David Usher

David Usher first rose to prominence in the ’90s as lead singer of post-grunge growlers Moist, a band that found massive Canadian chart success with the yearning “Silver” and the brooding “Leave It Alone.” However, the Oxford, England-born musician—whose family moved around before settling in Kingston, Ontario, when Usher was a teenager—is also a successful solo artist who has branched out beyond rock. After moving to Vancouver to launch Moist, he made his solo debut in 1998 with the eclectic and introspective full-length Little Songs. Usher found greater success in 2001 with his electronic-dusted second album, Morning Orbit, which won the Juno Award for Best Pop Album. He has continued to explore different sonic avenues with his solo work in between Moist’s sporadic albums and tours. His 2007 album Strange Birds touches on synthesizer-heavy music with electronic flourishes, while 2016's Let It Play features rerecordings of older songs (“Black Black Heart”) and collaborations with notable Canadian artists such as Marie-Mai and Ingrid St-Pierre. Usher has also branched out beyond music into artificial intelligence as the founder and creative director of the studio Reimagine AI.