Jane Siberry Musician Profile
Now Known as Issa, the Canadian Singer Songwriter takes Europe
Jane Siberry's 80s hits led to over a dozen albums from folk to pop, but the Canadian singer songwriter has gone on to other things after 6 Juno nominations...
One of Canada’s most poignant female solo acts to cross over from stage to charts and transcend pop life is Toronto born singer songwriter Jane Siberry. Since her self-titled debut release in 1981, Siberry has gone on to record over a dozen albums, many to international acclaim.
Her work in Canada in the 80s landed her in regular rotation on a then bourgeoning Much Music and other video programs of the day. At that time, her folksy, whimsy and sweet songs and their accompanying videos were fantastically juxtaposed alongside the likes of other Canuck wonders of the day such as Gowan, the Parachute Club and Gino Vanelli.
Siberry’s debut album was financed from tips working at coffee houses where she sang and worked as a waitress during her undergrad at the University of Guelph. She would go on to release No Borders Here and The Speckless Sky. Over the years, Jane has been nominated for (but never won) a total of six Juno Awards, from Most Promising Female, Best Video and in 2001, Best Roots, Traditional album.
After leaving the pop charts for good in the 80’s, Jane Siberry has kept busy with soundtrack and film scores in the US and internationally, ranging from The Care Bears to The Crow, Final Destination and Pay it Forward, and most recently for HBO’s Six Feet Under while collaborating with k.d. lang, Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel.
In 1996, Siberry launched Sheeba Recordings, an internet-based means of obtaining all things Jane from music to books and poetry. Lush and Shushan The Palace: Hymns of Earth, were Siberry’s varied, exploratory and acclaimed offerings from the Sheeba shop. In 2005, Siberry ever the trailblazer set the online music world on its head by taking all hard copy form of her music offline and going exclusively to the net on her logcabin.ca website.
Fans can still buy her music for as much as they want to, which includes at times for free; unheard of in today’s downloadable music market. This summer, Jane Siberry sold all her worldly possessions and changed her name to Issa. Issa is traveling around the world, recording in Brussels and awaiting tour dates with a cell phone, no fixed address and a knapsack which includes a pair of Manolo’s and some sneakers.
