Elizabeth Shepherd is a Canadian singer, songwriter, pianist and producer.

Early life

Born in 1977, Shepherd is the daughter of two ministers of

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

. From an early age, she grew up on choral music, brass bands and classical music. She studied classical piano at conservatories in Canada and France, then completed a degree in jazz piano from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

after considering a career in music therapy.

Career

In 2004, Shepherd moved to Toronto and worked as a waitress at a piano bar. She began performing, and became a regular entertainer at the restaurant. She formed The Elizabeth Shepherd Trio with Scott Kemp on bass and Colin Kingsmore on drums. In 2006, she recorded her debut album, ''Start to Move'', which was voted among the top three jazz albums of 2006 by the listeners of ''The

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brow ...

Show'' on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. The album was nominated for a Juno Award in 2007. The trio performed songs from the album at

The Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, ...

in London, England. Shepherd's second studio album, ''Parkdale'' (2008), dealt sympathetically with its Toronto neighbourhood namesake, which is known for its grit. The album was produced by Nostalgia 77, a DJ in London, and was nominated for a Juno Award in 2009. ''Heavy Falls the Night'' (2010) featured only one cover song, a reworking of "

Danny's Song "Danny's Song" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. It first appeared on an album by Gator Creek and a year later on the album '' Sittin' In'', the debut ...

". Shepherd produced the album with the exception of the first single, "Seven Bucks", which was co-produced with Japanese DJ Mitsu the Beats and climbed to No. 37 on the "

Tokio Hot 100 J-Wave is a commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, covering a wide range of formats. The station is considered the most popular among FM broa ...

" chart. The album was long listed for the 2010

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

. In 2012, the choice of songs for her album ''Rewind'' was influenced by her pregnancy. The album consisted of jazz-pop cover versions of

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

songs by Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers, Kurt Weill, and

José Luis Perales José Luis Perales Morillas (born 18 January 1945) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He has recorded 27 albums and 50 million copies sold worldwide. His compositions have been recorded by singers such as Vikki Carr, Bertín Osborne, Ra ...

. ''Rewind'' was dedicated to her daughter and was nominated for the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2012. Shepherd's album ''The Signal'' (2014) consisted of ten original songs on topics as varied as motherhood,

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...

, witchcraft, and war, and featured guests such as Benin-born guitarist and composer

Lionel Loueke Lionel Loueke (born 27 April 1973) is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. Biography Loueke grew up in what he has described as a family of poor intellectuals in the ...

and drummer Larnell Lewis. The album was long-listed for the

in 2015 and was nominated for the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2015. Her most recent concept album, ''MONTREAL'' (2019), is a soulful blend of film and music into an ode celebrating her hometown and its rich history of untold stories. It was nominated for a JUNO Award in 2020 in the vocal jazz category. Shepherd has performed at jazz clubs internationally, spanning Japan, China, Europe, North America and Central America, from Tokyo's

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

to London's

Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, h ...

and Detroit's Cliff Bell's. She has appeared at festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, including

Montreal Jazz Festival The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fes ...

, ELB Jazz and the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2009, she was invited by British singer

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

to open for him at a sold-out show at the Hollywood Bowl, alongside Christian McBride. She has also shared the stage with the likes of Bonobo, Five Corners Quintet, Victor Wooten, Spankie Wilson, the JazzCotech Dancers, and the Quantic Soul Orchestra. Shepherd has appeared on public radio networks around the world including

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

(US), P2 (Sweden), IMER (Mexico), ARD (Germany). She has also performed on ''The

Show'' on BBC Radio 1 (UK),

J-Wave J-Wave is a commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, covering a wide range of formats. The station is considered the most popular among FM broad ...

's Modaista (Japan), and Q on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

(Canada). She has appeared as a guest vocalist / pianist on albums by various artists, such as MC Abdominal, Peter Appleyard, Michael Occhipinti, Andrea Superstein, Drumhand, and Circle Research.

Critical reception

With

Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 6, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger with a career that bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered on jazz. To date, Glasper has won fou ...

Esperanza Spalding Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984) is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, and a Soul Train Music Award. A native of Portland, Oregon, Spalding ...

and

Jose James Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

, Shepherd is credited with invigorating the jazz song and bringing jazz-influenced music to a younger audience. ''

Real Detroit Weekly ''Real Detroit Weekly'' (often called just ''Real Detroit'') was a weekly newspaper distributed free of charge every Wednesday from 1999 to 2014, that focused mainly on entertainment news from metro Detroit. It had a proportion of advertisements s ...

'' has called her "a jazz virtuoso blessed with a pop sensibility", while ''

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...

'' has described her "an intellectual Esperanza Spalding". Her catalog of 6 original albums has received critical attention internationally. She has been nominated 6 times for a JUNO Award (Canada's Grammy Awards), was recipient of the SOCAN songwriter award (2017) for her song 'Seven Bucks' (produced by Japanese DJ Mitsu), has been twice long-listed for the Polaris Prize (Canada's most prestigious musical award), was twice awarded Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the Canadian INDIES Awards (2007, 2011), was nominated for jazz vocalist of the year at the National Jazz Awards (2009).

Discography

* ''Start to Move'' (Do Right, 2006) * ''Besides'' (Do Right, 2007) * ''Parkdale'' (Do Right, 2008) * ''Heavy Falls the Night'' (Do Right, 2010) * ''Rewind'' (Pinwheel/Linus Entertainment 2012) * ''The Signal'' (Linus, 2014), feat. Lionel Loueke * ''MONTREAL'' (Pinwheel Music, 2019)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, Elizabeth Living people Canadian jazz pianists Canadian women pianists Canadian women jazz singers McGill University School of Music alumni 21st-century Canadian women singers Canadian contemporary R&B singers Canadian soul singers Canadian pop singers 21st-century Canadian pianists 1977 births 21st-century women pianists