Bryan Anthony Potvin (born May 31, 1963, in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist.

History

Potvin began guitar lessons at the age of 13 in Victoria, B.C. His family re-located to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Saskatchewan where he continued his music studies. In 1984, Bryan, along with

Jay Semko John Peter "Jay" Semko is a singer/songwriter and bassist with Canadian band, The Northern Pikes. He is also a music composer for numerous film and television productions, most notably the successful Canadian television series ''Due South''. Semk ...

, Don Schmid and Merl Bryck formed

The Northern Pikes The Northern Pikes are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1984. The original members are Jay Semko, Bryan Potvin, Merl Bryck and Glen Hollingshead, who left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Don Schmid in June 1986. ...

. The band signed a world-wide recording contract with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

in the winter of 1986. Their seven-album catalogue sold in excess of 1 million units globally and garnered the band eight

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominations. In 1993, the group took a six-year hiatus, citing fatigue. With fellow band member Jay Semko, Potvin co-wrote the theme for the television series ''

Due South ''Due South'' is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 26, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred Pau ...

''. From 1994 to 2000, Potvin was the A&R manager for

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

in Canada. He worked with such artists as

Tegan & Sara Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumental ...

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Finger Eleven Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1990. They have released seven studio albums (six as Finger Eleven and one as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), with their album '' The Greyest of Blue Skies'' bringing them into th ...

, Zuckerbaby and The Barstool Prophets. Potvin released his first solo recording project, ''Heartbreakthrough'', in July 2000. The song "Read Between The Lines" was nominated for Best New Rock/Alternative Recording at the Canadian Radio Music Awards. The Northern Pikes re-united shortly afterwards to begin touring a greatest hits collection issued by Virgin Records. The band recorded three independent albums: L''ive 2000'', ''Truest Inspiration'' and ''It's A Good Life'' between 2000 and 2003. In 2004, Potvin signed a music publishing agreement with BMG, writing songs for artists such as Andrea England,

Joanna Wang Joanna Wang () is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter, daughter of renowned music producer Wang Zhi-ping (王治平). Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her de ...

Hayley Aitken Hayley Michelle Aitken (born 11 April 1986) is an Australian pop singer-songwriter and record producer who also performs mononymously as Hayley. She had a top 40 hit on the ARIA Singles Chart with her second single, "Kiss Me Quick" (July ...

, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings,

Mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

Doc Walker Doc Walker is a country music group from Westbourne, Manitoba, Canada. They have won Canadian Country Music Awards and had radio hits with the songs "I Am Ready" and "The Show is Free" from the 2003 album ''Everyone Aboard''. In 2001 they releas ...

Christa Borden ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, ''Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gro ...

Velvet Empire Velvet Empire was a Canadian pop music group that was formed through the second edition of the Global TV show ''Popstars'', entitled "Boy Meets Girl". The group was formed in Spring 2002. They recorded their first and only album in Toronto at Metal ...

and several others. From 2009 and 2012, Potvin wrote and recorded music for two Discovery Channel series, ''Beyond Survival'' and ''Survivorman 10''. Potvin travelled to Sri Lanka, Namibia, Madagascar and several other countries recording traditional music, weaving this into the soundtrack for the shows. Potvin has completed recording the solo album ''Heartbledwhite'', which was scheduled for global release in 2014.

Personal life

Potvin currently resides in Nova Scotia.

External links

The Northern Pikes: history

Fan page for Bryan Potvin

Canadian guitarists Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters Living people 1963 births {{Canada-guitarist-stub