Sarah Harmer | |
|---|---|
 Harmer in 2020 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sarah Lois Harmer |
| Born | November 12, 1970 |
| Origin | Burlington, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Folk, pop, rock |
| Occupation | singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, bass, drums |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Cold Snap |
| Website | sarahharmer |
Sarah Lois Harmer [1] (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. [2]
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musical lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sister started taking her to Tragically Hip concerts. [3] [4]
At the age of 17, Harmer was invited to join a Toronto band, The Saddletramps. For three years, she performed with them while pursuing her studies in philosophy and women's studies at Queen's University. [5]
After leaving The Saddletramps, Harmer put together a band of her own with several Kingston, Ontario musicians, and chose the name Weeping Tile. [3] [4] [6] The band released its first independent cassette in 1994. [7] Soon afterward, they signed to a major label, and the cassette was re-released in 1995 as Eepee . The band performed regularly on the rock club circuit and on campus radio with their subsequent albums, but never broke through to the mainstream, and broke up in 1998 after being dropped from their label. [5]
Also in 1998, Harmer recorded a set of pop standards as a Christmas gift for her father. [3] After hearing it, her friends and family convinced her to release it as an album, and in 1999 she released it independently as Songs for Clem . [3] Harmer began working on another album, and in 2000, she released You Were Here . [5] [8] In 2001 she toured around Canada and the US in support of the album. [9] [10]
A poppier, more laid-back effort than her work with Weeping Tile, You Were Here was a commercial success, and led to the hit singles "Basement Apartment" and "Don't Get Your Back Up". The album also appeared on many critics' year-end lists, including TIME magazine, which called it the year's best debut album. [9] It was eventually certified platinum for sales of 100,000 copies in Canada. Almost half of the album (including both of its major hits) consisted of songs she had previously recorded with Weeping Tile or The Saddletramps.
In 2002, her song "Silver Road" was featured as the lead track of the soundtrack of the film Men With Brooms .
In 2004, she released All of Our Names . The album included the singles "Almost", which made the top 20 on Canadian pop charts, and "Pendulums". All of Our Names won the JUNO Award for Best Adult Alternative Album, a new award category in 2005.
Her fourth album, I'm a Mountain , was released in Canada in November 2005 and in the United States in February 2006. It was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize, a jury-selected $20,000 cash prize for the Canadian album of the year. Also in 2005 she had an acting role in Anita Doron's film The End of Silence . [11]
Harmer has also appeared as a guest vocalist on albums by other artists, including Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Rheostatics, Bruce Cockburn, Luther Wright and the Wrongs, Loomer, [12] Skydiggers, The Weakerthans, Neko Case, Great Lake Swimmers, The Tragically Hip and Bob Wiseman. [13]
In February 2007, Harmer received three Juno Award nominations. I'm a Mountain was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album and her DVD Escarpment Blues won the JUNO Award for Best Music DVD. Harmer herself was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year for her work on "I Am Aglow", "Oleander" and "Escarpment Blues".
In 2010, Harmer released a fifth album, Oh Little Fire , which was nominated for three Juno Awards. The album signaled a shift toward a more rock-based sound. [14]
In 2011, Harmer participated in the National Parks Project, visiting British Columbia's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site with Bry Webb, Jim Guthrie and filmmaker Scott Smith. [15] She was also commissioned by CBC Radio 2 to write an original campfire song for the network. [16]
On August 19, 2016, Harmer and Jim Creeggan appeared on CBC Radio's Q to perform a live cover of The Tragically Hip's "Morning Moon". [17] That year Harmer also performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. [18]
In 2018, Harmer contributed the song "Just Get Here" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook . [19] In the same year, she performed at the Juno Awards of 2018 in a tribute to the late Gord Downie, performing a medley of "Introduce Yerself" and "Bobcaygeon" in collaboration with Dallas Green and Kevin Hearn.
Her newest album, Are You Gone , was released in February 2020 on Arts & Crafts. [20] It was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, [21] and nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album at the Juno Awards of 2021. [22]
In 2005, Harmer co-founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), an organization which campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development which would see some parts of wilderness near the escarpment removed. [23] To support the organization, she and her acoustic band embarked on a tour of the escarpment, hiking the Bruce Trail and performing at theatres and community halls in towns along the way. A documentary DVD of this tour was released in 2006 as Escarpment Blues . Harmer also coauthored a book about the campaign, The Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, which was published in 2007. In October 2012, PERL won their case against the development.
Harmer has performed and canvassed in support of the NDP and politician Marilyn Churley, who also promoted the protection of the Niagara Escarpment. She has also performed in support of Ontario Green Party Leader and MPP Mike Schreiner.
On March 24, 2018, she joined the demonstration at Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Terminal to protest against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. [24]
In February 2019, she spoke against the Ontario government's proposed Bill 66 at a Kingston City Council meeting. [25]
In January 2022, Sarah helped launch the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition with co-chair Graham Flint. The RGMC seeks to reform the gravel mining industry in Ontario.
Her niece Georgia Harmer, the daughter of Sarah's sister Mary with their former Weeping Tile bandmate Gord Tough, is a singer-songwriter whose debut album Stay in Touch was released in April 2022 on Arts & Crafts Productions. [26]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | US Heat | |||
| Songs for Clem |
| — | — | |
| You Were Here |
| — | — |
|
| All of Our Names |
| 6 | 43 |
|
| I'm a Mountain |
| 31 | — |
|
| Oh Little Fire |
| 7 | 24 | |
| Are You Gone |
| 63 [27] | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
| Year | Single | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Basement Apartment" | You Were Here |
| 2001 | "Don't Get Your Back Up" | |
| "Weakened State" | ||
| 2003 | "Silver Road" | Men with Brooms |
| 2004 | "Almost" | All of Our Names |
| "Pendulums" | ||
| 2005 | "I Am Aglow" | I'm a Mountain |
| 2006 | "Oleander" | |
| 2010 | "Captive" | Oh Little Fire |
| 2018 | "Just Get Here" | The Al Purdy Songbook |
| 2019 | "New Low" | Are You Gone |
| 2020 | "St. Peter's Bay" |
In 2007, Harmer also reunited with Weeping Tile to record a song, "Public Square", for the Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions .
Weeping Tile was a Canadian rock band formed in 1992 in Kingston, Ontario.
Tanya Tagaq, also credited as Tagaq, is a Canadian Inuk throat singer, songwriter, novelist, actor, and visual artist from Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuuttiaq), Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island.
You Were Here is an album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, released in 2000.
The Saddletramps were an alternative country band from Toronto, Ontario in the 1980s and 1990s. Core members of the band included Ken Horne, Andrew Lindsay, John DeHaas and Brian Duguay, although the band is now most noted for the early participation of singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer.
Danny Michel is a Canadian artist, songwriter and producer.
I'm a Mountain is an album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, released in 2005. She received three Juno Award nominations for her work on the album.
Escarpment Blues is a Canadian concert and documentary film starring singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer. Directed by Andy Keen and produced by Keen, Harmer, Bryan Bean and Patrick Sambrook, it was released theatrically in 2006.
Barbara Josephine Bulat, known professionally as Basia Bulat, is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She is known for performing with an autoharp.
Tanis Rideout is a Canadian writer based in Toronto, Ontario.
Jenn Grant is a Canadian folk pop singer-songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Hannah Georgas is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was nominated in the categories of "Best New Artist of the Year" and "Songwriter of the Year" at the 2011 Juno Awards, and again at the 2013 Juno Awards for "Songwriter of the Year" and "Best Alternative Album".
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.
Kobo Town is a Juno-winning Canadian Caribbean music group, led by Trinidadian Canadian singer and songwriter Drew Gonsalves. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the band blends calypso music with a diverse mix of Caribbean and other musical influences, including ska, reggae, dub, rapso, zouk and hip hop.
Zaki Ibrahim is a South African-Canadian singer-songwriter. Her music blends R&B, soul and jazz.
The Glorious Sons are a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario. Formed in 2011, the band signed with Black Box in 2013. Since then, The Glorious Sons have released two EPs and four full-length albums.
Jessica Reyez is a 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.
iskwē is a Canadian singer-songwriter and activist.
Are You Gone is the sixth album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, released on February 21, 2020. It is her first new album since Oh Little Fire in 2010, and was released on Arts & Crafts Productions.
Savannah Ré Simpson, simply known as Savannah Ré, is a Canadian R&B singer-songwriter from Scarborough, Ontario, whose debut EP Opia was released in 2020.
Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree singer-songwriter from Canada, whose debut album Watin was released in 2022.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
