Roxanne Potvin
Encyclopedia
Roxanne Potvin is a Canadian bilingual Gatineau
, Quebec
-based singer, blues
guitarist
, songwriter
and vocalist. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Potvin moved to the Ottawa area when she was two. Potvin has become in continual demand for clubs, festivals, and special events across Ontario and farther afield — Potvin’s schedule has included a flying trip to France for a major festival in 2007, she has played the prestigious Toronto Women's Blues Review show twice (most recently November 2007 at Massey Hall
in Toronto) and in 2008 she was nominated as Female Vocalist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards
.
, Freddie King
, Muddy Waters
, Big Bill Broonzy
, John Hiatt
, the Beatles
, Elvis Presley
, Aretha Franklin
, Sarah Vaughan
, Billie Holiday
, Solomon Burke
, Irma Thomas
, Jimmy Reed
, the Staple Singers
, Ruth Brown
, Jimmy Bryant
, Charlie Christian
, Lonnie Johnson
, BB King, Bessie Smith
and others.
Blues Band. Veteran blues giants Kim Wilson
and Gene Taylor
of the Fabulous Thunderbirds also appeared on the album.
. The album featured six original songs and four covers by Dinah Washington
, Ruth Brown
, Etta James
and Buddy Johnson
.
This album helped build her reputation as a songwriter as well as a singer and player. Local writers (and campus and CBC radio
) embraced the CD, and Potvin's reputation began to spread.
(2006), was produced by Colin Linden
— a Nashville-based Canadian guitarist and writer with 60 CD production projects to his name — helped bring together a cast of support players that included, in addition to Daniel Lanois
, Bruce Cockburn
, Wayne Jackson
of the The Memphis Horns, members of the Fairfield Four, and one of Potvin's favourite songwriters and singers, John Hiatt
.
The album received a Juno Award
nomination for Blues Album of the Year
.
, Sue Foley
and Potvin. The title track, "Time Bomb", an instrumental where all three women take turns laying down leads. For the next nine songs the women spell each other off taking lead vocals and guitar duties of every third song until they come together again on the final track "In The Basement".
. In an extremely favourable review of the album, The Globe and Mail
wrote, "Smartly timeless and featuring the most assured songwriting of Potvin's three-album career, No Love for the Poisonous is a wicked success story."
, Kim Mitchell
, Gino Vannelli
).
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
-based singer, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and vocalist. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Potvin moved to the Ottawa area when she was two. Potvin has become in continual demand for clubs, festivals, and special events across Ontario and farther afield — Potvin’s schedule has included a flying trip to France for a major festival in 2007, she has played the prestigious Toronto Women's Blues Review show twice (most recently November 2007 at Massey Hall
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....
in Toronto) and in 2008 she was nominated as Female Vocalist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards
Maple Blues Awards
The Maple Blues Awards are Canada’s blues awards, "honouring the finest in Canadian blues". They are the only comprehensive national best in blues awards program. The program's goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement...
.
Influences
Potvin has stated that her music has been influenced by her growing up and listening to artists such as: Dinah WashingtonDinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, Freddie King
Freddie King
Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
, John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
, the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....
, Jimmy Reed
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
, the Staple Singers
The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples , the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha , Pervis , Yvonne , and Mavis...
, Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress, noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean".For these...
, Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant was a prominent American session guitarist. He was billed as "The Fastest Guitar in the Country".-Biography:Ivy J. Bryant, Jr. was born in Moultrie, Georgia, the oldest of 12 children...
, Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
, Lonnie Johnson
Lonnie Johnson
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos...
, BB King, Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
and others.
Current touring band line-up
- Drums: Roger Travassos
- Bass: Mark McIntyre
- Piano: Steve O'Connor
- Guitar and lapsteel: Chrisine Bougie
Bogart's Bounce
Potvin made her recording debut in January 2002 when she sang an original tune on Bogart's Bounce, a Northern Blues release by Ottawa's JW-JonesJW-Jones
JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and...
Blues Band. Veteran blues giants Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up."-Career:...
and Gene Taylor
Gene Taylor (musician)
Gene Taylor is an American blues rock and boogie-woogie pianist.-Biography:Taylor began his musical training as a drummer at age eight but two years later he had picked up both the guitar and his initial piano skills from boogie-woogie pianist-neighbours...
of the Fabulous Thunderbirds also appeared on the album.
Careless Loving
In 2003 Potvin wrote a canon of songs with which she self-produced, self-financed, self-released, and self promoted her first recording, Careless LovingCareless Loving
Careless Loving is the debut album from Canadian blues singer/musician Roxanne Potvin, released in 2003 . The album was recorded in Ottawa, Ontario. Potvin wrote six of the disc’s ten tracks...
. The album featured six original songs and four covers by Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress, noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean".For these...
