Career
Born Lindsey Frost Davis, Lily Frost is a Toronto-based singer, composer and producer.
Frost studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, beginning with piano at age 7. She then studied ballet, tap, modern and jazz dance. Her family spent summers in Lake Huron where she and her older cousin, Canadian singer-songwriter and alt hip-hop artist Kinnie Starr began singing together.
Lily went to Concordia University in Montreal in 1989 to study jazz. She met South American composer Jorge Diaz de Bedoya who introduced her to the sounds of Bossa Nova, Serge Gainsbourg and ‘Tropicalia’, all of which influenced her writing. She left Concordia after two years to work full-time as a singer-songwriter, performer and recording artist.
Lily and Jorge Diaz de Bedoya wrote and performed in Montreal in various groups including Les Minstrels. Lily met John Davis of The Gruesomes at Montreal’s Cheap Thrills record store who asked Lily to audition for a band called The Shieks. Her first show with The Sheiks was at The Rockaway Revue in Montreal. They went on to play at Club Soda, Station 10 and Les Foufounes Electriques. Lily performed with John Davis, Bobby Beaton, Phil Giaro and Dave Lachance, and co-wrote with Phil Giaro a cassette of originals and covers called The Recession Blues.
In 1991 she moved to Cairo, Egypt for six months, singing in a piano bar with Berkley-trained jazz pianist Rashad Fahim.
In 1993, Lily began to sing as the featured vocalist for Ray Condo and The Swinging Dukes in Vancouver. When he died in 2004, Lily paid homage with her album Lily Swings, an album of Billie Holiday songs done western-swing-style with Ray’s band The Swinging Dukes. The album was recorded in Vancouver with Rick Kilburn and mixed in Toronto by Jose Contreras. A second album, Too Hot For Words, was made. Both were distributed by Marquis/EMI and produced by Jose Contreras. Lily and her band appeared at the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Massey Hall Women in Blues Revue.
In 1992 Lily moved to Vancouver where she reunited with Jorge Diaz de Bedoya and several other Montreal-based musicians. They performed as The Colorifics, a popular Vancouver lounge band. The original lineup was Lily Frost, Jorge Diaz, Dave Lachance and Bernie Boulanger (of the band, Rattled Roosters). The Colorifics released three original albums - Girlie Door, Guilty Pleasure and Living City.
Nettwerk Records signed Frost as a solo artist for the album Lunamarium, with her single from the album Who Am I appearing on the soundtrack for the feature film Crazy/Beautiful.
Frost was awarded West Coast Vocalist of the Year in 2003, and opened for Coldplay, The Dandy Warhols, Blue Rodeo, Cowboy Junkies, and toured with Au Revoir Simone, The Flashing Lights, Neko Case and Hawksley Workman. Upon her return to Toronto, Frost met and married Chilean-born singer/songwriter José Miguel Contreras of By Divine Right in 2004, resulting in a further immersion in Latin American music and culture, which permeated many of her recordings including You’ve Shaken Every Part of Me - co-written with José Miguel Contreras. They went on to write, record, produce, engineer and perform her next five records together. Lily was signed to Aporia Publishing who distributed her releases: Situation, Cine-Magique, Viridian Torch, Flights of Fancy, Do What You Love, Rebound Bitch, Motherless Child. The video for Silver Sun was directed by James Genn, and won Bravo's video of the year award. Cine-Magique was released in France by Boxton Records, and Lily toured France several times, appearing at Les Femmes S'en Meulent festival and solo gigs.
In 2009 Lily and Trevor Yuile co-wrote the theme song and score "All I Ever Wanted to Be" for the popular CBC TV series Being Erica which was nominated for a Gemini Award. She has had her songs appear in Grey’s Anatomy, Crazy/Beautiful OST, Workin' Moms, Charmed, Felicity, Stargate SG-1, MTV’s The City and in ads for Chevrolet and Hudsons Bay.
In 2015 Michael Feinstein invited Lily to perform live in studio for NPR NYC after the release of her single Motherless Child.
In 2016 Lily released original singles with Aporia Records and worked as a staff writer for the label, leading to co-writing in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles with Chris Unck (Pink), Eleni Mandell, Skye Machine, Dreamspeed (Beatchild, Slakah the Beatchild), writing for artist Chloe Watkinson and with others like Myshkin Warbler, Matt Lipscombe (Me Mom and Morgantaler), Jane Bach, Benita Hill, Adam Searan, Tom McKay (Joydrop), James Di Salvio (Bran Van 3000).
In 2017 Lily released the album Rebound on the Aporia label.
In 2019 Lily released an independent album, Retro-Moderne. Produced in NYC with Gus Van Go, the record has a 60’s sound with girl group back-ups, spaghetti western guitars, live and programmed drums and hofner bass supporting Lily’s cool yarn-spinning voice.
