Born and raised in Toronto, Victoria Staff was always an “anxious child”. The string that connected much of her young life was using music to communicate with family, friends, teachers, and even therapists. Over time, this coping mechanism developed into a passion for music that would lead to her career as an indie-pop artist. Staff …
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A captivating musical journey of empowerment, self-determination, and the pursuit of lifelong dreams, Country artist Amanda Keeles unveils her invigorating debut album, “Can’t Stop Me Now!“. Her rich, ribbon-like vocals come straight from her soul, sharing deeply personal narratives drawn from a songbook overflowing with a lifetime of compositions. Leaving behind a professional career in …
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Built on emotion-stirring storytelling and unmistakable vocal harmonies accompanied by a century-old instrument, Burnstick, a JUNO nominated husband and wife Folk duo, are intent on creating affecting music that inspires listeners to feel. The Manitoba-based duo features Nadia and Jason Burnstick, esteemed independent artists who united over a decade ago to create deeply moving, cinematic …
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Sunny Zaman is a musician whose main passion is songwriting. He is also a singer and guitar and bass player who occasionally dabbles with keyboards and synths. He wrote his first song at the age of 14 and continues to follow his passion many decades later. While he plays mostly rock and pop, he has …
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Creating music that journeys far beyond the confines of genre, Nova Scotia’s Maggie Andrew infuses her style of modern (s)alt-Pop with confident, relatable lyrics that often challenge stereotypical norms. Layered with Punk, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Rock, Andrew’s textured and edgy songs are boldly charming and stunningly innovative. With frank and straightforward lyrics that leave little …
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For our second host-answer episode for our Songwriting Challenge 2023, Phil shared the process behind his answer to the challenge to write a song in the Lydian mode. Our good friend Susan Cattaneo joined in. We talked about: How Phil experimented with various scales before landing on Lydian for his song How working in Lydian …
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For our first host-answer episode for our Songwriting Challenge 2023, Neel shared the process behind his answer to the challenge to write a song in a mode. Our good friend Susan Cattaneo joined in – thanks Susan for your awesome insights! Download the lyrics to follow along. We talked about: SummerSongs songwriting retreat The Number …
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Nicky Schrire is a British-South African vocalist and composer based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has seen her likened to vocalists Joni Mitchell and Esperanza Spalding with The Boston Globe’s Jon Garelick noting that “though her approach has earned her comparisons to Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens, the similarities are superficial. She’s got her own …
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