Susan Crowe | |
---|---|
Born | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
Genres | Folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Singing guitar |
Years active | 1970s–1980s, 1994–present |
Labels | Corvus |
Website |
susancrowe |
Susan Crowe is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. [1] [2] She was the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards English songwriter of the year and has been nominated for two Juno Awards. [3] [4]
Crowe's interest in music began when her father and mother enrolled her in piano lessons as a child. [1] While she did not enjoy the piano, she began playing her older brother's guitar. [2] Crowe was writing songs by the time she was 11 years old and performing in coffee houses at age 19. [5] She performed at coffee houses and folk clubs in the Halifax, Nova Scotia area through the late 1970s. [2]
In 1980, Crowe moved to Toronto, Ontario to further her musical career and help her partner through medical school by working as a waitress and at the Canada Post. [2] [6] Eight years later she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she worked multiple jobs, including stints as a waitress, art gallery assistant, mail carrier and beekeeper. [1] [2]
Crowe returned to music in 1994 and released her first album, This Far From Home, that same year. [1] [2] [7] The production of This Far From Home was paid for using proceeds from a coffee shop located in the south side of Vancouver that Crowe had opened. [6] This Far From Home was nominated for the 1996 Juno award for Best Roots & Traditional Album: Solo. [3] In 1996 she also released her second album, The Door to the River. [7] Her third album, A Pilgrim's Mirror, was released in 2000. [7] A Pilgrim's Mirror was nominated for a West Coast Music Award. [1]
In the early 2000s Crowe toured the Czech Republic with artists including Katherine Wheatley and Lenka Slaba. [8] She joined Laura Smith and Cindy Church to form the trio brava in 2002 at the urging of music agent Chris Hopkins. [9] brava toured throughout Canada from 2003 to 2004. [10]
Crowe released Book of Days, her fourth album, in 2003. Book of Days was produced by Danny Greenspoon and was nominated for two awards: the 2004 Juno award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo, and the 2004 East Coast Music Association award for Roots / Traditional Solo Artist of the Year. [3] [11] She also won Music Nova Scotia's 2004 Female Artist of the Year award for her work on Book of Days. [1] Five years later, in 2009, Crowe released Greytown, which was also produced by Greenspoon. [1] Her work on Greytown earned Crowe the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award for English Songwriter of the year. [12]
She served as executive producer for All the Diamonds, Raylene Rankin's final album. [13]
From 2003–2004, Crowe toured throughout Canada with Laura Smith and Cindy Church as a member of the group brava. [6] [10] In 2007, Crowe reunited with Church when she, Church and Raylene Rankin formed the group Rankin, Church & Crowe. [14] [15] Rankin, Church & Crowe released a live album entitled Live at Alderney Landing in 2008. [15] Rankin, Church and Crowe toured together until fall 2011 when Rankin underwent treatment for a recurrence of cancer. Following Rankin's death in 2012, Crowe began performing less and concentrating on Corvus Records, her record label. [16]
Susan Crowe founded Corvus Records in 1996 to help independent artists complete recording projects. [17] Artists signed to Corvus include John Reischman, John Reischman and The Jaybirds, John Miller, Nick Hornbuckle, and Susan Crowe. [18] [19] Raylene Rankin was also signed to Corvus Records prior to her death in 2012.