Ariana Gillis
Singer-Songwriter
Hailing from just outside
Toronto, Ariana Gillis began taking singing lessons at the age of six, but she
was hardly thrilled. So, her father encouraged her to write her own material
and learn to play the guitar. An award-winning songwriter himself, he gave her
invaluable insight into the process. However, music's importance didn't really
become apparent until her final year of high school, when she came down with
double pneumonia. She missed three months of school, and couldn't sing properly
for about a year. "Within that span of time, I realized I needed music. I craved
it."
With renewed focus, Gillis made
an immediate impact on the Niagara music scene, winning Songwriter of the Year
at the 2009 Niagara Music Awards, followed by Female Vocalist and Album of the
Year in 2010. She networked at music conferences, which led to a quick,
two-song performance for Dave Marsh in a stairwell in Memphis, following the
release of her second album, Forget Me Not. Marsh then played Gillis on his
Sirius XM radio show, which caught the attention of Elton John's songwriting
partner.
"I'm staggered by how good she
is. There's not much that impresses me these days but after hearing her
available tracks, I can honestly say she's the single most exciting artist I've
heard in a long time."
Grammy Award-winning Lyricist,
Bernie Taupin -
"I've never seen an unknown
performer with more power as when I saw Ariana.... I couldn't stop talking about
her. She may be the best new emerging artist anywhere."
Writer - Rock Critic -
Historian, Dave Marsh -
?
"I have been a fan of Ariana
Gillis since discovering her music on satellite radio in 2009...something rare
and unseen - genuine, un-calculated, un-co-opted, art from a soulful gem."
- Grammy
Award-winner, Buddy Miller
?
The above quotes are typical of
the excitement Canada's Ariana Gillis was creating from the earliest stages of
her career. But after sustaining a serious concussion in 2015, Ariana believed
that she would never be able to write and perform music again.
Well, she's proving herself wrong, as after an extended period of recovery
she's back with new music currently being recorded with multi- GRAMMY®
Award-winning producer, Joel Moss and CFMA Producer of the Year, David
Gillis.
Freedom, the first song released
from these sessions, presents a timely statement surrounding the repression of
human rights and false promises in the U.S. and around the globe. Ariana
explains:
"What occurred to me was the irony of the word freedom and
how it is used politically as a positive and hopeful feeling-but in the wrong
hands it always ends up becoming the opposite. At its core, Freedom touches on
equity and the important value of
human kindness ".
"All
around me they're making up stories,
Saying we
got good things coming.
But
freedom took off before that talk,
And ever since then I've been running.
Freedom,
freedom where've you been?
I've been missing you so long.
Guns and soldiers, bullets, patrollers,
Freedom never felt so wrong."
- Website:
- https://www.arianagillis.com/
- Facebook:
- https://www.facebook.com/arianagillisfanpage/