Television
Frost co-wrote the theme song entitled "All I Ever Wanted to Be" for the Being Erica tv series.
Her song "Enchantment" (from Cine-Magique album) was featured: on a third season episode of Grey's Anatomy tv series, on the third episode of the CBC show Being Erica tv series, and in a 2007 commercial for The Bay department stores,.
Her song "Who Am I" (from Lunamarium album) was featured: on the season 7 episode "Fragile Balance" of Stargate SG-1 tv series, on the season 4 episode "Hell Hath No Fury" of Charmed tv series, and on the soundtrack of 2001 Crazy/Beautiful film.
Her song "Two of Us" was featured in a 2007 Chevy Cobalt commercial.
Her song "Where is Love" (from Situation album) has been featured in 15/Love tv series several times.
Her song "You've Shaken Every Part of Me" (from Cine-Magique album) was featured on an episode of The City tv series.
“Do What You Love” was played as the ending track for each episode of the Danish miniseries ‘’Hjørdis’’.
Diana Jean Krall is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
Natalie Maria Cole was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable (1975), along with the song "This Will Be ", and the album's title track. Its success led to her receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, for which she became the first African-American recipient, as well as the first R&B act to win the award. The singles "Sophisticated Lady" (1976), "I've Got Love on My Mind", and "Our Love" (1977), followed.
By Divine Right is a Canadian indie rock band led by guitarist and vocalist José Miguel Contreras.
Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums.
Jully Black is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. She has collaborated and written for many artists, including Nas, Saukrates, Choclair, Kardinal Offishall, Destiny's Child, and Sean Paul.
Amy Sky is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, theatre actress, and television host. Sky started classical music lessons at the age of five, and plays piano, guitar, cello and recorder. She has a degree from the University of Toronto in music theory and composition. In 1983, Sky was signed as a staff songwriter to MCA Music Nashville, and subsequently to Warner-Chappell Music in Los Angeles, EMI Music Los Angeles, and Warner-Chappell Music Germany. As a writer she has penned songs for many artists including Diana Ross, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, Reba McEntire, Belinda Carlisle, Aaron Neville, Heart, Cyndi Lauper, Mark Masri, Roch Voisine, and Sheena Easton.
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a jazz song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Leo Robin.
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.
Adamantia Stamatopoulou, known as Mando, is a Greek singer. She was born and raised in Athens by her jazz pianist father, Nikos Stamatopoulos and a classic soprano opera mother, Mary Apergi.
Shirley Rose Eikhard was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Although moderately successful in Canada as a performer in her own right, she had her greatest Canadian and international success as a songwriter for other artists, most notably as the writer of Bonnie Raitt's 1991 hit "Something to Talk About".
Pistolera is a music group that was founded in 2005 in Brooklyn, New York, by Mexican-American songwriter Sandra Lilia Velásquez, Maria Elena, Inca B. Satz, and Ani Cordero. To date, they have released three albums: Siempre Hay Salida (2006), En Este Camino (2008), and El Desierto Y La Ciudad (2011), and have performed numerous shows in the United States and abroad.
Julie Crochetière is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and pianist.
Melina Soochan is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Montreal, Quebec.
Janet Panic is a Métis singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She has released a number of albums of original music as a member of the band Phew (1994–1995), 10 Ft. Henry (1996–1997) and under her own name. Panic is best known for the 10 Ft. Henry songs, "I Can't Get Enough", "Shove It" and "Fish" which received considerable Canadian college radio airplay and the song "Blink" from 2001's The Girl Who Passed for Normal, which has also received regular Canadian airplay. She has also been active in First Nations media, both as a producer and as a broadcast journalist.
Kellylee Evans is a Canadian jazz and soul music vocalist.
Hilary Grist is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Grist is notable for her song placements that have been part of ten major television shows. As well, Grist is notable for her international following in Japan and South Korea, where she toured in 2012.
Morgan Doctor is an American–Canadian musician who is a solo artist, and film composer living in Toronto, Ontario and Los Angeles.
Jennifer Gasoi is a Canadian children's musician, noted for her albums Songs For You and Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well.
Emilie Mover is a Canadian singer-songwriter who writes music in genres such as folk, jazz, and children's music. She has released a number of solo albums in diverse styles, and in 2013 her solo album The Stella and Sam Album won the Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year. A frequent guest artist, she performed the vocals for the Lost Girl theme song in 2010, and her music has appeared on Girls, Pretty Little Liars, and Grey's Anatomy.
Kim Richardson is a Canadian singer and actress, who won two Juno Awards as a solo recording artist in the 1980s.
