Kathleen Edwards
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Edwards is a Canadian singer-songwriter
and musician. Her 2003 debut album, Failer
, contained the singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates".
studies that continued for the next 12 years. As a teenager she lived overseas, where she spent much of her time listening to her brother's records of Neil Young
and Bob Dylan
. Her brother also bought her first record, a Tom Petty
album. After high school she decided not to attend college, instead opting to play local clubs to pay the bills.
Edwards played at SXSW in 2002 and was signed to Rounder Records and MapleMusic shortly after. Failer was released in Canada in the fall of 2002 on MapleMusic Recordings
. In January 2003 Failer was released by Rounder Records
in the US and internationally. Rolling Stone
declared her one of year's most promising new acts and Blender
said that Failers songs possessed "an indefinable pull that makes you love the characters they describe, no matter how fucked up they are." The New York Times
praised Edwards as a writer whose songs can "pare situations down to a few dozen words while they push country-rock towards its primal impulses of thump and twang." She made her television network debut on "Late Show with David Letterman," where she performed "Six O'Clock News."
In 2005, Edwards released Back to Me, which also garnered considerable critical acclaim, and led to the release of the singles "Back to Me" and "In State". The track "Summerlong" also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Elizabethtown
starring Orlando Bloom
and Kirsten Dunst
.
In 2008, Edwards released her third studio album, Asking for Flowers
. It was described by the San Francisco Bay Guardian
as "her finest album to date", and was a shortlisted nominee for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize
. In contrast with 2005's Back to Me, on which Edwards relied on her working band, Asking for Flowers predominantly features session musicians.
In fall 2010, Edwards began working on her fourth studio album in Wisconsin. Voyageur will be released in January 2012. It includes the single "Change the Sheets."
In 2006, she was nominated for Juno Awards for Songwriter of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Back to Me.
In 2007, Edwards worked with John Doe
, formerly of the punk rock band X, on his solo album A Year in the Wilderness. She sings vocals on three tracks.
In 2008 Edwards sang backup vocals on Bryan Adams
' album 11
, and supported one of his tours. In 2009, she joined Adams on stage to sing one of Adams' songs, "Walk On By".
In 2011 Edwards contributed vocals on Arkells song "Agent Zero", off their second album Michigan Left.
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...
and musician. Her 2003 debut album, Failer
Failer
Failer is the commercial debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. It was released January 14, 2003 on the independent labels MapleMusic in Canada and Zoe Records in the United States, and features the singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates".Rolling Stone declared Edwards...
, contained the singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates".
Personal life
Edwards, the daughter of a diplomat, spent portions of her youth in Korea and Switzerland. At age 5, Edwards began classical violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
studies that continued for the next 12 years. As a teenager she lived overseas, where she spent much of her time listening to her brother's records of Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Her brother also bought her first record, a Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
album. After high school she decided not to attend college, instead opting to play local clubs to pay the bills.
Albums
In 1999, Edwards recorded a six-song EP entitled Building 55 and pressed 500 copies. By the fall of 2000, she was on tour across Canada managing her own gigs. In 2001, she wrote seven of the ten songs for her 2003 debut release Failer.Edwards played at SXSW in 2002 and was signed to Rounder Records and MapleMusic shortly after. Failer was released in Canada in the fall of 2002 on MapleMusic Recordings
MapleMusic Recordings
MapleMusic Recordings is a Toronto based record label.The MapleMusic Recordings label is a project of Canadian roots rock band Skydiggers and entrepreneur Grant Dexter...
. In January 2003 Failer was released by Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
in the US and internationally. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
declared her one of year's most promising new acts and Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
said that Failers songs possessed "an indefinable pull that makes you love the characters they describe, no matter how fucked up they are." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised Edwards as a writer whose songs can "pare situations down to a few dozen words while they push country-rock towards its primal impulses of thump and twang." She made her television network debut on "Late Show with David Letterman," where she performed "Six O'Clock News."
