Karen Young (born June 19, 1951) is a singer, lyricist, composer and arranger from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada who has explored several different musical styles, including world music, classical, jazz, Latin, traditional, and medieval music.

Career

Young was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Starting in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

with a medium chart hit ''Garden Of Ursh'' (1971) in the late 1960s, she switched to jazz in the mid-1970s with the successful

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

vocal group, ''Bug Alley''. She was a member from 1975 to 1979. She played lead roles in the

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

productions ''Mata Hari'' and ''Angel'', written by David Rimmer and Edward Knoll, in the early 1980s. In the mid-to later 1980s, she was part of the renowned bass and voice duo, ''Young and Donato'', with Montreal jazz bassist Michel Donato. Their album ''Young & Donato'' was nominated for 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 ...

1985. The following album ''Contredanse'' won a

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian p ...

in category ''Best jazz album'' in Quebec in 1988. The duo had four tours from (1987-90) in France and 1989-90 in the USA, and also some gigs in 1989 in England. She was touring with her bands mostly in Canada in the early 2000s, so at the Kaslo Jazz Festival (2003) with a

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...

style or as a member of Sylvain Provost Trio at Jazz en Rafale Festival 2008. Her

eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in ...

and familiarity with world, classical and jazz styles allow her to present works ranging from traditional, Latin and contemporary jazz to, more recently, medieval (album ''Âme, corps et désir'', 2007 ) and

electro jazz Nu jazz (also known as jazztronica, or future jazz) is a genre of jazz and electronic music. The music blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, electronic music, and free improvisation.Definition from Sergey Chernov, June 7, ...

(album ''Electro-Beatniks'', 2009). Young established her own

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

in 1991, ''Les Disques URSH''. Since then, she has released nine records featuring combinations of artists from different musical backgrounds and traditions. Young composed the musical soundtracks for ''Joseph’s Daughter'', a film by Ilana Schwartz, ''The Road from Kampuchea'' by Anne Henderson and for '' Revoir Julie'' by Jeanne Crepeau. She was awarded another Félix Award in 2008 for ''Âme, Corps et Desir'' in the category "best classic vocal album". She has been touring also with jazz musicians Michel Donato (bass), Norman Lachapelle (bass), Éric Auclair (bass). Karen's daughter,

Coral Egan Coral Egan is a Canadian jazz and pop singer. She is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee, receiving nominations for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2003 for her album ''The Path of Least Resistance'', and Adult Contemp ...

, is also a singer-songwriter and has released several jazz and pop albums; Coral has also given Karen a granddaughter.

Discography

*2018 - ''Portraits: Songs of Joni Mitchell'' (with Marianne Trudel) *2017 - ''Dreamers'' (with Coral Egan) *2015 - ''You make me feel so young'' (with Sylvain Provost and Normand Guilbeault) *2009 - ''Electro-Beatniks'' (with Eric Auclair) *2007 - ''Âme, Corps et Desir'' *2003 - ''La couleur du vent'' *2002 - ''Live in your living room'' *2000 - ''Le cantique des cantiques'' *1997 - ''Nice work if you can get it'' *1994 - ''Second time around'' *1993 - ''Good news on the crumbling walls'' *1992 - ''Karen Young'' *1990 - ''En vol III'' (with Michel Donato) *1988 - ''Contredanse'' (with Michel Donato) *1985 - ''Karen Young\ Michel Donato'' (with Michel Donato) *1981 - ''Karen Young''

External links

*
Karen Young at The Canadian Encyclopedia
* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Karen 1951 births Living people Canadian women jazz singers Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters Canadian percussionists Canadian film score composers Félix Award winners Feminist musicians Singers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian composers 21st-century Canadian composers Canadian women composers 21st-century Canadian women musicians Justin Time Records artists