![]() And it was clear from a young age that singing was something that came very naturally to me. My parents were both first-call session players in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Toronto, and I spent a lot of my childhood in recording studios. My mother’s a singer, my father’s a drummer and a percussionist, and I was surrounded by music growing up.Įmilie-Claire Barlow as a baby at the piano with her musician father, Brian Barlow (photo courtesy of Emilie-Claire Barlow) ![]() I did take it for granted and I do even still to this day sometimes take it for granted. How did that influence your choice of vocation?ĮCB: I think for me music was such an important part of my life, I didn’t even think of it as an important part of my life – it just was my life. So that’s how Seule ce soir came about.ĪM: You grew up in a musical family. So I wrestled with myself until I realized that the desire is there, and what better way of learning the language than through lyrics and through the process of doing this. I wanted to do a record all in French but I was afraid that I wasn’t at the level that I wanted to be with the language. So this whole other songbook and repertoire started to open up to me. I also found myself immersed in the musical culture of Quebec and having opportunities to promote my music on various television and radio shows, which would feature other artists – Quebec artists. ![]() It really came because I started touring a lot in Quebec seven or eight years ago and I wanted to be able to communicate with my audiences, both during the show and after when I’m meeting people. How did you accomplish that considering French was not your native language?ĮCB: It’s my second language and I took very basic French as a child, but it was quite minimal. “The Beat Goes On,” Emilie-Claire Barlow’s eighth solo album, features songs from the ’60sĪM: You did release one album that was entirely in French. And so here I am now with this name and trying to do my best to live up to it. She loves the language, she loves all things French. My parents are Anglophone – there is no Francophone in my family at all. The French half of my name, which is of course the first half of my name, is simply because my parents loved the name. Where did the French half come from?ĮCB: It’s a very simple answer. 4, 2015, a few weeks before a performance at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.ĪM: I can’t help noticing that your name is half English and half French. One of these, Seule ce soir, was sung entirely in French and won a Juno Award in 2013 for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.Īlso a successful voice actress, Emilie-Claire Barlow has performed for such TV shows as Sailor Moon, Almost Naked Animals and Peg + Cat.Īnita Malhotra spoke by phone with Barlow, who was at Toronto’s Pearson Airport en route to Montreal, on Dec. She followed this with 10 solo albums featuring arrangements of jazz standards, contemporary favorites, Brazilian songs and other repertoire. Growing up in a family of professional musicians, Toronto-based singer and arranger Emilie-Claire Barlow sang in commercials as a child and went on to release her debut album in 1998 at the age of 22. Emilie-Claire Barlow at the UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival on J(photo by Tabercil, Flickr Creative Commons) Her uncle was Richard Homme, a Canadian jazz bassist who died. Her mother, Judy Tate, is a composer, arranger and singer. Her father is award-winning jazz drummer Brian Barlow (aka Brian Leonard). Barlow's grandfathers were ventriloquist Cy Leonard and actor Bob Homme.
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