Serena Ryder
(born December 8, 1983 [1] in Toronto, Ontario [2]) is a Juno Award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist who grew up in Millbrook, Ontario.
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 as well as Crestwood Secondary School. As a teenager, she performed solo as well as with many bands from the Peterborough area, including Christian band Thousand Foot Krutch and Jive recording artist Three Days Grace.
|
SERENA RYDER TICKETS
|
Career
Her first independent CD, called
Falling Out
, was released in December 1999 on the Peterborough indie label Mime Radio (www.mimeradio.com) 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 Records. Also released on Isadora was
Live in Oz
, a recording from her tour of Australia, released in limited numbers only at shows.
Ryder's second 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."
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, Ryder gave an exclusive performance for attendees of the 2008 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting at the
University of Toronto in
Toronto, 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 Ryder and
Greg Keelor attended a performance of Tim Hus and his Good Ol' Boys at the Dakota Tavern, in which an impromptu performance was given by all three, jamming to
Blue Rodeo's "Hasn't Hit Me Yet".
On 11 November 2008, Ryder released her new EMI album
Is It O.K.
in
Canada. It will be released on
Atlantic Records in America on 11 February 2009. The single to be taken from it is "Little Bit of Red". The song "All for Love", which appears on Ryder's EP
Sweeping the Ashes
and album
Is It O.K.
, is featured in an episode of
ABC's Private Practice
.
Is It O.K.
won the
Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the
2009 Junos on March 29, 2009 in
Vancouver.
[5]
In 2009, her song "Sing, Sing" was selected for Music Monday, a special event to highlight
music education in Canada which saw nearly two million Canadian schoolchildren singing the song in class on May 5.
[6]
In May 2009, she appeared on
Bruce Springsteen's official website, covering his song "
Racing in the Street". The video was part of the Hangin' On E Street feature of his website.
In June 2009, she recorded the duet "You Can Always Come Home" with former
American Idol
contestant
Jason Castro for his upcoming album.
[7]
Discography
Albums
- Falling Out
(1999)
- Unlikely Emergency
(2005)
- If Your Memory Serves You Well
(2006)
- is it o.k
(2008)
EPs
- Serena
(1999)
- A Day At the Studio
(2002)
- Told You in a Whispered Song
(2007)
Live Recordings
- Live at The Market Hall
(2002)
- Serena Ryder Live
(2003)
Singles
- "Good Morning Starshine" (2006)
- "Weak in the Knees" (2006)
- "Little Bit of Red" (2008)
- "All for Love" (2008)
- "What I Wanna Know" (2009)
References
- "The Hour" with George Stroumboulopoulos, Episode dated November 12, 2008
- Ryder remembers those who died
- http://www.sbs.com.au 31 March 2007
- 2008 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada - July 22–27, 2008 - Program and Abstracts
- http://www.serenaryder.com/
- "Canadian kids sing out for music in education". cbc.ca, May 4, 2009.
- http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/08/19/jason-castro-interview/