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The Polaris Music Prize was founded by Steve Jordan in 2006 and is awarded annually to the Canadian artist or group who creates the best full-length album. The mandate of the Polaris Music Prize has been likened to that of the UK’s Mercury Prize; all genres of contemporary music are eligible, and albums are judged on artistic merit rather than on commercial success. The winner is announced at the Polaris Music Prize Gala held each September in Toronto . The original cash prize of $20,000 was increased to $30,000 in 2011 and to $50,000 in 2015. Shortlisted artists have often performed at the Gala, which is broadcast live on CBC Radio 3 and YouTube.

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The Bach Elgar Choir (BEC) of Hamilton is a large concert choir established in 1946 as an amalgamation of the Elgar Choir (founded in 1905) and the Bach Choir (founded in 1931). The BEC is currently led by artistic director Alexander Cann.

Barbara Lally Pentland, composer (b at Winnipeg 2 Jan 1912; d at Vancouver 5 Feb 2000). One of the first Canadian composers to use avant garde techniques, she studied at the Juilliard School of Music, New York City, and the Berkshire Music Center, Mass.

Charlie Major, singer, songwriter (born 31 December 1954 in Aylmer, QC). Charlie Major is a journeyman singer-songwriter who achieved breakthrough success after years of hardscrabble persistence. His roots-rock tales of working-class life are cut from an aspirational blue-collar cloth similar to that of John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen. He has had 10 singles hit No. 1 on the Canadian country chart, including six from his debut album, The Other Side (1993), which was certified double platinum in Canada. He has won three Juno Awards for Country Male Vocalist of the Year and seven Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019.

Andy Kim (born Andrew Youakim; also known as Baron Longfellow), songwriter, singer (born 5 December 1952 in Montreal, QC). Andy Kim is one of Canada’s most successful singer-songwriters. He started out as a teenager writing songs for a television show and thus drew comparisons to Paul Anka and Neil Diamond. His hugely successful pop hits — such as “Sugar, Sugar,” “Rock Me Gently,” “Baby I love You” and “How’d We Ever Get This Way” — have sold more than 30 million copies. He was the inaugural winner of the Juno Award for Top Male Vocalist in 1970. He enjoyed moderate success as the adult-contemporary singer Baron Longfellow in the 1980s and 1990s. He has also collaborated with the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, and Ron Sexsmith. Kim has been inducted into the Billboard Hit Parade Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (for “Sugar, Sugar”), Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Patrick Laurence Perry Wedd, organist-choirmaster, music director, harpsichordist, composer (born 4 January 1948 in Simcoe, ON; died 19 May 2019 in Montreal, QC). Patrick Wedd began his career as an organist-choirmaster at the age of 12. He held positions at churches throughout Southern Ontario, in Vancouver from 1970 to 1986, and in Montreal until his retirement in 2018. Wedd performed extensively in Canada and the United States. His recitals included premieres of works by Thomas Baker, Alex Pauk and Jerome Summers. He gave inaugural recitals on the first Casavant organ in Adelaide, Australia, and the Gabriel Kney organ at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. As a composer, he had works commissioned by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the British Columbia Choral Federation, the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Tudor Singers of Montreal.

Pentland, Barbara. Composer, pianist, teacher, b Winnipeg 2 Jan 1912, d Vancouver 5 Feb 2000; ATCM 1931, composition diploma (Juilliard) 1939, honorary LLD (Manitoba) 1976; honorary LL D (Simon Fraser) 1985.

Shadrach Kabango (a.k.a. Shad, Shad K.), rapper, singer, songwriter, radio host (born 18 July 1982 in Kenya). Witty, passionate and earnest, Shad is a Juno Award-winning rapper known for his sharp, socially conscious lyrics. His playful musical style blends rap and hip-hop with rock, R&B and other genres. In 2008 and 2010, the National Post named him the best rapper in Canada, and in 2013 CBC Music ranked him No. 2 in their list of the 25 Greatest Canadian Rappers Ever. Paste magazine hailed him in 2013 as “Canada’s most talented, genuine musical artist and one of the industry’s finest poets.” Shad has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize four times (2008, 2010, 2014, 2019) and hosted CBC Radio One’s flagship talk show q from April 2015 to August 2016.

The Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk-rock band based in Toronto. Their breakthrough album, The Trinity Session (1988), established their signature sound, a melancholic mix of folk and blues marked by stripped-down instrumentation and lead singer Margo Timmins’s hushed yet haunting vocals. One of the most popular Canadian bands of the late 1980s and 1990s, the Cowboy Junkies have had two platinum and three gold albums in Canada and have sold more than 5 million albums worldwide. They have been inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Alanis Nadine Morissette, singer, songwriter, producer, actor, activist (born 1 June 1974 in Ottawa, ON). Alanis Morissette is one of Canada’s most recognized and internationally acclaimed singer-songwriters. She established herself as a Juno-winning teen pop star in Canada before adopting an edgy alternative rock sound. She exploded onto the world stage with her record-breaking international debut, Jagged Little Pill (1995). It sold more than 16 million copies in the United States and 33 million worldwide. It is the highest-selling debut album by a female artist in the US and the best-selling debut album ever worldwide. It is also the best-selling album of the 1990s and the first album by a Canadian artist to sell more than two million copies in Canada. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as the “undisputed queen of alt-rock angst,” Morissette has won 13 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards. She has sold 60 million albums worldwide, including Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), Under Rug Swept (2002) and Flavors of Entanglement (2008). Also an actor and activist, she is a member of the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame.

The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). It honours individuals or groups that have made an outstanding contribution to the international recognition of Canadian artists and music. Inductees are presented annually at the Juno Awards. 

Jackie Shane, singer (born 15 May 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee; died 22 February 2019 in Nashville). Jackie Shane was a pioneering transgender performer who was a prominent figure in Toronto’s R&B scene in the 1960s. Her cover of William Bell’s “Any Other Way” reached No. 2 on the CHUM singles chart in 1963. Her 1967 live album, Jackie Shane Live, was reissued in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize’s 1960–1970 Heritage Award. Any Other Way, an anthology album of songs from Shane’s career and monologues from her live shows, was released in 2017. It was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. Shane is featured in a mural on the side of a building in downtown Toronto commemorating the Yonge Street music scene of the 1960s.

Robert Edward Creech, French hornist, teacher, administrator (born 26 September 1928 in Victoria, BC; died 20 December 2019 in Quilty, Ireland). Robert Creech was a successful musician, educator and arts administrator. He performed with symphony orchestras across Canada, taught at the University of Western Ontario and served as an administrator in Canada, England and Ireland.

Wesley Williams (a.k.a. Maestro Fresh Wes, Maestro), rapper, actor, author, motivational speaker (born 31 March 1968 in Toronto, ON). A pioneering hip-hop recording artist, Maestro Fresh Wes is often regarded as the “godfather of Canadian hip hop.” His debut album, Symphony in Effect (1989), was the first album by a Black Canadian artist to be certified platinum in Canada. It yielded the hit single “Let Your Backbone Slide,” one of the most successful and influential Canadian songs of all time. In 2019, it became the first rap song to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Maestro has been nominated for 13 Juno Awards and won two, including the inaugural award for Rap Recording of the Year in 1991. He was named No. 1 on CBC Music’s 2013 list of the greatest Canadian rappers. He has become a successful actor, author and motivational speaker while remaining a prominent figure in Canadian hip hop.

Jully Ann Inderia Gordon, singer, songwriter, actor, TV personality (born 8 November 1977 in Toronto, ON). Known as “Canada’s Queen of R&B,” Jully Black is an award-winning R&B and soul singer-songwriter. In 2013, CBC Music named her one of the 25 Greatest Canadian Singers Ever. Her rich and soulful alto voice has garnered comparisons to Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse. Her album Revival (2007) was certified gold in Canada and won the Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. She has written songs for Destiny’s Child, Nas, Sean Paul and Missy Elliott, among others, and started her own recording, management and publishing company. Black has appeared on stage in productions of trey anthony’s play Da Kink in My Hair and Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change. She is also a popular television host and panel guest. 

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.