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Kinnie Starr
Starr performing in Ottawa, Ontario at Westfest 2008
Starr performing in Ottawa, Ontario at Westfest 2008
Background information
Birth nameAlida Kinnie Starr
Born1970 (age 53–54)
OriginCalgary, Alberta, Canada
GenresCanadian hip hop, alternative rock
Occupations
  • Singer
  • rapper
Years active1995–present
LabelsAporia Records (current), Mercury/Def Jam
Websitekinniestarr.ca
Kinnie Starr
Academic background
Alma materQueen's University

Alida Kinnie Starr (born 1970) is a Canadian multidisciplinary singer and rapper.

Early life

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Starr was born and raised in Calgary, where she attended Western Canada High School. Her ancestry is French, German, Irish and self-identified indigenous heritage, specifically Mohawk.[citation needed] She is trilingual (English, French and Spanish). Starr has a BA in Race and Gender Studies from Queen's University.[1]

After moving to Vancouver, Starr formed her first band in 1992. According to legend, the true extent of her talent was first revealed on trip to New York City, when a friend pushed her onstage at an East Village club's open-mic night, where her impromptu spoken-word poetry met an enthusiastic reception.

Career

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Following a self-released demo called Learning 2 Cook in 1995, she released her debut album Tidy in 1996, mixing rock, punk, pop, and hip-hop, along with her trademark spoken-word poetry. On that album, she rapped in three languages: English, Spanish, and French.

Starr signed to major label group Island/Def Jam in 1997, following a massive bidding war during which Clive Davis personally flew out to dine the young artist to try and sign her to his roster of pop stars.[2] The next year, Seagram bought Polygram, the parent company of Island Def Jam, and merged it into Universal Music Group. In the resulting upheaval, Starr felt she was lost in the shuffle and she asked to be released from her contract. The material she recorded for her first album with Island Def Jam, 1998's Mending was never released, though some record labels have talked of releasing the lost album.

In 1997, Starr appeared on the Lilith Fair tour. In the late '90s and in 2004, she toured Canada with Veda Hille and Oh Susanna as part of the "Scrappy Bitch Tour".[3]

She performed in November 2000 at Lee's Palace in Toronto.[4]

Cirque du Soleil pursued Starr to sing in their productions, and in 2003 she contracted with them to perform in Zumanity for two years. After releasing her 2003 album Sun Again, she moved to Las Vegas. However, she was back home in Canada by the following year, where she continued to perform and record.

Her 2013 album "Kiss It" was made available to fans at Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival one week before the official release.[5]

Her 2018 album, Feed the Fire explores finding one's truest self amidst the digital chaos of the 21st century.[6]

Musical style and influences

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Her musical style has been described as "hip hop aggro groove"[citation needed].

Starr has enlisted other Canadian musicians to appear on her albums over the years, including Swollen Members' Moka Only, Coco Love Alcorn, former Dream Warrior Spek and Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara. Nelly Furtado credits Starr as an influence.[citation needed]

Music videos

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  • "Ophelia" Director: Marsha Herle
  • "Month of Trickery" Director: Marsha Herle
  • "Nearer" Director: Marsha Herle
  • "Home is Everywhere" Director: Hannah C
  • "Go Go See It" Director: Hannah C
  • "High Heels" Director: Hannah C

Film

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Starr's songs have been included on the soundtracks for the TV series The L Word and the movie Thirteen.

In 2001, Starr co-starred in Down and Out with the Dolls, a Kurt Voss movie about a fictional all-girl rock band.

Starr conceived of, and co-produced, the 2016 documentary Play Your Gender,[7] which explores the gender gap in the music industry, asking why only 5% of professional music producers are female. Produced by Sahar Yousefi and directed by Stephanie Clattenburg, the film premiered at the Canberra International Film Festival in Australia.[8] At the 2017 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival the film was awarded "Best Music / Art Documentary" (in a tie).[9] In 2018, the film was screened at the Reeperbahn Festival as part of the "Key Change Festival Initiative".[10]

Starr composed the score for the 2018 Haida language film Edge of the Knife.[11]

Activism

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Much of Starr's work engages positively with female sexuality, in contrast to male perspectives often associated with hip-hop culture.[12] Starr identifies as bisexual, and has enjoyed popularity in the queer community.[13]

In 2006 she formally became a mentor for aspiring indigenous musicians as a faculty member with the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association's Aboriginal Music Program (AMP) Camp.

