Dance Appeal was a Canadian supergroup of dance, rhythm and blues, reggae and hip hop artists, who released the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause" in 1990. [1] The song, a plea for greater inclusion of these predominantly black music genres in the Canadian music industry, was released as a direct response to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's 1990 decision to deny an FM radio license to Milestone Radio for what would have become Canada's first urban music station; the single's title was intentionally chosen to result in the initialism "CRTC".
Participating artists included Maestro Fresh Wes, Dream Warriors, Michie Mee, B-Kool, Eria Fachin, Lillian Allen, Devon, HDV, Dionne, Thando Hyman, Carla Marshall, Messenjah, Jillian Mendez, Lorraine Scott, Lorraine Segato, Candy Pennella, Self Defense, Leroy Sibbles, Zama and Thyron Lee White. [2]
The song received a Juno Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the Juno Awards of 1991, [3] and its video won the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Dance Video. [4]
Wesley "Wes" Williams is a Canadian rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes or Maestro as a musician, and is credited by his birth name as an actor. One of the earliest Canadian rappers to achieve mainstream success, he is credited as the "Godfather of Canadian hip hop". His debut album, Symphony in Effect (1989), was the first certified platinum album by a Black Canadian artist, and his 2023 induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and 2024 Governor General's Performing Arts Award were each the first for any hip-hop artist.
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.
Devon Martin, better known mononymously as Devon, was an English-born Canadian rapper who rose to prominence in 1990 for his song titled "Mr. Metro", a controversial single about police racism. "Mr. Metro" subsequently became an alias of the artist.
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Jully Black is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. She has released 4 studio albums, and 2 remix EPs. She has collaborated and written for many artists, including Nas, Saukrates, Choclair, Kardinal Offishall, Destiny's Child, and Sean Paul.
"Northern Touch" is a Canadian hip hop single, which was released in 1998 by Rascalz in collaboration with Checkmate, Kardinal Offishall, Thrust and Choclair. It is one of the most important individual songs in the history of Canadian hip hop, which almost singlehandedly transformed the genre from a largely ignored underground movement into a viable commercial endeavour.
Keshia Chanté Harper is a Canadian singer, television host, actress, songwriter, businesswoman and philanthropist.
Luke Boyd, better known by his stage name Classified, is a Canadian rapper and record producer from Enfield, Nova Scotia.
Keshia Chanté is a self-titled debut studio album by Canadian singer Keshia Chanté, released by BMG Music Canada on June 22, 2004, and was certified gold. The album received positive reviews from critics and industry insiders, winning numerous awards, including a Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, making Chanté the youngest winner. The album garnered numerous awards and accolades.
Daniel Victor is a Canadian recording artist and producer from Windsor, Ontario, best known for the collaborative music project Neverending White Lights, which features instrumentation performed mostly by Victor, with guest singers providing vocals for most of the songs.
Elise Estrada is a Filipino-Canadian pop singer-songwriter. She is known for her hit singles such as "Insatiable", "One Last Time" and "Lipstick" which were released in Canada.
Kreesha Turner is a Canadian recording artist and songwriter, born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Raised in both Canada and Jamaica, she began her musical career after a successful audition with Virgin Records. She signed a record deal with the Capitol Music Group, under which the Virgin imprint operates. Concurrently, EMI Music Canada signed her to more effectively tap into the Canadian market.
Andrew Grange, known professionally as Dru, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He is an R&B/Soul Juno Award and MuchMusic Video Award (MMVA) winner.
Baby Blue Soundcrew was a Canadian DJ group from Toronto, Ontario, specializing in hip-hop and R&B music. The group was composed of Kid Kut, KLC, C-Boogie, and Singlefoot. They are notable for releasing two commercially successful compilation albums in 2000 and 2001.
Ritchie Acheampong, better known as Rich Kidd, is a Canadian hip hop recording artist, record producer and film/video director from Toronto, Ontario. He is a two-time nominee for the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year as a solo artist, garnering nominations at the Juno Awards of 2013 for The Closers and at the Juno Awards of 2014 for In My Opinion. In 2013, he formed the project Naturally Born Strangers with collaborators Tona and Adam Bomb. That group's debut release, The Legends League Presents: Naturally Born Strangers, won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015.
The McAuley Boys are an R&B vocal quartet based in London, Ontario, Canada. The members include brothers Ronald (Gary) McAuley, George McAuley, Mark McAuley, and Randal (Randy) McAuley. They are most notable for their 1997 Juno Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul Recording, having their cover of the Andy Gibb song "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" released on BMG Music Canada's Beat Factory Music GROOVEssentials Volume One, and performing the Canadian National Anthem "O Canada" at the 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. They cite The Jackson 5 as being their main influence.
Jessica Reyez is a Colombian- Canadian singer-songwriter. Her 2016 single "Figures" peaked at number 58 on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2017 and was certified triple Platinum by Music Canada and Platinum by the RIAA. Her 2017 EP, Kiddo, led to four nominations at the 2018 Juno Awards, winning Breakthrough Artist. Her follow up EP, Being Human in Public, was released in 2018. It won R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Reyez again won the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, for "Feel it Too" with Tory Lanez and Tainy, at the 2020 Juno Awards, where she was also nominated for Artist of the Year. Reyez has written songs for Calvin Harris, Kehlani, Dua Lipa, and Normani, most notably penning the hit "One Kiss", and has collaborated with Eminem on multiple occasions. Her debut album, Before Love Came to Kill Us, was released on March 27, 2020, to widespread critical acclaim, and saw commercial success, entering at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200.
Sean Merrick, known professionally over his career by the pseudonyms Jacky Jasper, H-Bomb and HDV, is a Canadian-American rapper, record producer and celebrity gossip blogger.
Simply Majestic was a Canadian hip hop and dance music collective, active in the early 1990s. They are most noted for winning the Juno Award for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the Juno Awards of 1991 for their single "Dance to the Music ". Members of the collective included producer Anthony Bond, rappers B-Kool, Frank Morrell, The Russian Prince and MC A-OK, rap groups Point Blank, Brothers from the Ghetto, the Boys of the Greenhouse and the Forbidden Ones, and rhythm and blues singer Porsha-Lee.
Carlos Morgan is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer from Toronto, Canada. He is most noted for winning the Juno Award for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the Juno Awards of 1997 for his album Feelin' Alright.