Guest Vocalist

From her beginnings in the early 1980s as a guitar- and piano-based folk artist in the coffee houses and clubs of Toronto through her many musical incarnations, Jane Siberry has established herself as a uniquely gifted singer and composer. Siberry began her professional musical career while waiting tables and studying microbiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario. In 1981, she released her self-titled debut album, Jane Siberry, independently, having financed it with her waitressing tips and bartered studio time. In 1984, she signed with a small Canadian label that later joined forces with A&M/Windham Hill in releasing No Borders Here, yielding the hit ‘Mimi On The Beach.’ Her 1985 album The Speckless Sky brought Siberry her first music awards, as it reached Gold status in Canada and garnered two People’s Choice Awards for Album and Producer of the Year in Canada. In addition, the lead track from the album, ‘One More Colour,’ was later used by director Atom Egoyan in his film The Sweet Hereafter. Signed to Warner/Reprise in 1987, Siberry released The Walking. A subsequent tour of Europe, Japan, and Australia led to the accolades “heart stopping” and “spellbinding” from the press across both ponds. In 1989, Bound By The Beauty brought a wry sense of humor and an acoustic simplicity to Siberry’s growing body of work. Recorded in the middle of an apple orchard, the album attracted attention from producer and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno, who offered to produce some tracks for her next album, 1993’s When I Was A Boy. This recording became Siberry’s biggest commercial success, and included such hits as ‘Sail Across The Water,’ ‘Temple,’ and ‘Calling All Angels’ (with k.d. lang), which first appeared in Wim Wenders’ film Until The End Of The World. The jazz-inspired Maria followed in 1995 and explored new musical territory, including the epic ‘Oh My My.’ This record motivated Siberry to leave Warner/Reprise to boldly launch her own independent record label, SHEEBA Records in 1996. Having envisioned her label as a vehicle to pursue additional projects beyond her recorded work, Siberry’s goal for SHEEBA is to distribute “all things Siberry.” The label has put out five of her recordings, including 1996’s Teenager, a special collection of songs that Siberry wrote as a teenage musician. Sheeba has also released the long-awaited New York Trilogy CD collection, the outcome of her extraordinary series of three theme concerts at New York City’s Bottom Line nightclub in autumn 1996. The Trilogy consists of the two single-disc titles Tree: Music For Films and Forests and Lips: Music For Saying It, as well as the two-disc Child: Music For The Christmas Season, released October 1997. Other SHEEBA releases include 1997’s A Day In The Life, a frenzied, 29-minute sound collage of a day in New York City made up of voice-mail messages, cab conversations, arguments with hairdressers, moments from yoga class, and excerpts of studio adventures with fellow artists Joe Jackson, Darol Anger, k.d. lang, and Patty Larkin. Along with her music releases, Siberry has published two books through SHEEBA: SWAN in 1998 and One Room Schoolhouse by invitation of NARAS in 1999. The label has relied primarily on a highly active website (www.janesiberry.com), that serves as a resource for information on new releases and tour dates, and has evolved into a forum for discovery and input among those who follow Siberry’s career. By way of the web, Siberry seeks advice from the public on a variety of topics, which have ranged from suggestions on new website designs to tips on growing roses. In addition, she occasionally holds creative fundraising efforts (she auctioned a guitar and her first gold record, and sold advance copies of new releases). The SHEEBA site also sells an extensive catalogue of Siberry recordings, books, videos, and merchandise. In accordance with the inventive nature of Siberry’s music and SHEEBA Records, in 1998 she devised a series of three-part, weekend-long Siberry Salons, which consisted of two performances, a workshop, and dinner at intimate, nontypical venues such as art galleries and loft apartments. Through these and her other pursuits, Siberry has taken full control of her career, both creatively and commercially. Siberry’s new release, HUSH (Released, September 26, 2000), a collection of traditional American and Celtic spirituals, is her first studio creation since 1996’s Maria. www.janesiberry.com