Emanuel Assefa, credited as Emanuel, is a Canadian R&B singer,Holly Gordon
"Idris Elba helps make new video for up-and-coming Ontario artist"

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, April 16, 2020. whose debut EP ''Alt Therapy Session 1: Disillusion'' was a

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 ...

nominee for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2021 The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Ma ...

. Assefa was born and raised in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, the son of parents from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

who came to Canada as refugees in the 1970s. His first single, "Need You", was released in April 2020, and was promoted in part with a music video compiled from the responses to actor Idris Elba's social media request for pictorial and video collages of the things that were helping people to cope with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. ''Alt Therapy Session 1: Disillusion'' was released in June 2020, and was followed by ''Alt Therapy Session 2: Transformation'' in December His full-length debut album ''Alt Therapy'', including songs from both of the prior EPs, was released in 2021 on

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

, and was a Juno Award nominee for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording at the

Juno Awards of 2022 The Juno Awards of 2022 were held on May 15, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario. The awards were presented at the Budweiser Stage, an outdoor venue, and was hosted by actor Simu Liu.David Friend"Actor Simu Liu to host first outdoor Juno Awards at Toronto� ...

. His song "Black Woman", cowritten with Ryan Bakalarczyk, John Fellner and Kardinal Offishall, was a nominee for the 2021 SOCAN Songwriting Prize.Megan LaPierre
"SOCAN Songwriting Prize Announces 2021 Finalists"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', June 17, 2021.

References

{{reflist Canadian contemporary R&B singers 21st-century Black Canadian male singers Musicians from London, Ontario Canadian people of Ethiopian descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people)