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André Lortie, tenor (born 11 May 1930 in Montreal, Quebec). André Lortie handled tragic roles as easily as comic parts. His performances of Beppe in I Pagliacci and Spoletta in Tosca established his reputation in Canada as a singer of character roles.

Shawn Peter Raul Mendes, singer, songwriter, model, mental health advocate (born 8 August 1998 in Pickering, ON). Pop phenom Shawn Mendes followed in the footsteps of earlier Canadian pop music star Justin Bieber, building a following online in his teens before signing with a major label. Mendes is the only artist to have four No. 1 singles on the Adult Pop Songs chart before the age of 20. Released when he was 16, his first full-length studio album, Handwritten (2015), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and quickly went platinum in the US. In fact, his first four albums all debuted at No. 1. Together they have sold more than 4 million copies in the US, while Mendes’s singles have sold more than 13 million copies. He has received 13 Juno Awards and 20 SOCAN Awards, as well as three Grammy Award nominations.

Nelly Furtado. Singer, songwriter, b Victoria, BC, 2 Dec 1978. Furtado grew up in a working-class Portuguese household, and the sounds of her ethnic heritage had a strong influence on her even when she was listening to hip-hop, pop, dance, R&B, rock, Brazilian and Indian music.

Audrey Bernice Farnell, soprano, teacher (born 28 July 1921 in Amherst, NS; died 11 September 1995 in Toronto, ON). Audrey Farnell enjoyed a prominent career as both a soloist and recitalist. After winning the 1945–46 Singing Stars of Tomorrow competition, she performed with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Montreal Elgar Choir, the Halifax Choral Society and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, among others. She also performed for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their first Royal Tour of Canada in 1951. Farnell later taught at the Alberta College Music Centre and at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Yves Lambert, CM, singer, musician (born 15 September 1956 in Joliette, QC). Yves Lambert rose to fame in Quebec as a founding member of La Bottine souriante. The folk music group had three platinum albums and four gold albums in Canada and won multiple Juno Awards and Félix Awards. Lambert has been credited with popularizing traditional Québécois folk music while also reinventing it. His musical style blends folk music with traditional Quebec, Acadian, Celtic and country music styles. He has been described as a pillar of Quebec’s living heritage. Lambert was named Traditional Singer of the Year at the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards and has twice won the Conseil québécois de la musique (Québec Music Council) Opus Award. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2021.

Shania Twain (born Eilleen Regina Edwards), aka Eilleen Twain, OC, singer, songwriter, guitarist, (born 28 August 1965 in Windsor, ON). Nicknamed the “Queen of Country Pop,” Shania Twain rose from rags to riches to become the biggest-selling female country artist of all time. Buoyed by sassy lyrics, a sexy image and slick production values, her smash hit recordings from 1995 to 2004 defied country music conventions, breaking numerous sales records and establishing her as an international superstar. She is the only female artist to have three consecutive albums sell more than 10 million copies in the United States. Her third album, Come On Over (1997), is the best-selling country album of all time, the biggest-selling album of the 1990s and the sixth biggest-selling in US history. An Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, she was the first non-American to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards. She has won nearly 200 major international awards, including multiple Juno, Grammy, SOCAN and Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards.

Ian Dawson Tyson, CM, AOE, singer, songwriter, guitarist, rancher (born 25 September 1933 in Victoria, BC; died 29 December 2022 in Longview, AB). Ian Tyson was one of Canada’s most acclaimed folk and country music artists. A former rodeo rider, he enjoyed great success as part of the duo Ian and Sylvia with his then-wife, Sylvia Tyson. They are best known for “Four Strong Winds,” a 1963 folk anthem written by Ian. It is considered one of the best and most influential Canadian songs of all time. Tyson received many awards, including a Governor General's Performing Arts Award. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, singer, songwriter (born 16 February 1990 in Scarborough, ON). A global pop superstar, The Weeknd is known for his compelling brand of atmospheric, trip-hop-infused R&B and synth-driven pop music. His debut, House of Balloons (2011), sparked a storm of international attention. His chart-topping sophomore album, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), solidified his status as a pop phenomenon. In 2015, he became the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart. In 2021, his song “Blinding Lights” supplanted Chubby Checker’s 1960 hit “The Twist” as Billboard’s No. 1 Song of All Time. The Weeknd was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020 and performed solo at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2021. He has won 17 Juno Awards from 35 nominations, four Grammy Awards and 30 SOCAN Awards, among many other honours.

Canada's choirs have contributed significantly to religious, educational, and concert activities within the country, and some have earned high reputations abroad. Choral singing in Canada became immensely popular in the second half of the 19th century, reached its first peak -- unsurpassed, certainly, in the quantity of choristers relative to the total population -- in the years preceding the First World War, and entered a new period of vigour and expansion after the middle of the 20th century.

Zalman “Zal” Yanovsky, guitarist, songwriter, restaurateur (born 19 December 1944 in Toronto, ON; died 13 December 2002 in Kingston, ON). A product of the Yorkville and Greenwich Village folk music scenes of the early 1960s, Zal Yanovsky was best known as the lead guitarist in the folk-rock band The Lovin’ Spoonful. Formed in 1965, the group had seven top 10 hits in two years, including “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Daydream” and the No. 1 hit “Summer in the City.” Yanovsky was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Lovin’ Spoonful in 2000.

Robert Allen Curtola, CM, singer, songwriter (born 17 April 1943 in Port Arthur, ON; died 4 June 2016 in Edmonton, AB). Bobby Curtola emerged as a teen idol and dominated the Canadian pop chart in the 1960s. His string of hit singles, including “Fortune Teller” (1962), dominated the Canadian singles chart from 1960 to 1967 and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Curtola was one of the first Canadians to receive a multi-million-dollar contract to perform in Las Vegas. He also helped raise millions of dollars for charities as a host of various telethons. He was a Member of the Order of Canada, the RPM Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2019.