Me" has been a hit in Europe.

"It's really helping me to get my name out there," she said. "I'm just putting all my energy into getting into the European circle."

In April, Ashford-Brown plans to perform in Germany at the 2010 Baltic Soul Weekender.

"I'm very passionate about my music and I don't take anything for granted. I just do what I do," Ashford-Brown said. "It's still a struggle, even though doors are opening."

Ashford-Brown's music career came to a halt in 1994 when she married husband Tim Brown, to get acclimated to married life.

She began singing again in 1996 and he encouraged her to make a CD, which she began recording in 1997 with Philadelphia International Recording in Philadelphia.

In 2003, her music career stopped again when her mother died, and two weeks later, her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 2004.

But Ashford-Brown resumed her singing career with a friend's encouragement in 2006, and finished her CD "Still Standing."

Be'la Dona

In Italian, the term "bella donna" means "beautiful woman," said keyboard player and singer Cherie Mitchell-Agurs of the group Be'la Dona.

"We are beautiful women who are lethal on our instruments," said Mitchell-Agurs, 39, of Brandywine. "We try to make it a little more fly, something a little more special."

Be'la Dona, made up of seven band members from Prince George's, Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties, is nominated for urban contemporary duo/group and new artist of the year and is the opening act for the 24th annual Wammie Awards ceremony.

The group often performs in Prince George's County, the District and Northern Virginia and sometimes travels to Richmond, Va. and Philadelphia.

The band members are Mitchell-Agurs, lead vocalist Sharli McQueen, percussionist and singer Karis Hill, keyboard player Deanna Hawkins, lead guitarist Genevieve Konecnick, bass guitarist Candra Rutledge and drummer Shannon Brone of Lanham.

Mitchell-Agurs said they were very happy to receive a Wammie nomination.

"The Wammies, to me, is like a D.C. version of the Grammys, a very prestigious honor for music. It's an honor and privilege," she said. "That means that we're popular and we have to be good to some degree, that people appreciate us, that we're being noticed for our talents. To me, that upgrades our status."

Mitchell-Agurs said the group has been friends for a long time but it wasn't until recently they decided to come together and form Be'la Dona. The group has been together almost a year and half.

"We had the idea that, ‘Yeah, we need to get together and be serious,'" Mitchell-Agurs said. "With this band, it just kinda happened. I always had a vision to put a tight, kick-butt band together."

For six of the group's seven members, performing with Be'la Dona is their full-time job, Mitchell-Agurs said. The band performs about four nights each week, mostly in Prince George's County and the District.

The group is currently working on a CD and hopes to begin going on tours and opening for other bands.

"We want to keep it sexy and classy and be role models," Mitchell-Agurs said.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.