Vern Cheechoo is a

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

folk and country singer-songwriter from

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.Dariya Baiguzhiyeva
"Moose Cree singer's new album will be dedicated to his late wife"
'' Timmins Today'', July 24, 2021. He is most noted as a two-time

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 Best Aboriginal Recording, receiving nods at the Juno Awards of 2000 for his solo album ''Touch the Earth and Sky'', and at the

Juno Awards of 2003 The Juno Awards of 2003 were presented in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 6 April 2003. The primary awards ceremony was hosted that evening by Shania Twain at the Corel Centre (now Canadian Tire Centre) and televised on CTV television network, CTV. ...

for ''The Right Combination'', an album recorded as a duo with Lawrence Martin. Originally from

Moose Factory Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in lands no ...

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, he is the son of Sinclair Cheechoo, an influential Cree

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

player.Xavier Kataquapit, "Native musicians have 'right combination'". ''

Timmins Daily Press The ''Timmins Daily Press'' is a newspaper in Timmins, Ontario, which publishes six days a week. It is notable as the first paper founded by press baron Roy Thomson in the 1930s, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including ''The ...

'', May 25, 2002. His siblings, Archie Cheechoo and Thelma Cheechoo, were both also musicians. He released his debut album ''Lonesome & Hurting'' in 1993. He supported the album with several concert dates as an opening act for Bruce Cockburn. The album's title track was featured in an episode of ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It received 57 ...

'', he was featured in a 1993 episode of the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

music performance series ''

Ear to the Ground ''Ear to the Ground'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Ireland's RTÉ One on Thursday evenings at 19:00pm. Repeated on Sundays at 13.10pm. It consists of reports about rural, countryside and environmental issues. As of October 2021, ...

'', and he appeared in the 1996 film ''

Dance Me Outside ''Dance Me Outside'' is a 1994 Canadian drama film, directed by Bruce McDonald (director), Bruce McDonald. It was based on Dance Me Outside (book), a book by W.P. Kinsella.Rob Salem, "Dance Me Outside struts a lively two-step". ''Toronto Star'', M ...

'' performing songs from the album in concert. ''Touch the Earth and Sky'', his second album, was released in 1999. In addition to his Juno Award nomination, Cheechoo and John Switzer won the

Canadian Aboriginal Music Award The Indigenous Music Awards, formerly called the Aboriginal Peoples' Choice Music Awards, is an annual Canadian music award, given out to Indigenous people who are in the music industry. The APCMA receives financial support of the Department of ...

for Best Producer/Engineer for their work on the album, and performed a song at the ceremony. Although Cheechoo and Martin were lifelong friends and frequent collaborators, who were in a high school band called Veil's Universe, the 2003 album ''The Right Combination'' represented their first time directly releasing an album as a duo. In addition to the Juno nomination, the album was nominated for Best Group or Duo and Best Country Album at the 2003 Aboriginal Music Awards. He has continued to perform, most notably at a 2016 mining conference in Timmins where he performed an unannounced reunion show with Martin, but has not released another album since ''The Right Combination''. He has been employed for a number of years as director of lands and resources for the

Mushkegowuk Council Mushkegowuk Council (pointed: ᐅᒪᐡᑫᑯ ᐅᑭᒫᐎᐎᐣ (''omashkeko okimāwiwin''); unpointed: ᐅᒪᐡᑫᑯ ᐅᑭᒪᐎᐎᐣ), or officially as the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council, is a non-profit regional chiefs' council representing Cre ...

. In 2021 he announced plans to record and release his fourth album, which would be dedicated to the memory of his late wife Karen, although no further news about the release of the album has been announced as of January 2023. His son Colin Cheechoo is a musician, who was formerly associated with the band Breach of Trust.Abby Cote
"Breach of Trust scores a hat trick at awards"
''Windspeaker'', 2002.

Discography

*''Lonesome & Hurting'' - 1993 *''Touch the Earth and Sky'' - 1999 *''The Right Combination'' - 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheechoo, Vern 20th-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian male singers Canadian country singer-songwriters First Nations male singers Cree people People from Cochrane District Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters