Canadian R&B Singers Get Grammy Nods…But No Love In Canada

February 13th, 2013 by Guest Contributor

There are, however, a few black Canadian R&B artists like Jully Black, Keisha Chanté, and Divine Brown who have managed to achieve moderate levels of success in Canada, performing across the country and in places you don’t really associate with “urban music,” like Saskatchewan. But having said that, Black’s music has become slightly more pop over the years, and Brown’s sound feels more like jazz than R&B at times and, as a result, they get mainstream radio play. Most people probably know who they are while traditional R&B artists, like Tamia and Fiona, singing slow songs and love ballads with a few “baby, baby, baby” lines thrown in for good measure are consistently ignored by these same stations.

For over a year now, the only radio station in the country that seems willing, able, and ready to play R&B music is Toronto’s CKFG-FM G.987. While there are other stations across the country that play “urban music” such as Calgary’s CIBK-FM Vibe 98.5 and Vancouver’s CFBT-FM The Beat 94.5, both still follow a Top-40 format. Founded by broadcaster Fitzroy Gordon, who spent more than six years fighting both the government regulator for Canadian radio, TV, film, and telecom, the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission  (CRTC), as well as the country’s public-service broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which challenged the station because its frequency was too close to its 99.1-FM in Toronto. G.987 eventually got its license and, since then, has been devoted to what it calls a “black music format,” which, in addition to R&B, includes Soul, Reggae, Soca, Hip-Hop, Gospel, African, and Smooth Jazz.

Because G.987 is still in its infancy, it’s too early to say what will happen (i.e. if it will go the way of the previous “urban station” CFXJ-FM a.k.a. FLOW which eventually turned into a pop station), but from the outside looking in, the “black music format” appears to be appealing to a diverse listening demographic, not just black people. But that raises another question: why should Canadian R&B only be heard on a black-owned station?

Above everything else, people like talented singers. The recent kerfuffle over Beyoncé lip-syncing the U.S. national anthem at Obama’s Inauguration is testament to that fact. And when it comes to talent, Canada’s R&B singers can throw down with the best of them. So, now that we have artists being nominated for Grammys on a regular basis–and a list of talent to draw from–it’s about time the Tamias and the Melanie Fionas of the country get some love from all outlets, not just the “urban” one.

Cheryl Thompson is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Art History & Communication Studies, McGill University. Her dissertation is an historical analysis of Canada’s black beauty culture and the politics of race and representation. She has previously published articles in the Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, and Chart Magazine.

Bonus: Five Canadian R&B Songs You Should Check Out

Melanie Fiona, “Ay Yo”

Jully Black, “I Travelled”

Divine Brown, “Lay It on the Line”

Deborah Cox, “Sentimental”

Ivana Santilli & Glenn Lewis, “If Ever I Fall Pt. 2″

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Posted in black, celebrities, eurocentric, music, race & representations | 5 comments

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  • Rochelle

    Super interesting.

  • Charles J

    Tamia, Melonie Fiona, Deborah Cox are amazing singers. I hope each of them will get Grammy soon.

  • jerrica santos

    I totally agree with you Charles. Tamia and Fiona are very good singers. They both will get the Grammy award soon.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000709864513 Michelle Kirkwood

    Forgot Tamia was Canadian—I’ve always liked her powerful and underrated voice (“Stranger In My House” is a great song by her,and one of her biggest hits) ever since I heard her debut on a Quincy Jones album back in the day.) Wondered what happened to both Glenn Lewis (Don’t You Forget it is a classic,bar none) and a white R&B Canadian singer named Remy Shand, who put out a marvelous CD called THE WAY I FEEL back in 2002—–neither one of them have been able to come out with a follow-up to their 1st hits to this day, which is a shame—this pretty much explains why neither one of them has had the career they should have had. I do remember reading an online article some time ago related to Glenn Lewis mentioning how there were few R&B stations in Canada, and how the first ones began to pop up. Also gotta mention another R&B/hip-hop influenced Canadian artist I love named Esthero, who put out a classic CD called BREATH FROM ANOTHER back in 1997 (it was barely promoted here in the U.S,though) but due to record company issues,her sophomore CD (which I also have) wouldn’t come out until 2004. Sadly, she still has yet to put out anything else under her name to this day (next to scads of collaborations with other artists.)

    Question–if that’s how R&B is treated in the Great White North, then how is hip-hop treated? I notice that Canadian rappers such as Drake and K’naan (who’s finally blowing up here with a fun recent hit) establishing a foothold here. There’s a really good Canadian radio show on NPR called Q on which interviews primarily musicians that are unknown here in the U.S. (such as a rapper named K–os I’ve never heard of, who just dropped a half-rap/half-rock CD) in the U.S. I also read a thorough and interesting article a couple of years back about why Canadian rap as a whole never really crossed over into the U.S—(something I never understood, being a hip-hop fan and having heard some Canadian rappers I liked back in the day) it was because of the different points of cultural references bwt black Canadians and black Americans—I need to look that up again. Good article,though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000709864513 Michelle Kirkwood

    OH. and co-sign on Deborah Cox and the equally amazing voice of Melanie Fiona (Fool For You was an incredibly huge U.S.hit on the R&B back in 2009—plus it’s an incredible old-school flavored song!)