Leela Gilday is a

Dene The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...

-Canadian singer songwriter, born and raised in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Northwest Territories. She has released five solo albums since 2002, two of which have won the

Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year The Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the best album by an Indigenous Canadian artist or band. It was formerly known as Best Music of Aborigina ...

Early life

Gilday was born and raised in

, Northwest Territories. She is the sister of singer-songwriter Jay Gilday. Gilday earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

in 1997. She received an Alumni Horizon Award in 2004 and a Fleck Fellowship at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2008.

Career

Gilday has released five solo albums to date. In 2002, she was awarded Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, and Best Songwriter at the Canadian Indigenous Music Awards for her first release, ''Spirit World, Solid Wood''. She was also named in ''

Maclean MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Gaelic surname Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form of Johannes (John). The clan surname is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic "Mac Gille Eathai ...

s ''Top 50 Under 30'' that same year. In 2003, she was nominated at the

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 ...

for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada. Her second album, '' Sedzé'', was released in 2006, and won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the 2007 Juno Awards. '' Up Here'' named Gilday Northerner of the Year in 2007. Her third album, ''Calling All Warriors'', was released in 2010. It won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2011, Gilday won Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards.. Her fourth record, ''Heart of the People'', was released in 2014 and garnered a Western Canadian Music Award for Indigenous Recording of the Year, as well as a nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards. In 2019, Gilday had an acting role in the drama film ''

Red Snow Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon, based on the US W28 (then called Mark 28) design used in the B28 thermonuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile. The US W28 had yields of and while Red Snow yields are still classified, declassified ...

''. Her fifth record, ''North Star Calling'', was released in 2019. In February 2020, Gilday was one of the inaugural recipients (alongside

Haviah Mighty Haviah Mighty (born December 17, 1992) is a Canadian rapper from Brampton, Ontario. She rose to prominence in 2016 as a member of the hip hop group the Sorority, before releasing several EPs on her own, most notably ''Flower City'', in 2017. He ...

) of the SOCAN "Her" Music Award, a national prize recognizing outstanding achievement among female and female-presenting musicians. She won the

Canadian Folk Music Award The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...

for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year at the

16th Canadian Folk Music Awards The 16th Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented on April 9 and 10, 2021, to honour achievements in folk music by Canadian artists in 2020.Juno Award for Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year The Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the best album by an Indigenous Canadian artist or band. It was formerly known as Best Music of Aborigi ...

Discography

* ''Spirit World, Solid Wood'' (2002) * '' Sedzé'' (2006) * ''Calling All Warriors'' (2010) * ''Heart of the People'' (2014) * ''North Star Calling'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilday, Leela Living people 21st-century Canadian women singers 21st-century First Nations people Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian folk singer-songwriters Dene people First Nations musicians Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year winners Musicians from Yellowknife University of Alberta alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian Folk Music Award winners First Nations women