Starr appeared as a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show on 11 August 2006.[14] On 31 August, her single "Anything" was the first-ever No. 1 single on CBC Radio 3's new countdown show The R3-30.

Starr has often spoken out, for example during a 2013 performance at Vancouver Folk Music Festival,[15] about the importance of protecting water.

Discography

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Album Year Label Producer
Learn 2 Cook (demo) 1995
Tidy 1996
Mending (Unreleased) 1998 Island/Def Jam
Tune-Up 2000
Sun Again 2003 Maple Music
Anything 2006
A Different Day 2010 Last Gang Chin Injeti
Kiss It 2013 Aporia
From Far Away 2014 Aporia
Feed the Fire 2018 Aporia

Filmography

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  • 2001: Down and Out with the Dolls. Director: Kurt Voss.
  • 2016: Play Your Gender (host, curator & co-producer). Director: Stephanie Clattenburg. Producer: Sahar Yousefi.

Awards and recognition

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In 2004, Starr was nominated for the Juno Award for New Artist of the Year.

Starr was featured in the Royal British Columbia Museum's major 2008 exhibition, "Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and BC", as one of 150 cultural icons of BC.[16][17]

She produced the album We Are... by Digging Roots, which won the Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2010.

In 2011, Starr was honoured as a Pioneer in Canadian Hip Hop Culture by the ManifesTO festival.[18]

Year Nominated work Award Result
2004 Sun Again Juno Awards, New Artist of the Year Nominated
2010 Digging Roots' album We Are... (Producer) Juno Awards, Aboriginal Album of the Year Won[19]
2014 Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters — Kinnie Starr (Musician) & Amanda Strong (Director) imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, Best Music Video Won[20]
2019 Edge of the Knife (Composer) Leo Awards, Best Musical Score, Motion Picture Nominated[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Vancouver's Kinnie Starr releases the "Big World" single". HipHopCanada. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Manifesto Festival Magazine Vol.5 (p. 29) by Manifesto Community Projects". ISSUU.com. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  3. ^ Larry LeBlanc (16 December 2000). "Singer/Songwriter Oh Susannah aims to break out with third set". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 48 and 75. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. ^ "LIVE: Kinnie Starr w/ Sook-Yin Lee & Tara Chase Tuesday November 07, 2000 @ 10:30 AM Nov. 3, 2000 Lee's Palace Toronto, ON"[usurped]. ChartAttack, Review By: Darrin Keene
  5. ^ Marchand, Francois (26 July 2013). "Kinnie Starr: Home is everywhere". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018.
  6. ^ Week, Aboriginal Music. "Kinnie Starr". Sakihiwe.ca. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Playing her gender: Kinnie Starr" . BC Musician Magazine • 19 May 2017
  8. ^ "Film about gender gap in music industry screens at Reel 2 Real festival". CBC News, 3 April 2017
  9. ^ "Leaderboard". Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Film Programme Confirmed! - Reeperbahn Festival". 3 February 2021. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Edge of the Knife". 28 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Can I Flaunt My Body and Be a Feminist? | Kinnie Starr". 19 June 2017. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Kinnie Star Home everwhere" Archived 15 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Vancouver Sun
  14. ^ "Today's Show: Friday, August 11, 2006 | The Rachel Maddow Show | Air America Radio". 21 October 2006. Archived from the original on 21 October 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  15. ^ Thorkelson, Erika (9 August 2013). "Electro Artist Kinnie Starr Sings Out for Water". The Narwhal. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Royal BC Museum Annual Report (2008-09)" (PDF). Royal BC Museum. (p.6)
  17. ^ "Visit Joy at the Royal BC Museum for a picture with her!". Joy Kogawa House. 12 September 2008.
  18. ^ "MANIFESTO". Mnfsto.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013.
  19. ^ "Kinnie Starr – Kiss It Review | New Canadian Music Mobile". M.newcanadianmusic.ca. 2 August 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  20. ^ "2014 Award Winners". imagiNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015.
  21. ^ "2019 Nominees & Winners by Name". Leo Awards. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020.
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