Ember Swift (born in

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

, Oxford County,

Ontario, Canada 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 C ...

) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist. She has released 11 studio albums in English and Mandarin.

Career

Swift graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

with a degree in East Asian Studies. In 1998, she and regular band member Lyndell Montgomery (

electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

) began touring North America, Australia and later, New Caledonia. Their live shows featured Toronto-based percussionist and drummer Cheryl Reid. Swift and Montgomery later worked with

Michelle Josef Michelle Josef (born March 21, 1953), formerly Bohdan Hluszko, is a Canadian musician and transgender activist. Under her former name, Josef was already established as one of Canada's leading session drummers, and has continued her career in music ...

and Adam Bowman on drums and percussion. Reid continued to work with Swift and Montgomery until 2008 as a part-time player, and also worked with Swift when she toured North America. In 2008, Swift moved to Beijing and assembled a new band, consisting of Zac Courtney on drums, Paplus Ntahombaye on bass, and Wang Ya Qi 王雅琪 on the traditional Chinese instrument, the

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two- ...

. Swift is also a

voice over artist Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

and writer, and has published work in magazines and literary quarterlies. She appeared as a vocalist on the video game

Mobile Legends ''Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. Released in 2016, the game grew in popularity worldwide, most prominently in Southeast Asia, a ...

. A memoir was scheduled to be released in 2022. In 2021 Swift released an album entitled ''Mid-March Meltdown'', which was partially co-written with Beijing-based band member Gabriel Beaudoin and mixed with co-producer Tim Abraham. She released three music videos covering tracks from the album.

Personal life

Swift married Chinese musician Guo Jian, (国囝) and had a daughter in January 2012 and a son in December 2013. She separated from Guo Jian in 2015 and was formally divorced in 2018. Swift continues to live in Beijing, China with her two children.

Discography

Studio Albums

* ''Self-Titled'' (1996) * ''InsectInside'' (1997) * ''Can't Corner Me'' (1998) * ''Permanent Marker'' (1999) * ''Stiltwalking'' (2002) * ''Disarming'' (2004) * ''The Dirty Pulse'' (2006) * ''Lentic: The New Project'' (2009) * ''11:11'' (2011) * ''Sticks & Stones'' (2017) * ''Mid-March Meltdown'' (2021)

Live Albums

* ''The Wage Is the Stage'' (live) (2000) * ''Snapshots'' (live EP) (2000) * ''Witness: Live in Australia'' (2005; DVD)

Awards

* 2006: "Youth Role Model of the Year" – Jer's Version Foundation * 2006: Best Band Website – Canadian Independent Music Award

References

External links

Ember Swift
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Ember 1970s births Living people Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian folk guitarists Canadian women folk guitarists Canadian folk singer-songwriters Singers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian guitarists University of Toronto alumni 21st-century women guitarists 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters