Kim Richardson (born December 22, 1965) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer and actress,"My Montreal: Soul Singer Kim Richardson"
''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', February 26, 2014. who won two

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 ...

as a solo recording artist in the 1980s. She is still very active today, being part of over 150 shows, mostly in province of Québec, in 2017.

Early life and education

Richardson was born in Richmond Hill,

Ontario 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 Ca ...

,"Singer looks to bright career". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 2, 1987. the daughter of singer and actress

Jackie Richardson Jackie Richardson (born January 4, 1947) is a Canadian singer and actress. Richardson is known for her screen roles in '' Turning to Stone'', ''The Gospel According to the Blues'', ''The Doodlebops'', and '' Sins of the Father''. She is also kno ...

, the niece of blues and jazz singer Betty Richardson and the cousin of ''

Polka Dot Door Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

'' host Gairey Richardson.

Career

Richardson began performing professionally in the early 1980s, both as a solo blues, jazz and R&B vocalist and with the family musical group The Richardsons. Her first recording, the dance-pop single "He's My Lover", was released in 1985, and she won the award for Most Promising Female Vocalist at the

Juno Awards of 1986 The Juno Awards of 1986, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 10 November 1986 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Howie Mandel at the Harbour Castle Hilton Hotel. CBC Television broadcast the ce ...

. Her second single, "Peek-a-Boo" was released the following year and won the award for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the

Juno Awards of 1987 The Juno Awards of 1987, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 2 November 1987 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Howie Mandel was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast o ...

. The song was also named best single, and Richardson best female artist, at the 1987 Black Music Awards of Canada. Her third single, "I Want It", followed in 1987. In the same year she participated in the recording of a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

charity single, "A Christmas Wish", with a lineup of Toronto-area performers that also included

Billy Newton-Davis Billy Newton-Davis (born April 26, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States) is an American-Canadian Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz and gospel music, gospel singer and songwriter. Biography Newton-Davis grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of C ...

, Erroll Starr,

Frozen Ghost Frōzen Ghōst was a Canadian rock band formed in 1985 in Toronto by Arnold Lanni and Wolf Hassel, who were previously with the band Sheriff. The band received a Juno Award for " Most Promising Group of the Year" in 1987. The group placed fi ...

Prairie Oyster Prairie Oyster was a Canadian country music group from Toronto, Ontario. They were named Country Group or Duo of the year six times by both the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) and the Juno Awards. The band also won the Bud Country Fan ...

Messenjah Messenjah is a Canadian-based reggae group that flourished to become one of the most successful and popular reggae groups in the history of Canadian music. History Messenjah was formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario and released their first album ...

, The Pursuit of Happiness,

Salome Bey Salome Bey (October 10, 1933 – August 8, 2020)While ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' gives her year of birth as 1939, other sources say she was born in 1933 or 1944. was an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and actress who liv ...

Zappacosta Alfredo Peter "Alfie" Zappacosta (born July 5, 1953), also known by just his surname, is an Italian-born Canadian musician. Career Zappacosta's first band was Surrender, a five-piece group that recorded three albums in the late 1970s and earl ...

, Arlene Duncan and Lorraine Scott. She subsequently moved to

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 ...

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 ...

,"Mother and daughter blues reunion". ''

'', November 25, 2006. performing with the

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir is a choir from Montreal, Quebec, Canada that sings primarily traditional and contemporary Gospel music. The choir's repertoire also includes a mix of music ranging from Gregorian chant to Bach chorales, tradit ...

and Jim Hillman and the Merlin Factor. The latter band won a Juno Award for

Best Contemporary Jazz Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality ...

at the

Juno Awards of 1995 The Juno Awards of 1995, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 26 March 1995 in Hamilton, Ontario at a ceremony in the Copps Coliseum. Mary Walsh, Rick Mercer and other regulars of the television ...

. She continued to perform in Montreal as a jazz singer, as a performer in

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, in continued collaborations with her mother and as a backing vocalist for other musicians. Her first full-length album, ''Kaleidoscope'', was released in 2006, and her second, ''Mes amours'', followed in 2011. She also participated in the recording of the soundtrack to the 2011 film ''

Funkytown "Funkytown" is a song by the American disco/funk band Lipps Inc., released in 1980 as the second single from their 1979 debut album, '' Mouth to Mouth''. It was successful globally, reaching top spots in places such as the United States, West ...

'', performing vocals on the

Genie Award for Best Original Song The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Music: Original Song to the best original song in a Canadian motion picture. First presented at the 3rd Genie Awards in 1982, the award was presented ...

nominee "Waiting for Your Touch" and making an acting appearance in the film. In 2020 she starred as Dolores in the Canadian horror film ''

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

.'' In recent years, she has also been a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter Jonathan Roy.Stéphanie Nolin
"Tournage idyllique pour Jonathan Roy et Kim Richardson"
''Showbizz'', April 13, 2023.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Kim 1965 births Actresses from Toronto Actresses from Montreal Canadian film actresses Canadian musical theatre actresses Canadian gospel singers Canadian blues singers Canadian women jazz singers Canadian contemporary R&B singers Canadian dance musicians Black Canadian actresses 20th-century Black Canadian women singers Living people Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year winners People from Richmond Hill, Ontario Singers from Toronto Singers from Montreal 21st-century Black Canadian women singers