Royal Wood | |
|---|---|
 Wood in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Royal Wood Nicholson |
| Origin | Lakefield, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Pop rock |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | MapleMusic |
| Website | royalwood |
Royal Wood (born John Royal Wood Nicholson) is a Juno-nominated Canadian musician and record producer based in Toronto, Ontario. To date, he has released eight studio albums, three EPs, and one live record.
Wood was born John Royal Wood Nicholson [1] and raised in Lakefield, Ontario. [2] Royal Wood, his performing name and his real middle names, were chosen in memory of his great-grandfather, Royal Rufus Wood, who died in 1962.
Wood grew up in a household filled with music; [3] his brother Luke Nicholson is also a singer-songwriter. [4] He began playing piano by ear at the age of four and started lessons at age eight. [5] With the support of his school music program, he had access to a variety of different instruments, and by his teens, he became a multi-instrumentalist who could play the guitar, bass, drums, clarinet, and trumpet. [2]
After high school, Wood studied business at McGill University. During this time, he performed piano in Montreal jazz clubs and focused on his guitar playing while trying to find his voice as a songwriter. [5]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) |
Wood released his first EP, entitled The Milkweed EP , in 2002. This collection of songs was written, arranged, and produced by Wood himself. The release garnered much critical acclaim, and critics drew comparisons with Randy Newman, Jeff Buckley, and Tom Waits.
Following this, Wood set out to create an over-the-top pop record for his full-length debut. Drawing inspiration from the Beatles and the Beach Boys, he once again undertook production duties during the recording sessions. In 2004, Wood released Tall Tales on Maple Music. The record's ornate sound and layered arrangements garnered much critical attention, and Wood was praised for his vocal style and infectious lyricism. [6]
With the goal of creating a more mature sound, [7] the artist entered Toronto's Reaction Studios in 2005 to begin recording his next album. During the recording sessions, he used a Steinway grand piano, scored a full string quartet, and also enlisted the help of many well-known musicians, including Hawksley Workman and Kurt Swinghammer. The result was A Good Enough Day , which was released in 2007 on Dead Daisy Records in Canada, and in 2008 on Rounder Europe. The record spawned three singles and three music videos: "A Mirror Without", "Juliet", and "I'm So Glad". Music from the record has also been featured on several TV and movie soundtracks, including TMN/Movie Central's ReGenesis , the CBC series This Is Wonderland , the CTV movie Playing House , the film The End of Silence, and the Food Network's The Surreal Gourmet . Internationally, "A Mirror Without" was featured on an episode of Grey's Anatomy . The song "Paradise" was also featured on an episode of Private Practice .
With the success of A Good Enough Day, Wood was invited to share the stage with numerous Canadian musicians, including Emm Gryner, Sarah Harmer, [5] Kathleen Edwards, Sarah Slean, Jill Barber, and Serena Ryder. In support of the Rounder Europe release of the record, he also embarked on a European tour in 2008.
On his next record, Wood wanted to focus on lyrics and string arrangements. The result was the 2009 album The Lost and Found EP . With a consistently growing fan base, Wood embarked on his first headlining tour of Western Canada in November 2009, joined by Atlantic Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins.
In 2010, he released The Waiting , after which iTunes Canada named him one of their iTunes Songwriters of the Year. [8] That same year, he was also nominated at the Junos for Songwriter of the Year.[ citation needed ] He supported David Gray on a full national tour and completed three headline tours of Canada, as well as others in Europe and the US.[ citation needed ]
His 2012 album, We Were Born to Glory, debuted in the Top 25 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and was nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards. The first single from the album was "Not Giving Up".
On March 18, 2014, Wood released The Burning Bright . The lead single, "Forever and Ever", was a Top 40 hit in Canada. In June 2014, he released a companion album, I Wish You Well, which included five new songs and four original mixes from the previous album. The record was a collaboration with Dean Drouillard, while much of the material was inspired by Wood's stay in County Meath, Ireland.
Wood released Ghost Light in 2016 to positive reviews, including the Irish Times naming it one of the "Best Albums of the Year". The lead single, "Long Way Out", found its way into the CBC Music Top 20 . It was released internationally on Outside Music in 2017. The momentum of Ghost Light and Wood's career successes led him to be the "very special guest" on Bonnie Raitt's national Canadian tour in 2017.
The artist released his latest album, Ever After the Farewell, in April 2018. The lead single, "California Nights", made the Radio 2 Top 20. The world tour highlights included headlining Massey Hall in Toronto, the Winspear Centre in Edmonton, and the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax. A companion EP, called Love Will Linger, was released on October 26, 2018. In 2021, Wood released a live recording of his performance at Massey Hall, titled Live at Massey Hall.
In 2008, Wood and fellow singer-songwriter Sarah Slean got engaged in Paris; [9] the pair married in 2009. [10] In January 2014, Slean announced she and Wood had "parted ways as friends". [11]
Wood married Alison Waldbauer in 2017. They live in Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood. Wood also owns his parents' farm near Peterborough. [12]
Sarah Hope Slean is a Canadian singer-songwriter, composer and musician. She has released eleven albums to date. She is also a poet, visual artist, and occasional actress.
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair, and drummer Johnny Fay. They released 13 studio albums, one live album, one EP, and over 50 singles over a 33-year career. Nine of their albums have reached No. 1 on the Canadian charts. They have received numerous Canadian music awards, including 17 Juno Awards. Between 1996 and 2016, the Tragically Hip were the best-selling Canadian band in Canada and the fourth best-selling Canadian artist overall in Canada.
Sarah Lois Harmer is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Sam Roberts is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released seven albums. His debut EP The Inhuman Condition, reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts and four albums as Sam Roberts Band. He is also a member of Canadian group Anyway Gang, who released their debut self-titled album in 2019. Roberts has been nominated, together with his band, for fifteen Juno Awards, winning six, including Artist of the Year twice and Album of the Year once (2004).
Ronald Eldon Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has since recorded seventeen albums. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary called Love Shines.
Jeremy Fisher is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Fisher is based in Ottawa, Ontario, and was previously based on Vancouver Island, B.C., Montreal, Quebec, and in Seattle, Washington, US. Fisher's work is heavily influenced by folk and blues music, and his songs feature accompaniment by acoustic guitar, slide guitar and harmonica.
William Joel MacDonald Plaskett is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres, from blues and folk to hard rock, country, and pop.
Kurt Swinghammer is a Canadian singer-songwriter and visual artist based in Toronto.
Serena Lauren Ryder is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio albums.
In-Flight Safety is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003. In-Flight Safety was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award for Video of the Year for "Coast Is Clear". They are currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The group consists of vocalist and guitarist John Mullane, drummer Glen Nicholson and is rounded out by friends who appear in the live show. In-Flight Safety released their second full-length album We Are an Empire, My Dear 27 January 2009 in Canada on their own label Night Danger. The band released their third full-length album, Conversationalist on 9 September 2014.
"Bobcaygeon" is a song by Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip. It was released in February 1999 as a single from their sixth album, Phantom Power, and has come to be recognized as one of the band's most enduring and beloved signature songs.
Japandroids are a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting of Brian King and David Prowse.
Rosanne Millicent "Rose" Cousins is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Prince Edward Island, she is currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Aaron Goldstein is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his performance on the pedal steel guitar.
Good Lovelies are a Canadian folk/country harmony trio, consisting of Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore. At their core they can be described as a country/folk trio, with tinges of pop, roots, jazz and sometimes hip-hop mixed in.
The Sheepdogs are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2004. The Sheepdogs were the first unsigned band to make the cover of Rolling Stone and have gone on to a career featuring multi-platinum album sales and four Juno Awards.
Whitehorse is a Canadian folk rock band, composed of husband-and-wife duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Doucet and McClelland were both established singer-songwriters before opting to put their solo careers on hold to work together as Whitehorse.
PUP is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2010, originally under the name Topanga. PUP's debut album PUP was released on October 8, 2013, on Royal Mountain Records. In December 2013, PUP signed with SideOneDummy Records and re-released their debut album in the United States on April 8, 2014. The group was in the studio in late 2015 recording their second album The Dream Is Over which was released on May 27, 2016, through SideOneDummy. The band's third album, titled Morbid Stuff, was released on April 5, 2019. This Place Sucks Ass, a six-track EP, was released on October 27, 2020. Their fourth album, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand, was released on April 1, 2022.
Quique Escamilla is a Mexican Mayan-Zapotec born and raised in Chiapas. He is a multi-instrumentalist musician, singer-songwriter, producer, who won the Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015 with his first full-length and self-produced album, 500 Years of Night.
Dylan Guthro is a Canadian singer/songwriter based in Nashville. The son of musician Bruce Guthro, Dylan released his debut album, All That's True, in 2012. In 2015, Guthro teamed up with fellow Halifax singer-songwriters Carleton Stone and Breagh Mackinnon to form the band Port Cities.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
