Leela Gilday
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Leela Gilday | |
|---|---|
 Gilday in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada |
| Genres |
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| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Labels | Diva Sound Records[1] |
| Website | leelagilday |
Leela Gilday is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.[2] She has released five solo albums since 2002, two of which have won the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year.
Early life
[edit]Gilday was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories,[2] to an Irish Canadian father and a Dene mother. Singer-songwriter Jay Gilday is her younger brother.[3][4] She graduated with a Bachelor's of Music degree from the University of Alberta in 1997.[5]
Career
[edit]In 2002, Gilday was awarded Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, and Best Songwriter at the Canadian Indigenous Music Awards for her first release, Spirit World, Solid Wood.[6] She was also named in Maclean's Top 50 Under 30 that same year.[citation needed] In 2003, she was nominated at the Juno Awards for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada.[citation needed]
Her second album, Sedzé, was released in 2006 and won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the 2007 Juno Awards.[7] Up Here named Gilday Northerner of the Year in 2007.[8]
Her third album, Calling All Warriors, was released in 2010. It won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.[9] In 2011, Gilday won Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards.[10]
Her fourth record, Heart of the People, was released in 2014 and was nominated for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards.[11] Her fifth album, North Star Calling, came out in 2019. Gilday won Indigenous Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards,[12] and the album received the Indigenous Music Album of the Year honour at the 2021 Junos.[13]
In 2021, Gilday and her brother Jay created the musical project Sechile Sedare during the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]
In 2023, she participated with more than 50 other artists in the recording of a charity single for Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign. The recording combines Serena Ryder's song What I Wouldn't Do with the bridge from Gilday's "North Star Calling".[15]
Outside of music, Gilday had a supporting role in the 2019 independent film Red Snow.
Discography
[edit]- Spirit World, Solid Wood (2002)
- Sedzé (2006)
- Calling All Warriors (2010)
- Heart of the People (2014)
- North Star Calling (2019)
References
[edit]- ^ Canada Council for the Arts (March 22, 2004), Leela Gilday
- ^ a b "5 Juno-nominated artists recommend their favourite books". CBC Books.
- ^ "Singer-songwriter Jay Gilday takes subtler acoustic path to find his better musical self". Edmonton Journal.
- ^ "N.W.T.'s Jay Gilday takes the stage in first indoor concert since pandemic". CBC Music.
- ^ Rojas, Carmen (2007), "Northstar", Work of Arts: The Faculty of Arts in Review, pp. 4–7
- ^ "Awards show honours aboriginal musicians". CBC News.
- ^ "Past Nominees and Winners". Juno Awards. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
- ^ "The Movers And Shakers From Years Gone By". Up Here Publishing. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
- ^ "Western Canadian Music Awards 2010 winners". Breakout West. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
- ^ Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (2010), Leela Gilday CD Release "Calling All Warriors", archived from the original on July 6, 2011, retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ "Tanya Tagaq, Leela Gilday nominated for 2015 Juno Awards". CBC News.
- ^ "Pharis & Jason Romero Head CFMA Winners List". FYI Music News, April 11, 2021.
- ^ "N.W.T. artist Leela Gilday wins Juno for 'most vulnerable' album yet". CBC News.
- ^ "Sechile Sedare". Queen's University.
- ^ "Artists for Feel Out Loud supports the youth mental health movement with anthem". Kids Help Phone.,
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
- Living people
- 21st-century Canadian women singers
- 21st-century First Nations people
- Canadian women singer-songwriters
- Canadian folk singer-songwriters
- Dene people
- Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year winners
- Musicians from Yellowknife
- University of Alberta alumni
- Canadian Folk Music Award winners
- First Nations women singers
- 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- Singers from the Northwest Territories