Jane Richmond Hyslop (born 15 February 1967), known professionally as Jane Child, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record-producer best known for her hit single " Don't Wanna Fall in Love". She is also known for her unusual fashion style, which included a hairstyle made of

spikes The SPIKES protocol is a method used in clinical medicine to break bad news to patients and families. As receiving bad news can cause distress and anxiety, clinicians need to deliver the news carefully. By using the SPIKES method for introducing a ...

and ankle-length braids and a nose chain piercing.

Early life

Child was born in Toronto, and is the daughter of noted Canadian classical musician

Ricky Hyslop Ricky Hyslop (26 April 1915 – 2 June 1998) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and arranger. He was commissioned to write works by the Buffalo Philharmonic (the symphonic poems ''Toronto 1830'' and ''Mizu Uni''), clarinetist Avr ...

, while her mother was a singer and pianist. She has two brothers. Child was raised Christian, and was classically trained as a pianist during her youth. Her parents taught her how to play and sing by kindergarten. The first record she ever owned was

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single " Day Tripper" / " We Can ...

, purchased by her father so that she could learn the arrangement of Michelle. Her exposure to funk music came from having Christmases in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and listening to local music there on the beaches. At age 12 she joined the

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Cent ...

's children's chorus, and soon after studied piano briefly at

the Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

under Samuel Dolin. At age 15 she dropped out of school despite good grades. While seeking a summer job she saw an ad in a newspaper for a band looking for a keyboardist, which she applied for and joined. It was a touring rock and roll band of

Deadheads A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings ...

known as ''Summerhill'' that played remote northern Canadian towns, and paid her $25 a week. She played the synthesizer, piano, and organ, and sang in their shows for over 45 weeks in their first year together. She also had various other musical jobs, such as organist at the Anglican church in her neighbourhood and at horse-shows, playing piano for ballet classes and at piano bars, and recording jingles for commercials.

Career

Eventually Child cut a demo tape in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

with the engineer who owned the studio where she had been recording jingles. With a low budget, she would bus out to the studio and play all the instruments herself. Child was signed by a New York based production company after a partner in the company, who was a client of Child's entertainment lawyer, heard the tape. She subsequently relocated to New York and then Los Angeles. Adamant about producing her own music, Child left the label. After a bidding war with 13 other labels, she settled with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, who agreed to sign her on her own terms. At this time she was struggling to pay bills despite extravagant nights out for label meetings. One of her first potential breaks was when a publishing company sent a song she wrote to Maurice White, but in the end he chose not to record the song despite liking it. Her debut album, '' Jane Child'', released in 1989, was fully written and produced by Child, who also performed all the vocals and played all the instruments (except for the guitar parts), a rarity for a debut artist signed to a major label. Due to her musical style and her emphasis on control over her music, she was at the time labelled by the press as "the female

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

". She is best known for the hit single " Don't Wanna Fall in Love", which peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1990. The song was also a big hit on the R&B chart - a rarity for a white artist - peaking at No. 6. Her previous single, "Welcome to the Real World", was a modest hit, peaking at No. 49 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 1993, she released her second album, '' Here Not There''. In the album, she broadened her R&B sound to mix it with traces of rock, grunge, and Eastern music. The album and its singles were commercial failures, and she was dropped from the label and kept a low profile for the rest of the decade, though releasing a few collaborations with Japanese artists in that country. In 2001, she re-recorded the song "World Lullabye" from her debut album and sold the single through her website. All proceeds were donated to the Twin Towers Fund. Her third album, ''Surge'', was released in early 2002 on her own label, Sugarwave. She recorded a cover of

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

's " We Don't Need Another Hero" for the tribute album, ''What's Love? A Tribute to Tina Turner'', released in 2004. In the '' Just Dance'' video game franchise, she contributed vocals to cover songs for ''

Just Dance 2016 ''Just Dance 2016'' is a 2015 dance video game developed and published by Ubisoft. Unveiled on June 15, 2015, during its E3 press conference as the seventh main installment of the series, it was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 3, Play ...

'' and ''

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''.

Artistry

Child's look was inspired by African and East Indian cultures, as well as the

punk movement The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedo ...

, which came from living amongst these diasporas in Toronto. Her notable hair style, which she started at the age of 17, would be redone once a month by 3 women taking 14 hours to do. Her musical influences included Stevie Wonder,

the Sex Pistols ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

, Mozart,

Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' "o ...

, and

Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...

. Child would do her own cataloguing for programming, including the samples and sequences, often for 14 hours at a time. She writes left handed and would sing as she wrote, also coming up with the bass line with her left hand. In studio some of the gear she used included Fairlight, Sequential Prophet 5 and T-8, LinnDrum, E-mu SP12, Synclavier, Roland MSQ-700 and the Roland SBX-80. For tours her gear included a Minimoog, a Solina (ARP String Ensemble), a Mini-Korg, a Hammond B3 with a Leslie 145, and a Yamaha CP-70 electric grand.

Personal life

Child has been married to Cat Gray, the chief musician on ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created an ...

'', since 2004. In 1990 she purchased the 1917 Los Angeles house of Vidah Bickford, a locally based guitarist and mandolinist. She enjoys collecting Citroens and antiques.

Awards and Nominations

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Juno Awards 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 ...

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, rowspan=3, Herself , Most Promising Female Vocalist , , rowspan=4, , - , Songwriter of the Year , , - ,

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

, , - , rowspan=2, " Don't Wanna Fall in Love" , Dance Recording of the Year , , - ! scope="row", MTV Video Music Awards ,

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, Best New Artist in a Video , ,

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

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US R&B The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

, - , 1989 , '' Jane Child'' , rowspan="2" ,

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Surge Surge means a sudden transient rush or flood, and may refer to: Science * Storm surge, the onshore gush of water associated with a low-pressure weather system * Surge (glacier), a short-lived event where a glacier can move up to velocities 100 ...

'' , Sugarwave , align="center", — , align="center", — , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;", "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Remix albums

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Singles

As lead artist

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, - , rowspan="1" , 1989 , "Welcome to the Real World" , rowspan="2" , ''Jane Child'' , rowspan="7" ,

, align=center , 59 , align=center , 49 , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , 1990 , " Don't Wanna Fall in Love" , align=center , 4 , align=center , 2 , align=center , 11 , align=center , 6 , align=center , 22 , align=center , 97 , - , 1992 , "Mona Lisa Smiles" , rowspan="5" , ''Here Not There'' , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , rowspan="3" , 1993 , "Here Not There" , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , "Do Whatcha Do" , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , "Perfect Love" , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , 1994 , "All I Do" , align=center , 80 , align=center , ― , align=center , 25 , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , rowspan="2" , 2001 , "World Lullabye 2001" , , rowspan="3" , Sugarwave , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , "Almost Beautiful" , rowspan="2" , ''Surge'' , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , 2002 , "Nice Day" , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , align=center , ― , - , colspan="10" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;", "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

As featured artist

{, class="wikitable" , + !Year !Title !Label , - , 1998 , "Maybe Tomorrow" (Tomohiko Nishimura feat. Jane Child) , Fun House

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Jane 1967 births Canadian dance musicians Child, Jane Canadian women rock singers Canadian record producers Canadian contemporary R&B singers Jewish Canadian musicians Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year winners Living people Musicians from Toronto 21st-century Canadian women singers 20th-century Canadian women singers Freestyle musicians Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian women record producers Canadian women in electronic music Canadian expatriates in the United States