Serena Ryder

Emerging into an early-aughts musical landscape that was being reshaped by reality-TV insta-stars and viral sensations, folk-soul powerhouse Serena Ryder has proven that slow and steady can still win the race. Born in Toronto in 1982 but raised outside the city, Ryder first burnished her preternatural pipes while attending high school, releasing her indie debut, Falling Out, in 1999. After becoming a Canadian folk-festival fixture, Ryder breached the mainstream with 2006’s EMI-supported If Your Memory Serves You Well, a Canuck-themed covers collection that landed her the Juno Award for Best New Artist of the Year. Released two years later, Is It O.K. saw Ryder not only touring with her idol, Melissa Etheridge, but roping her in for a dramatic duet on Ryder’s “Broken Heart Sun”, which appeared on 2011’s Live. But with 2012’s Harmony, Ryder fully embraced a sound as big and bold as her voice, with the bluesy, Black Keys-styled rocker “Stompa” and heart-racing campfire anthem “What I Wouldn’t Do” propelling the album into the Top 20 on both sides of the border, and confirming her place in the pantheon of Canada’s most captivating vocalists.