, Etta James
Etta James
Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
and Buddy Johnson
Buddy Johnson
Not to be confused with Budd Johnson.Buddy Johnson was an American jazz and New York blues pianist and bandleader, active from the 1930s through the 1960s...
.
This album helped build her reputation as a songwriter as well as a singer and player. Local writers (and campus and CBC radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
) embraced the CD, and Potvin's reputation began to spread.
The Way It Feels
The Way It FeelsThe Way It Feels
The Way It Feels Canadian blues singer/musician Roxanne Potvin's second album. It was released in 2006 . The CD include contributions from a wide range of players, including producer Colin Linden, John Hiatt, Bruce Cockburn and members of the Fairfield Four and the Memphis Horns...
(2006), was produced by Colin Linden
Colin Linden
Colin Linden is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Colin James, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King and The Band.Linden is primarily a electric blues guitarist,...
— a Nashville-based Canadian guitarist and writer with 60 CD production projects to his name — helped bring together a cast of support players that included, in addition to Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
, Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
, Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson is best known for his tenure as the CEO of the Australian Football League 1996 to 2003.- SANFL :Jackson played 71 games for West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League from 1965 to 1971 ....
of the The Memphis Horns, members of the Fairfield Four, and one of Potvin's favourite songwriters and singers, John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
.
The album received a Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
nomination for Blues Album of the Year
Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year
The Juno Award for "Blues Album of the Year" has been awarded since 1994, as recognition each year for the best blues album in Canada. The award was previously a combined blues and gospel award category.-Best Blues/Gospel Album :...
.
Time Bomb
Time Bomb (2007) featured three female blues players, Deborah ColemanDeborah Coleman
Deborah Coleman is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C...
, Sue Foley
Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and...
and Potvin. The title track, "Time Bomb", an instrumental where all three women take turns laying down leads. For the next nine songs the women spell each other off taking lead vocals and guitar duties of every third song until they come together again on the final track "In The Basement".
No Love for the Poisonous
No Love for the Poisonous (2008) was produced by Dave Mackinnon of FemBotsFemBots
FemBots are a Canadian indie rock band, originating from Toronto, Ontario. Originating members Dave MacKinnon and Brian Poirier also travel with The Weakerthans on tour...
. In an extremely favourable review of the album, The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
wrote, "Smartly timeless and featuring the most assured songwriting of Potvin's three-album career, No Love for the Poisonous is a wicked success story."
Play
In 2011, Potvin changed directions and recorded Play, an album with a combination of folk, indie rock and pop influences. She collaborated with Black Hen Music director and guitarist Steve Dawson and a crew of Vancouver studio musicians, recording an album of new songs in five days.Management
Roxanne Potvin signed with Alert Music Inc. late in 2005, and is now managed by industry veteran W. Tom Berry (Holly ColeHolly Cole
Holly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer, particularly popular in Canada and Japan for both her versatile and distinctive voice, along with her adventurous repertoire, which spans such divergent genres as show tunes, rock, and country music.-Holly Cole Trio:In 1983, Cole travelled to Toronto to seek a...
, Kim Mitchell
Kim Mitchell
Joseph Kim Mitchell is a Canadian guitarist. He was the lead singer and guitarist for the band Max Webster before going on to lead a solo career. He is currently a radio show host for CILQ-FM in Toronto....
, Gino Vannelli
Gino Vannelli
Gino Vannelli is an Italian-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and composer.-Early years:Born in Montreal, Quebec, Vannelli is one of three sons born to Russ and Delia Vannelli. Russ, his father, was a big band musician. As a child, Gino's greatest passion was music, and he began playing...
).
Main releases
| Year | Title | Genre | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Careless Loving Careless Loving Careless Loving is the debut album from Canadian blues singer/musician Roxanne Potvin, released in 2003 . The album was recorded in Ottawa, Ontario. Potvin wrote six of the disc’s ten tracks... |
Blues | Independent |
| 2006 | The Way It Feels The Way It Feels The Way It Feels Canadian blues singer/musician Roxanne Potvin's second album. It was released in 2006 . The CD include contributions from a wide range of players, including producer Colin Linden, John Hiatt, Bruce Cockburn and members of the Fairfield Four and the Memphis Horns... |
Blues | Alert Music Inc. |
| 2008 | No Love for the Poisonous | Blues | Alert Music Inc. |
| 2011 | Play | Indie rock Indie rock Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others... |
Black Hen Music |
Collaborations
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Bogart's Bounce | Blues | NorthernBlues Music | sang on one track with JW-Jones JW-Jones JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and... |
| 2004 | My King of Evil | Blues | NorthernBlues Music | sang on one track with JW-Jones JW-Jones JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and... |
| 2007 | Time Bomb | Blues Rock | Ruf (Idn) | with Sue Foley Sue Foley Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and... & Deborah Coleman Deborah Coleman Deborah Coleman is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C... |