Jill Barber, vocalist

Drawing on influences from old-time jazz standards, bluegrassy-folk and hook-laden pop, Jill Barber has the subtle assuredness of a songwriter with “dead-on phrasing, an impressive range and a knack for squeezing genuine emotion out of a cozy alto purr.”

In 2002, Barber moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia from her native Ontario. She has since been well received all over the Maritimes, garnering a good deal of attention from critics and audiences alike.

In 2003, she received nominations for two MIANS (Music Industry Association of NS) awards in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Artist. In 2004, she was voted Best Local Female Artist in The Coast’s annual Best of Music Reader’s Poll, and most recently, she has been nominated for two 2005 East Coast Music Awards in the categories of Best Female Artist and Best Folk Recording for her latest record, entitled Oh Heart.

She was invited by the CBC Maritimes to record Oh Heart at the legendary Studio H in Halifax. Recorded over the course of Fall/Winter 2003, it was co-produced by Jill and Atlantic Airwaves producer Glenn Meisner. What emerged was “a collection of intelligent, folk-pop tunes with a hint of cabaret punch and the weathered melodies that make Barber’s music so captivating.”

She has since teamed up with ECMA-nominated indie-label, Dependent Music and signed a national distribution deal with Outside Music. With funding awarded by VideoFACT, Jill shot her first video for the song “Oh Heart” with renowned east coast director Colin Mackenzie in the summer of 2004. It spent eighteen weeks on the Bravo Video Top 30 Countdown, and has also been featured on Much Music’s Going Coastal. Oh Heart is played regularly on CBC Radio nationwide, and Jill has been a featured artist on such regional CBC programs as Atlantic Airwaves, Main Street, and Ontario Today, as well as the national program, Sounds Like Canada with Shelagh Rogers. Oh Heart has also been embraced by campus/community radio across the country. It held the #15 position in the CKDU year-end charts, and sat in the top 100 in the Canadian Campus/ Community Radio 2004 year-end charts, after having spent 8 weeks in their weekly Top 50 charts, reaching the #7 position.

In the past year, Jill has devoted herself to advancing her musical career, by touring extensively, both in Nova Scotia (as part of the Bringin' it Home Tour in 2004) and throughout Canada (*see attached Performance History doc). She has showcased at various industry festivals including North By Northeast, New Music West, Pop Montreal, and the East Coast Music Awards. She has also recently been invited to attend the South By Southwest festival and conference in Austin, Texas as a showcasing artist, which will mark her American debut.

Jill Barber is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.


 

(902) 892-4333

For more information, contact: Annette Campbell

© Katie Legere 2005 click to send comments