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The youngest daughter of a highly musical family, Toronto
singer / songwriter Mia Sheard absorbed many of her
musical influences from her older siblings' record collections.
By the age of five Mia was listening to such musicians as
the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder
and Frank Zappa.
Upon entering high school in Toronto, Mia promptly joined
the choir and discovered the joy of singing. Recalls Sheard,
"I didn't really want to learn an instrument because my
brother was such a good piano player and I was kind of intimidated
by that. I decided that singing was something that I could
do, probably better than anyone in my family, so I stuck
to that, fool that I was."
Sheard soon began backup singing in other people's bands,
performing other people's songs but acquiring valuable microphone
technique and honing her stage presentation skills. Inevitably,
one such band promoted Mia to the role of lead singer. Quickly
realizing that she needed to sing her own songs, Mia struck
out on her own, using the unlikely duo of Joni Mitchell
and J.D. Salinger as her inspiration.
"Joni Mitchell was such a huge influence and one
of the very few female artists around when I was growing
up." says Sheard. "She writes intelligent music and I could
relate to everything she said. I was inspired by her story
telling."
Sheard's debut disc, With
Love And Squalor, takes it's title from For
Esme, With Love And Squalor, from J.D. Salinger's
Nine Stories. Sheard's
song, "Seymour" is similarly based on another Salinger
story.
"Salinger was a big influence, I became obsessed with
his stories and the drama of his writing. It expressed immense
emotion but in a very subtle way so that it made the emotion
even more extreme, because it was suppressed."
The album, produced by Michael Phillip-Wojewoda
(Rheostatics,
Barenaked Ladies, Spirit Of The West, Ashley
MacIsaac) is a showcase for Sheard's dynamic, powerful
vocals and unique lyrical insights.
With Love And Squalor, is Mia Sheard's extremely
confident first step. Sheard, still evolving as an artist,
promises continued growth both musically and lyrically.
"I'd like to develop as a writer and learn how to write
a really good song." she confides, "It's still very new
to me. I want to keep doing this until I die, so I want
to make sure that it's something that I can keep doing.
I just want to be a slow burn."
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