|
SHIRLEY EIKHARD
SONGWRITER / VOCALIST / MUSICIAN
At the stage when most children are getting ready
for high school, Shirley Eikhard was playing live and
writing songs. Songs that would soon catch the attention of Anne Murray and
Chet Atkins, resulting in cuts by both illustrious
artists. Her first album, simply entitled
"Shirley Eikhard", was released in 1972 on
Capitol Records and garnered a Juno Award for Best Country Vocalist.
Shirley again won the prestigious Juno in 1973 for Best Country
Vocalist.
In 1982, she launched her own record label,
Eika Records, and began to take control of her music and career.
She quit live performances in 1986 and focused her considerable energy and
talent on songwriting. Soon her songs were all over the radio, recorded by
artists like Alannah Myles ("Kickstart My Heart", a
collaboration with three other writers), two songs by Emmylou
Harris and Bonnie Raitt, whose rendition
of "Something To Talk About" won a Grammy Award.
Cher recorded a Shirley Eikhard song which appears on
both her Not Commercial CD (2000) as well as THE VERY BEST OF CHER
(2003).
One of Quebec's finest vocalists,
Ginette Reno, recorded three of Shirley songs and
included them on several Cd compilations as well as Ginette's first english CD
in the late 90's called "Love Is All".
In 1995, Shirley began to record again, cutting the
album, "If I Had My Way". This disc illustrated
Shirley's ability to write and record successfully in many genres, from jazz to
blues to pop. In 1996, she followed up with "The
Jazz Sessions", resulting in a lifelong
dream of working in the jazz tradition. She followed that album with
"Going Home" which was distributed internationally by
Blue Note Records and which won her a Best Jazz Performance Award at the East
Coast Music Awards in Canada.
| |
Two years of
performing her music live gave her the impetus to write and
record "The Last Hurrah" (2000), an impressive CD
featuring some of Canada's finest jazz musicians. A song from this CD,
"Tomorrow Is A Lonely Place" won First Prize in the Jazz
Category in the 2001 USA International Songwriting Competition.
"End Of The Day" was
recorded and released in 2001 and is a CD that was completely instrumental (with
the exception of one vocal track) and on which Shirley played all the
instruments, including guitar, piano, drums, bass, sax, percussion and chromatic
harmonica.
Since The Last Hurrah, Shirley has
recorded "Stay Open" (2003)
which edges slightly out of the straight jazz vocal territory she's been
exploring lately and offers some pop-tinged songs that demonstrate her
well-honed songwriting skills and instrumental ability.
In 2005, as a 50th birthday gift to herself,
Shirley recorded two CDs; "Pop" and
"Country", featuring her personal favourite songs that
she has written over the years and for the first time, "Country"
includes her own version of her award-winning "Something To Talk
About".
"The year, 2006, saw the release of an EP, The Holidays Are Here containing two new holiday originals, in the pop/jazz vein. And in early 2007, Shirley being as prolific as ever, released another full-length CD this time, Stuck In This Groove.
Presently, Shirley is enjoying tremendous success with Riding On The 65, a CD inspired by her love of Bossa Nova, in honour of the 50th anniversary of Bossa Nova's birth."
As a singer and songwriter, Shirley Eikhard has a
real command of the breadth of modern musical styles. And her voice, dusky, sensual and full of emotion,
puts her at the top of her field. It all adds up to the perfect
package: great songs, great arrangements, great vocals.
Shirley Eikhard is the real deal.
|
