Serena Ryder (born 8 December 1983[1] in Toronto, Ontario[2]) is a Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist who grew up in Millbrook, Ontario, Canada. Her best-known albums include Unlikely Emergency and If Your Memory Serves You Well.
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Ranging musically between folk, roots, country, and adult contemporary, Ryder possesses a three-octave range. She attended the Integrated Arts Program at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Peterborough, and took music lessons from Terry Finn at [Finn's House of Music][1] and performed solo as well as with many of Peterborough's bands as a teenager including Christian band Thousand Foot Krutch and Jive recording artist Three Days Grace who are both also from the Peterborough area.
Career
Her first independent CD, called Falling Out, was released in December 1999 on the Peterborough indie label Mime Radio and included the first songs she had ever written. Damon de Szegheo, producer/ engineer of 'Falling Out' discovered her during a local on stage production of 'Gone With The Wind' where Ryder performed during a set change. Ryder was 15 years old at the time.
Other independent releases by Serena include Serena EP (cassette only) 1999; Live at The Market Hall & "A Day In The Studio" 2002; & Serena Ryder Live 2003 (a CD recording of her performance on CBC Radio's program Bandwidth).
In 2005, she released her debut major label CD Unlikely Emergency, which included the song "Just Another Day" which gained significant airplay on many radio stations, including CHUM-FM. The album was released by Hawksley Workman on his Isadora Record Label. Also released on Isadora was Live in Oz, a recording from her tour of Australia, released in limited numbers only at shows.
Ryder's latest album, released on the EMI label in November 2006, is called If Your Memory Serves You Well and is a collection of notable Canadian songs from the past 100 years or so. The tracks include Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy", Galt MacDermot's "Good Morning Starshine" and The Band's "This Wheel's on Fire" as well as Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Any More."
As well in 2006, she attended the Polish Veteran's march in Toronto, Ontario . Singing to a crowd of just over 15, she soothed their war torn souls in the dead of winter.
Appearing as a guest on SBS Australia television's RocKwiz in 2007, she displayed an authoritative knowledge in rock music-related questions, singing many song segments in answer and performed in the closing guest spot with Lior.[3]
A new EP titled Told You in a Whispered Song was released 19 June 2007, and is an acoustic studio collection of several live tracks and new songs.
Along with other bands, including 54-40 and Cheap Trick, Ryder opened for Aerosmith on their world tour in July 2007 in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
She won the 2008 Juno Award for New Artist of the Year.
On 25 July 2008, Serena gave an exclusive performance for attendees of the 2008 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which was hosted by the Genetics Society of America. She was also accompanied by the Canadian R&B singer, Jully Black.[4]
On 9 October 2008 Serena attended a performance of Tim Hus and his Good Ol' Boys, along with Canadian Icon Greg Keeler, and British rockstar Sean Robertson at the Dakota Tavern, in which an impromptu performance was given by all three, jamming to "Hasn't Hit Me Yet".
References
- ^ Brown, Marisa. "Serena Ryder". AMG.
- ^ Stevenson, Jane (6 April 2008). "Ryder remembers those who died". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) Allmusic indicates birthplace at Millbrook, Ontario, however. - ^ http://www.sbs.com.au 31 March 2007
- ^ 80385_yeast_front_matter.pmd
External links
- Official Site
- Interview + Performance recorded 20 February 2007
- Serena Ryder at AllMusic
