This famed contralto was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1911 to parents who had been slaves in Virginia. She started singing in the church choir and was so determined to be a singer that she walked 10 miles every week for music lessons. White won the Helen Kennedy Silver Cup at the Halifax Music Festival in 1935, 1937, and 1938, and then became the first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim.
"He broke out of Canada. He's one of the first people," says Tracy Biddle, whose late father Charles was a close friend of Peterson."We talk of Celine Dion and Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette, and Bryan Adams. Oscar Peterson did what they did years ago as a Black person. So what he's done is incredible."
It was winning a talent contest that launched Collins' career, with her going on to perform with an array of musicians such as Chris Gage, Phil Nimmons, Lance Harrison, Doug Parker, Fraser MacPherson, Don Thompson and Dave Robbins over the years. Her latest album, 2020's 'Bahdgyal's Revenge', features Chuck D, Jamaican reggae legend Lindo P, and more. She's the recipient of the prestigious Roy Thomson Hall Award bestowed by the Toronto Arts Council. The award recognizes creative, performing, administrative, volunteer, or philanthropic contributions to Toronto's musical life.The Junos didn't have a Rap category. And then Maestro Fresh Wes dropped his debut album, 'Symphony in Effect'.
After spending her teenage years performing in TV commercials and working as a backing vocalist for Celine Dion, Cox moved to the U.S., where Clive Davis signed her to Arista Records and released her first, self-titled album., became a huge success, going platinum in the U.S., and spawning the chart hit “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here”.
In 2021, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” became the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All Time Hot 100 Chart. The 2019 smash hit then became the most-streamed song on Spotify in 2023 after it spent nearly two years on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.Born in Haiti and raised in Montreal, this D.J. and record producer first attracted attention in 2010 with a series of mixtapes, remixes, and originals released under the name Kaytradamus.