Rebecca campbell is a singer and a songwriter. she also plays a handful of instruments, but mostly she sings, and has been doing so, professionally, since 1986.
She creates music that is emotionally rooted, honest, lyrical, adventurous, intimate, impressionistic, interactive, joyful, poetic, and full of surprises. The scope of her resume betrays a disregard for idiomatic boundaries, a love of words, and a penchant for the sweet and sad.
Upcoming projects include writing a new collection of songs, performing in the chorus of mercy, a meredith monk / ann hamilton creation at bam, in brooklyn ny in december, composing music for a collaborative piece with dancer shannon cooney, and recording a song cycle, entitled awakenings, with co-composer carol ann weaver, based on poetry by dorothy livesay and di brandt.
Rebecca's most celebrated works to date have been her collaboration with justin haynes, from 1997 to 2002; with fat man waving, the pop collective for which she was lead singer and percussionist from 1987 to 1996; with three sheets to the wind, her a cappella trio, together since 1990; and as jane siberry's right hand woman, first in 1988, then from 1996 to 1999.
She cut her teeth singing r and b and soul music with her first bands, sneaker and the innersouls (78 - 82) and no mean feet (83 - 86), swing tunes with the blue current preserve big band (79 - 82), bluegrass gospel and traditional jazz with bec and rusty (85 - 96), and texas swing with the black donnellys (89 - 95).
She has sung alongside such luminaries as emmylou harris, richard thompson, charlie louvin, ferron, fred eaglesmith, alanis morrisette, ian tamblyn, lynn miles, the roches, victoria williams, shari ulrich, colleen peterson, dave wall, sylvia tyson, roy forbes, the skydiggers, the parachute club, the bourbon tabernacle choir, washboard hank and the honkers, russell levia, ken whiteley, valdy, dale morningstar, and chelsea bridge... and she's shared the stage with kd lang, the fine young cannibals, the subdudes, bruce cockburn, and the horseflies...
John switzer produced all of fat man waving's recordings, as well as three sheets to the wind's grace under pressure. and over the course of her collaboration with justin haynes, she performed and recorded with david travers-smith (who co-produced both of their records), josh latour, andrew mccormack (both of the woodenstars), jean martin, nick fraser, lori freedman, andrew downing, bill brennan, kevin turcotte, ronda rindoni, ross murray, oliver schroer, anne bourne, craig harley, paul mcleod, rich brown, david mott, kathleen kajioka, and the roman borys string quartet.
She has toured extensively: with justin haynes, jane siberry, fat man waving, three sheets to the wind, lynn miles, and ian tamblyn: across canada, the united states, england, ireland, spain, and trinidad-tobago.
Rebecca has received numerous canada council, ontario arts council, regional municipality of ottawa carleton, toronto arts council, and FACTOR grants, and has sat on canada council and ontario arts council juries.
From 1987 to 1993, she acted professionally. she's done lots of arts administration, sitting on the board of directors at ottawa's great canadian theatre company, running the gibraltar point centre for the arts on toronto island, and tour managing for tug and the sweetest noise tours, jane siberry, fat man waving, and three sheets to the wind. she's conducted voice workshops across canada, and teaches voice privately. she's an amateur milliner, photographer, and graphic artist. when she was young, she was sure she'd be a ballet dancer, and at various points over the course of her youth, she studied cello, trumpet, piano, and banjo, absentmindedly, and without great success...
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