In 2005, Edwards released Back to Me, which also garnered considerable critical acclaim, and led to the release of the singles "Back to Me" and "In State". The track "Summerlong" also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown (film)
Elizabethtown is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Alec Baldwin has a small role as a CEO of an athletic shoe company and Susan Sarandon appears as a grieving widow...
starring Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
and Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
.
Asking for Flowers
Asking for Flowers is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. The album was released March 4, 2008, and was well-received by critics, similarly to her first two albums released under Zoë Records, Failer and Back to Me...
. It was described by the San Francisco Bay Guardian
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper is owned mostly by its publisher, Bruce B...
as "her finest album to date", and was a shortlisted nominee for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize
2008 Polaris Music Prize
The 2008 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 30, 2008. The prize was won by Caribou for his album Andorra....
. In contrast with 2005's Back to Me, on which Edwards relied on her working band, Asking for Flowers predominantly features session musicians.
In fall 2010, Edwards began working on her fourth studio album in Wisconsin. Voyageur will be released in January 2012. It includes the single "Change the Sheets."
Musical collaborations
In 2005, Edwards lent her vocals to the duet "The Plan", recorded with Matt Mays and El Torpedo for their self-titled album.In 2006, she was nominated for Juno Awards for Songwriter of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Back to Me.
In 2007, Edwards worked with John Doe
John Doe (musician)
John Doe is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet and bass player. Doe founded the much-praised L.A. punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span the rock, country and folk music genres...
, formerly of the punk rock band X, on his solo album A Year in the Wilderness. She sings vocals on three tracks.
In 2008 Edwards sang backup vocals on Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
' album 11
11 (Bryan Adams album)
11 is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. The album was released by Polydor Records on March 17, 2008. 11 was the first release of new Adams material since Colour Me Kubrick in 2005 and the first studio album in four years since Room Service...
, and supported one of his tours. In 2009, she joined Adams on stage to sing one of Adams' songs, "Walk On By".
In 2011 Edwards contributed vocals on Arkells song "Agent Zero", off their second album Michigan Left.
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
||
| Failer Failer Failer is the commercial debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. It was released January 14, 2003 on the independent labels MapleMusic in Canada and Zoe Records in the United States, and features the singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates".Rolling Stone declared Edwards... |
|
— | — | — |
| Back to Me |
Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
— | 173 | 6 |
| Asking for Flowers Asking for Flowers Asking for Flowers is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. The album was released March 4, 2008, and was well-received by critics, similarly to her first two albums released under Zoë Records, Failer and Back to Me... |
|
15 | 102 | 1 |
| Voyageur Voyageur (Kathleen Edwards album) Voyageur is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, scheduled for release on January 17, 2012. The album was produced by Edwards and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.... |
|
To be released | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
Extended plays
- 1999: Building 55Building 55Building 55 was an EP released in 1999 by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. Only 500 copies of the EP were printed, and it has become a highly sought-after collector's item following the success of Edwards' subsequent albums Failer, Back to Me and Asking for Flowers...
- 2003: Live from the Bowery Ballroom
- 2008: Live Session
Singles
| Year | Single | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | "Six O'Clock News" | Failer |
| "One More Song the Radio Won't Like" | ||
| 2004 | "Hockey Skates" | |
| 2005 | "Back to Me" | Back to Me |
| "In State" | ||
| 2008 | "The Cheapest Key" | Asking for Flowers |
| "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" | ||
| 2011 | "Change the Sheets" | Voyageur |
Guest singles
| Year | Single | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Married Again" | Jim Cuddy Jim Cuddy Jim Cuddy is a Canadian singer-songwriter primarily associated with the band Blue Rodeo. He has also recorded three solo albums with the Jim Cuddy Band, which features musicians Bazil Donovan, Colin Cripps, Joel Anderson, Anne Lindsay and Gavin Brown... |
The Light That Guides You Home The Light That Guides You Home The Light That Guides You Home is the second album by Jim Cuddy. It was released on September 12, 2006.-Track listing:All songs written by Jim Cuddy.#"The Light That Guides You Home" – 5:32#"Maybe Sometime" – 4:06#"All I Need" – 4:23... |