Jill Barber
With her jazz-inspired songwriting and distinctive smoky voice, acclaimed Canadian singer Jill Barber creates the type of music that harks back to an earlier era. With her first album, 2002's A Note to Follow So, Barber demonstrated a range that included a mix of jazz, Americana, and folk-inspired pop, not unlike her older brother, roots pop songwriter Matthew Barber. Her fourth long-player, the Juno-nominated Chances (2008), marked a change of course that included original songs penned with alternative singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith. She then topped the jazz chart with 2011's Mischievous Moon. Barber won her first Juno, for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, for 2016's The Family Album, a collaboration with her brother. She continued to explore different styles on albums like the adult pop-patinaed Metaphora (2018) and the folk-leaning Homemaker (2023).
A native of Toronto, Barber initially began her career in Halifax, where she released her 2002 debut, A Note to Follow So. From the start, Barber's range included a mix of jazz, Americana, and folk-inspired pop. She continued to develop this mix over the course of her next two releases, 2004's Oh Heart EP and 2006's For All Time. A couple of years later, she relocated to Toronto, where she and producer Les Cooper began developing a new approach that relied heavily on the lush, orchestrated style of old jazz standards and torch songs.
Released in 2008, Chances was a departure from Barber's earlier style and proved to be a turning point in her career. The album, which featured a handful of songs co-written by Ron Sexsmith, was accompanied by two Juno Award nominations (including New Artist of the Year and Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, for For All Time) and introduced her music to a much wider, international audience. Her follow-up, 2011's Mischievous Moon, followed a similar path and spent 13 weeks atop Canada's jazz chart. For 2013's Chansons, Barber worked with producer Drew Jurecka on her first French-language set, featuring covers of songs by artists like Édith Piaf, Henri Salvador, and Serge Gainsbourg. That same year, her song "Chances" was featured in the first season of Netflix's original series Orange Is the New Black. Her sixth album, 2015's Fool's Gold, showed a continued evolution in her sound, with nods to Motown, soul, and classic country. Although they'd shared the stage together multiple times, 2016's collaborative set The Family Album marked Jill and brother Matthew's first album as a duo. It resulted in her first Juno win.
Two years later, Metaphora found her blending jazz and adult pop stylings. Her second French-language effort, Entre Nous, followed in 2020. Barber's 11th studio album, 2023's Homemaker, was a folk-minded one featuring a duet with Slow Leaves (aka Winnipeg singer/songwriter Grant Davidson).
© Timothy Monger /TiVo
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Chansons
Alternative & Indie - Released by outside music on Jan 29, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Chances
Alternative & Indie - Released by outside music on Oct 14, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dark Angel
Rose Cousins, Jill Barber, Jenn Grant
Pop - Released by Nettwerk Music Group on Oct 26, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Entre nous
French Music - Released by outside music on Jun 19, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Fool's Gold
Alternative & Indie - Released by outside music on Jun 17, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le monde est beau
French Music - Released by outside music on Mar 18, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Family Album
Folk - Released by outside music on Jan 4, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mischievous Moon
Jazz - Released by outside music on Mar 9, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tous mes rêves
French Music - Released by outside music on Jan 19, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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A New Kind of Light: Songs of Christmas
Jill Barber, Rose Cousins, Meaghan Smith
Folk - Released by outside music on Nov 13, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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They Can't Take That Away From Me
Jazz - Released by Royal Crown Records Inc. on May 10, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Entre nous
French Music - Released by outside music on Apr 17, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Entre nous (Les Remixes)
Pop - Released by outside music on Apr 9, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo