Canadian Top 3 Singers | Best Canadian musical artists in 2020 - 2021
1.Alanis Morissette
Place of birth: Ottawa, Ontario (June 1, 1974).
Background: Former child actor and bubblegum pop singer Angst-Road rocker Alanis Morriset was shot in the superstar in 1995 when her breakthrough album Jagged Little Peel and its vitriolic lead single, You Know Oghata Gel 3, Got a Big World went million copies. Spreading a few movies like Hand in My Pocket and Euronic, he became the youngest artist in history to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year (the record is one of the longest-running debuts of the era). The superstar won the June 16 Juno Award and seven Grammys, breaking the Angry White Female tag given by Rolling Stone magazine in the 1990s. In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
CANADIAN CONNECTION: Morriset strongly confirms the authenticity of his Canadian citizenship, "Your roots determine you for life, no matter where you go". He described growing up in Ottawa as "an incredible place" (until 201, he owned a luxury apartment in the lower part of the city with stunning views of the Ottawa River, Parliamentary Hills and Gatineau Hills).
Album playlists: Jagged Little Pill, So-Called Chaos, Under Rage Sweepstakes, Assigned Ex-Infatuation Junkie, Havoc and Bright Light.
2.Rufus Wainwright
Birthplace: Rhinebeck, New York (22 July 1973). He has dual US and Canadian citizenship.
Background: Given his musical lineages (the son of award-winning folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III), it was no surprise that Montreal-raised musician Rufus Wainwright earned JUNO and Genie Awards nominations when he was just a teenager (he wrote and sang I’m Runnin’ in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller). Following his eponymously-titled 1998 debut album (named one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone magazine), he’s recorded seven albums of original music as well as multiple tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. In 2016 he released Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, one of the more unexpected tributes to the Bard on the 400th anniversary of his death.
Canadian connection: Raised with his mother and sister (folk-rock singer-songwriter Martha) in Montreal’s affluent suburb of Westmount, Wainwright maintains, “I was born in the US, but then I was brought up here”. He described performing his classical opera Prima Donna: A Symphonic Visual Concert at Montreal’s Salle Wilfred-Pelletier as “coming full circle in so many ways”.
Album playlist: Vibrate: Rufus Wainwright , Poses, Want One, Want Two, The Best of Rufus Wainwright, Release the Stars.
3.Bryan Adams
Birthplace: Kingston, Ontario (5 November 1959).
Background: Born to British parents (his father was a Sandhurst army officer), this raspy-voiced crooner rose to fame with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife. A year later, he was a global superstar after releasing the multi-platinum selling Reckless, which produced some of his most hard-rocking singles such as Run to You and Summer of '69. In 1991, he released (Everything I Do) I Do It for You - a worldwide hit that spent 16 weeks at No.1 in the UK (interestingly, it took him and producer Mutt Lange just 45 minutes to write). Adams has since found success writing for the likes of Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Neil Diamond, and Roger Daltrey, as well as launching the Bryan Adams Foundation to help improve the quality of life for people all over the world.
Canadian connection: In 1998, Adams was made Officer of the Order of Canada. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2015, he played the Rogers K-Rock Centre in his hometown of Kingston in February as part of his 30th anniversary Reckless tour (the first Canadian album to sell more than a million copies thanks to its six Top 15 hits).
Album playlist: Cuts Like a Knife, Reckless, Waking Up the Neighbours, 18 til I Die, Tracks of my Years, Room Service.
Also Superstar is Neil Young
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario (12 November 1945).
Background: Propelled to stardom both as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and as a solo artist with classics such as Old Man, Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black), Rockin' in the Free World, and Heart of Gold (his only No.1 to date), Neil Young is one of rock’s most influential and enigmatic figures. Nicknamed the “Godfather of Grunge”, he’s recorded 34 albums (of which more than half a dozen went platinum or multi-platinum) and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice - once as a solo artist in 1995 and then again in 1997 as member of Buffalo Springfield. In spite of living in the USA since the 1960’s, Young has never renounced his Canadian citizenship. He was made Officer of the Order of Canada in 2009.
Canadian connection: Young affirmed love for his homeland on the 2012 track, Born in Ontario: "I was born in Ontario/ Where the black fly bites/ And the green grass grows/ That's where I learned most of what I know." As he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2017, he told the crowd at Toronto’s Massey Hall: “I’m terribly proud to be Canadian”.
Album playlist: Rust Never Sleeps, Tonight's the Night, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Zuma, Ragged Glory, After the Gold Rush, Harvest.