Christine Fellows
Encyclopedia
Christine Fellows is a Canadian
folk
-pop
singer-songwriter
from Winnipeg
, Manitoba
.
and raised in France
and Kelowna
, British Columbia
, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal before settling in Winnipeg in 1992.
In 1993, she formed her first group, Helen, with Barry Mirochnick, Paul James, and Chang. Helen broke up in 1995, and in 1996 Fellows teamed up with singer-songwriter Keri McTighe, Barry Mirochnick, Keith McLeod and Peggy Messing, to form Special Fancy. The group released one album, King Me.
In 2000 Fellows released her debut solo album, 2 Little Birds. This was followed by The Last One Standing in 2002, Paper Anniversary in 2005, and Nevertheless in 2007. These albums feature Leanne Zacharias (cello), Jason Tait
(drums, vibraphone), Barry Mirochnick (drums, vocals), John K. Samson
(vocals, guitar), Keith McLeod (mandolin), Monica Guenter (viola), Greg Smith (bass), Ed Reifel (percussion), and Cristina Zacharias (violin).
Fellows has performed with the Rheostatics
, Veda Hille
, The Mountain Goats
, Kim Barlow
, Martin Tielli
, Old Man Luedecke
and The Weakerthans
. She is married to The Weakerthans' lead singer, John K. Samson.
In 2006, Fellows and Samson recorded The Old House, an album intended only as a Christmas gift for friends and family, although they released two songs, "Taps Reversed" and "Good Salvage", for airplay on CBC Radio 3
in early 2007. Fellows and Samson also performed live on the network on March 17, 2007, to mark the final night of the network's terrestrial simulcast on CBC Radio 2.
Fellows also composes music for dance, film and television. She scored part of Clive Holden
's Trains of Winnipeg
film series, as well as collaborating with Tait and Samson on the associated album. In 2007, she wrote several songs for a dance piece by choreographer Susie Burpee; they were later included on her fourth solo album, Nevertheless
, which was released on November 6, 2007.
Fellows has also toured as a member of The Pan-Canadian New Folk Ensemble with Kim Barlow
and Old Man Luedecke
, and often collaborates with visual artist Shary Boyle
.
She was artist-in-residence at Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum
in Winnipeg for 2009. Her fifth studio album, Femmes de chez nous includes a live performance film/DVD of the September 2009 premiere of Reliquary/Reliquaire, the commissioned performance work she created for the museum.
In 2011, Samson, Fellows and Sandro Perri
participated in the National Parks Project
, working with filmmaker Daniel Cockburn to produce and score a short film about Ontario
's Bruce Peninsula National Park
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
folk
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
from Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
.
History
Born in Windsor, OntarioWindsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
and raised in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Kelowna
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal before settling in Winnipeg in 1992.
In 1993, she formed her first group, Helen, with Barry Mirochnick, Paul James, and Chang. Helen broke up in 1995, and in 1996 Fellows teamed up with singer-songwriter Keri McTighe, Barry Mirochnick, Keith McLeod and Peggy Messing, to form Special Fancy. The group released one album, King Me.
In 2000 Fellows released her debut solo album, 2 Little Birds. This was followed by The Last One Standing in 2002, Paper Anniversary in 2005, and Nevertheless in 2007. These albums feature Leanne Zacharias (cello), Jason Tait
Jason Tait
Jason Tait is a Canadian musician. He is the drummer for the Canadian indie rock band The Weakerthans, and has also been a contributing member of Broken Social Scene and The FemBots. He also played drums for the Painted Thin album Small Acts of Love and Rebellion, released in 1995...
(drums, vibraphone), Barry Mirochnick (drums, vocals), John K. Samson
John K. Samson
John Kristjan Samson is a musician from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is a singer-songwriter and currently the frontman of the Canadian folk punk band The Weakerthans...
(vocals, guitar), Keith McLeod (mandolin), Monica Guenter (viola), Greg Smith (bass), Ed Reifel (percussion), and Cristina Zacharias (violin).
Fellows has performed with the Rheostatics
Rheostatics
Rheostatics was a Genie Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007.Although they had only one Top 40 hit, "Claire" in 1995, they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and unconventional rock bands, a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been...
, Veda Hille
Veda Hille
Veda Hille is a Canadian singer-songwriter.- Biography :Veda Hille was born in 1968 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She started playing piano when she was 6 at her own insistence. Her family moved around a lot, from the city to the country and back again...
, The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....
, Kim Barlow
Kim Barlow
Kim Barlow is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, based in Whitehorse, Yukon.- Biography :Born in Montreal on March 10, 1969, and raised in rural Nova Scotia, she studied classical guitar at Florida State University before moving to the Yukon....
, Martin Tielli
Martin Tielli
Martin Tielli is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He was a member of the Rheostatics, and has also released material as a solo artist and with the side project Nick Buzz. As well, he has appeared as a guest musician on albums by Barenaked Ladies, Kevin Hearn, The Waltons, Jane Siberry, Ashley...
, Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is the recording name of Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and banjo player, Chris Luedecke, of Chester, Nova Scotia...
and The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans are a four-piece Canadian indie rock band.-History:The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he left the punk band Propagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined forces with bassist John P...
. She is married to The Weakerthans' lead singer, John K. Samson.
In 2006, Fellows and Samson recorded The Old House, an album intended only as a Christmas gift for friends and family, although they released two songs, "Taps Reversed" and "Good Salvage", for airplay on CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a radio station that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website...
in early 2007. Fellows and Samson also performed live on the network on March 17, 2007, to mark the final night of the network's terrestrial simulcast on CBC Radio 2.
Fellows also composes music for dance, film and television. She scored part of Clive Holden
Clive Holden
Clive Holden is a Canadian multimedia artist and poet from Victoria, British Columbia, he is currently living in Toronto with his wife, writer Alissa York....
's Trains of Winnipeg
Trains of Winnipeg
Trains of Winnipeg is a film and multimedia art project by Clive Holden, released in stages between 2001 and 2004. The final project included a series of 14 short films, designed as visual representations of Holden's poetry, as well as a soundtrack CD and a book.The short films were scored by Emily...
film series, as well as collaborating with Tait and Samson on the associated album. In 2007, she wrote several songs for a dance piece by choreographer Susie Burpee; they were later included on her fourth solo album, Nevertheless
Nevertheless (album)
Nevertheless is the fourth studio album by Christine Fellows, released on November 6, 2007 on Six Shooter Records. The album was principally inspired by the life and work of poet Marianne Moore; secondary inspirations include artist Joseph Cornell....
, which was released on November 6, 2007.
Fellows has also toured as a member of The Pan-Canadian New Folk Ensemble with Kim Barlow
Kim Barlow
Kim Barlow is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, based in Whitehorse, Yukon.- Biography :Born in Montreal on March 10, 1969, and raised in rural Nova Scotia, she studied classical guitar at Florida State University before moving to the Yukon....
and Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is the recording name of Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and banjo player, Chris Luedecke, of Chester, Nova Scotia...
, and often collaborates with visual artist Shary Boyle
Shary Boyle
Shary Boyle is a Canadian artist who works with sculpture, painting, drawing and performance. She lives in Toronto.- Early life and education :...
.
She was artist-in-residence at Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum
Le Musee de Saint-Boniface Museum
Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that is dedicated to Franco-Manitoban culture and history. It is located in the oldest building in Winnipeg, a former convent run by the Grey Sisters. Begun in 1846 and finished in 1851, the former nunnery has been an...
in Winnipeg for 2009. Her fifth studio album, Femmes de chez nous includes a live performance film/DVD of the September 2009 premiere of Reliquary/Reliquaire, the commissioned performance work she created for the museum.
In 2011, Samson, Fellows and Sandro Perri
Sandro Perri
Sandro Perri is a musician and producer from Toronto, Canada. His music has been called post-rock, electronic, experimental, ambient, folk among others....
participated in the National Parks Project
National Parks Project
The National Parks Project is a Canadian music and film project. Released in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Parks of Canada system, the project sent three Canadian musicians and a filmmaker to each of 13 Canadian national parks, one in each province and...
, working with filmmaker Daniel Cockburn to produce and score a short film about Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's Bruce Peninsula National Park
Bruce Peninsula National Park
Bruce Peninsula National Park is a national park on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. Located on a part of the Niagara Escarpment, the park comprises 156 square kilometres and is one of the largest protected areas in southern Ontario, forming the core of UNESCO's Niagara Escarpment World...
.
Discography
- 2000: 2 Little Birds (Endearing RecordsEndearing RecordsEndearing Records is a Canadian independent record label established in 1994, now based in Vancouver, originally based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Endearing Records has released many albums by Canadian indie artists since the mid 90s, such as Destroyer, The Meligrove Band, Julie Doiron, The...
) - 2002: The Last One StandingThe Last One StandingThe Last One Standing is the second album by Canadian folk-pop singer Christine Fellows, released in 2002 on Six Shooter Records.-Track listing:# Regrets# Roadkill# Veda's Waltz# Seconds After# Lost Overtures# 2 for 1 # Blueprints# Trust...
(Six Shooter) - 2005: Paper AnniversaryPaper Anniversary (album)Paper Anniversary is the third album by Canadian folk-pop singer Christine Fellows, released in 2005 on Six Shooter Records.-Track listing:# "Foreword"# "Vertebrae"# "Road Trip"# "Migrations"# "Face Down, Feet First"...
(Six Shooter) - 2007: NeverthelessNevertheless (album)Nevertheless is the fourth studio album by Christine Fellows, released on November 6, 2007 on Six Shooter Records. The album was principally inspired by the life and work of poet Marianne Moore; secondary inspirations include artist Joseph Cornell....
(Six Shooter) - 2011: Femmes de chez nousFemmes de chez nousFemmes de chez nous is the fifth studio album by Christine Fellows, released February 1, 2011 on Six Shooter Records.The album features songs in both English and French, Fellows' first album to do so...
(Six Shooter)