Alma Faye Brooks is an American-born Canadian disco singer. [1] She is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for Best New Female Vocalist, receiving nods at the Juno Awards of 1978 [2] and the Juno Awards of 1980. [3]
Born in Tyler, Texas, she moved to Montreal, Quebec, at age 12 with her family. [4] Living in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood, she sang at the Union United Church, and had a musical theatre role in a production of Hair . [5]
In 1977 she released her debut single "Stop, I Don't Need No Sympathy", a cover of a song previously performed by Lynn Roman. [6]
In 1979 she released the album Doin' It, [4] which spawned the singles "It's Over" and "Don't Fall In Love". Her performances to support the album included an appearance on Whatever Turns You On, a short-lived prime-time version of the long-running sketch comedy/variety series You Can't Do That on Television . However, with the disco genre in commercial decline around this time, she did not release another album, and reemerged in the late 1980s in Montreal's local live music scene, performing Motown music by artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Supremes at "Soul Unlimited" events at the Rising Sun club.
She has continued to perform as a singer with La Gioventu, a dance music band in Montreal led by her husband, Louis Toteda. [7] Following the death of disco icon Donna Summer in 2012, she began performing Donna Summer songs with La Gioventu in tribute. [8]
Her song "Thank You", from Doin' It, was used in the soundtrack to the 2023 film Solo . [9]
Donna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
Kashtin were a Canadian folk rock duo in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most commercially successful and famous musical groups in First Nations history.
Lhasa de Sela, also known by the mononym Lhasa, was an American-Canadian singer-songwriter who was raised in Mexico and the United States and divided her adult life between Canada and France. Her first album, La Llorona, went Platinum in Canada and brought Lhasa a Félix Award and a Juno Award.
Patricia Gallant is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian ancestry, she has recorded and performed in both English and French.
Ranee Lee, CM is an American jazz singer and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host. Referred as “Montreal's Queen of Jazz,” Lee is a Juno Award winner, two-time Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist by Jazz Report Magazine and was honored with the International Association of Jazz Educators Awards for her outstanding contribution to jazz music.
Joseph Gaétan Robert Gérald (Gerry) Boulet was a French Canadian rock singer. Most famous as vocalist for the Quebec rock band Offenbach, he also released two solo albums. He is considered one of the innovators of rock music in French Quebec.
Laurence Jalbert is a pop and rock singer-songwriter from Quebec.
Marjolène Morin, professionally known as Marjo, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Quebec.
Lorraine Klaasen is a London, Ontario-based world music singer. Her mother was South African jazz singer Thandi Klaasen. She has performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and her international itinerary has included the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. She and her mother were also reputed to be two of Nelson Mandela's favorite musicians.
Paul Frederick Jabara, was an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He was born to a Lebanese family in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote Donna Summer's Oscar-winning "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday (1978), as well as "No More Tears ", Summer's international hit duet with Barbra Streisand. He also co-wrote the Weather Girls' iconic hit "It's Raining Men" with Paul Shaffer.
The Juno Awards of 1980, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 2 April 1980 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Burton Cummings at the Harbour Castle Hilton.
Nicole Rachel "Nikki" Yanofsky is a Canadian jazz-pop singer from Montreal, Quebec. She sang the CTV Olympic broadcast theme song, "I Believe", which was also the theme song of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. She also performed at the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. She has released four studio albums to date, including Nikki in 2010, Little Secret in 2014, Turn Down the Sound in 2020, and Nikki By Starlight in 2022.
Lisa LeBlanc, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and banjoist, known for her enthusiastic "trash folk" performances. She has been noted for her "distinct" blend of folk, rock, and disco with both English and French language lyrics combined with chiac and her Acadian accent. Her accolades include two Félix Awards and an East Coast Music Award. She has also been nominated for three Juno Awards, the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, and shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize twice.
The Vestibules, formerly known as Radio Free Vestibule, is a Canadian comedy troupe composed of Terence Bowman, Paul Paré, and Bernard Deniger.
Tchukon was a Canadian funk and R&B band, active from 1978 to 1990. Best known for winning CBC Television's 1985 music competition Rock Wars and being named Best Vocal Group in the 1986 edition of Star Search, the band ultimately released just one Juno Award-nominated album before dissolving.
Laura Vinson is a Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter. Prominent in the 1970s and 1980s as a mainstream country performer, in recent years she has concentrated primarily on recording and performing First Nations and Métis music.
Roger Prud'homme, better known by the stage name of Martin Stevens, was a Canadian pop singer prominent in the disco era. He was most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for Best Selling Single, receiving nominations at the Juno Awards of 1979 for "Love Is in the Air" and at the Juno Awards of 1980 for "Midnight Music".
Freddie James is a Canadian dance and rhythm and blues musician, most noted for his 1979 disco hit "(Everybody) Get Up and Boogie".
Coral Egan is a Canadian jazz and pop singer. She is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee, receiving nominations for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2003 for her album The Path of Least Resistance, and Adult Contemporary Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2014 for The Year He Drove Me Crazy. Her voice is recognized as the vocals for the English opening & closing theme songs for the 1999 animated cartoon Cybersix