Chantal Kreviazuk - Hard Sail (2016)

As a young classically trained pianist from Winnipeg, Chantal Kreviazuk gained a record contract from Sony -- as a vocalist -- without ever having performed live. Born in Manitoba, Kreviazuk was a prodigy at the piano, winning competitions and receiving classical education on piano as well as voice. Similar to many top-flight pop musicians, who turn away from their classical past as part of adolescent rebellion, she began writing her own pop songs, especially after a 1994 motorcycle accident in Italy left her immobile for several months. At 22, with her newly inked Sony deal, Kreviazuk began working with producers Peter Asher and Matt Wallace on her debut album, Under These Rocks and Stones. Released in 1997, the album went twice-platinum largely on the strength of her singles "God Made Me" and "Surrounded." A couple of well-placed soundtrack singles -- covers of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (Armageddon) and Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home" (Dawson's Creek) -- in 1998 helped boost her exposure outside of Canada. Her follow-up album Colour Moving and Still was released in 2000 netting Kreviazuk a pair of Juno Awards for "Best Female Artist" and "Best Pop/Adult Album." Her third album, 2002's What If It All Means Something featured a number of collaborations with husband and Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida. For her next release, Kreviazuk chose to record at home with Maida producing. The result was 2006's Ghost Stories which reached #2 on the Canadian Album Charts and became her most successful album to date. Prior to the release of her next studio album, she issued her first anthology, a greatest hits collection called Since We Met: The Best of 1996-2006. Plain Jane, her fifth album was released in 2009 and was her first for the Maple Music Recordings label. Over the next several years she continued to split her time between living in California and Toronto and made a guest appearance on fellow Canadian artist Drake's album Take Care in 2011. Her first live release, In This Life, followed a year later. In 2014, she appeared on rapper Jay Rock's track "Pay For It" which she then performed alongside Rock and Kendrick Lamar on an episode of Saturday Night Live. In late 2015, she announced a new deal with Warner Canada by releasing "Into Me," her first new single in five years. ~ Timothy Monger & John Bush.