Suzie McNeil
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| Suzie McNeil | |
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| File:Suzie McNeil cropped.jpg
Suzie McNeil in April 2011
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Susan Jane McNeil |
| Born | October 15, 1976 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, television singing competition judge |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboard |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Curve Universal Music Canada 604 Records |
| Associated acts | Loving Mary, Jerome Godboo, INXS, Marti Frederiksen |
| Website | suziemcneil.com |
Susan Jane "Suzie" McNeil is a Canadian pop rock singer and songwriter. After garnering attention as a contestant on Rock Star: INXS in 2005, McNeil began pursuing a musical career and released her debut album, Broken & Beautiful, on April 10, 2007.[1] Its second single, "Believe" was re-recorded with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in support of Canada's Own the Podium campaign, and served as the official anthem of the Canadian team for the 2010 Winter Olympics.[2][3] McNeil performed alongside Theory of a Deadman and Andrée Watters at the halftime show of the 96th Grey Cup.[4] Her second studio album, Rock-n-Roller (2008), spawned the successful single "Supergirl", a cover of the Saving Jane song. In 2011, McNeil signed with Canadian label 604 Records and enjoyed mainstream success with the songs "Drama Queen" and "Merry Go Round". They preceded the release of her third studio album, Dear Love, which came out on August 7, 2012.
After a two-year hiatus from her solo career, in 2014 McNeil teamed up with Elisha Hoffman, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and Marti Frederiksen to form the country rock quartet Loving Mary.[5] They have recorded an EP to be released soon, and have reportedly written enough songs for a full-length album to follow shortly thereafter.
Biography
Early life
Suzie McNeil was born Susan Jane McNeil on October 15, 1976 in Mississauga, Ontario. She has two sisters, Laura Norris and Sarah McNeil, and a brother, Andrew McNeil.
Personal life
McNeil dated band mate, Canadian musician Sean Cotton, while competing on Rockstar INXS. They were exclusive for several years before she moved to pursue her musical career. McNeil briefly dated screen actor Scott Walters in 2007 after the pair met working on We Will Rock You; they got engaged that summer, but ended up separating.[3] On October 14, 2013 McNeil became engaged to musician Andrew McTaggart while in Las Vegas celebrating her birthday.[6] The pair moved to Nashville, TN in early 2014 and married on June 7, 2014.[7]
Career
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2006—2007: Career beginnings and Broken & Beautiful
In 2005, McNeil was a contestant on Rock Star: INXS, finishing fourth overall in the competition. In January 2006, McNeil moved to Los Angeles, to develop her music career. On January 26, 2006 she announced plans to record her first CD with Executive Producer John Kalodner and Producer Marti Frederiksen. In the summer of 2006, McNeil performed as a backup singer for Pink on her North American tour.
McNeil's first single, "Believe" was featured on NBC's promo for "The Biggest Loser" reality weight-loss show as well as throughout season four of Beauty and the Geek. The song was exclusively debuted by "King Ben's Injection of Perfection" in Sydney on September 9, 2006, to positive reaction. The single was also used to raise funds for Own the Podium at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Her debut studio album, Broken & Beautiful, was released on April 10, 2007. McNeil also appears on Matt Nathanson's album Some Mad Hope. She sings background vocals on the songs "Sooner Surrender" and "Bulletproof Weeks." She also appears on Clay Aiken's album A Thousand Different Ways as guest vocalist on "I Want to Know What Love Is", a cover of the Foreigner song.
McNeil's single "Hung Up" has gained significant radio airplay, especially in Canada. The music video was released to MuchMoreMusic on the week of February 19, 2007 and was uploaded to YouTube on February 10, 2007.
McNeil appeared as the character Oz in the Canadian production of "We Will Rock You" at the Canon Theater in Toronto until August 1, 2007.
2007—2010: Rock-N-Roller and Grey Cup
In May 2008, McNeil released her third music video, "Lonely (Are You Coming Home?)".
McNeil held a contest for all of her fans across Canada to sing her hit single "Believe" and post it on her website and viewers would vote for who shall win.
McNeil was one of the judges on the first four seasons of the children's Canadian reality TV show, The Next Star, on YTV, which premiered on July 18, 2008. She also recorded the theme song for the show, "Let's Go", and performed it on the show's first season finale at Canada's Wonderland in Toronto on September 28, 2008.
It was announced on October 13, 2008 during the Montreal Alouettes and Calgary Stampeders football game, that she would be one of the musical acts to play during 96th Grey Cup halftime show along with Theory Of A Deadman and Andrée Watters. The Grey Cup aired live on November 23, 2008.[8]
On November 4, 2008, McNeil released her second solo album Rock-n-Roller which featured her latest Top 20 hit "Let's Go". Re-released as a deluxe edition in 2009, Rock n Roller: Reloaded spawned two singles, "Supergirl" and "Help Me Out".
On March 28, 2009, McNeil headlined a concert held at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto to celebrate WWF's Earth Hour.
McNeil appears in commercials for Thrive lozenges to help quit smoking.
McNeil's song "Believe" was originally recorded and released on her debut CD, Broken & Beautiful. The Olympic inspired video for "Believe" was recorded with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and released on September 17, 2007. The video stars Canadian Olympians Steve Omischl (freestyle skiing - aerials), Joannie Rochette (figure skating), and Clara Hughes (speed skating).
McNeil appeared on Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo's second album The Truth.
2010—2012: Dear Love and This Is Christmas
McNeil began the "Dear Love" era in November 2010 releasing the first video "Drama Queen Intervention 1" via. her YouTube account. It was then later, McNeil released the "Drama Queen" lyric video following the iTunes release date in February 2011 and the official music video release on March 17.
Nearly five months later in July 2011, McNeil released the "Merry Go Round" lyric video via. her YouTube account once again following iTunes release and the official music video release on December 2. McNeil has performed in many venues with tracks from the third-coming album, Dear Love.
In February 2012 the album's third single "Tough Love" was released on radio. The single was released on iTunes in April.
On June 12, McNeil tweeted a photo of the official tracklisting of the upcoming third studio album Dear Love, released August 7, 2012. The following tracklisting is below. On June 25, McNeil revealed the official release date as well as the official album cover in a video on her YouTube channel. The official release date (for iTunes and in-stores) is August 7, 2012 with pre-sales beginning July 24 along with a promo tour throughout Canada.
During the promo tour, McNeil officially confirmed "Love Can't Save Us Now" as the official fourth single from the album Dear Love.
On November 1, 2012 McNeil confirmed she would be releasing a Christmas album titled "This Is Christmas" on November 20. The album would include her four original Christmas songs written over four years, as well as four covers of classic Christmas songs.
2013—present: Fourth solo album and Loving Mary
In 2013, McNeil began working on a duo project with previous songwriting collaborator Marti Frederiksen, which was reportedly intended to follow in the style of American country trio Lady Antebellum.[5] Instead, they teamed up with Grammy-winning country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard and songwriter Elisha Hoffman to form the band Loving Mary, which they envisioned as a sort of modern-day Fleetwood Mac.[5] The group's sound has been described as a combination of Americana, country, and rock n' roll.[5] An EP has been recorded with an expected release in early 2015, while a full-length album is in the final stages of recording.
In addition to her work with the band, McNeil confirmed through her Twitter account that she is also working on a fourth solo album, which is "already written".[9]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Broken & Beautiful |
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| Rock-n-Roller |
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| Dear Love |
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EPs
- Live Acoustic (2010)
- This is Christmas (2012)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [10] |
CAN AC [11] |
CAN Hot AC [12] |
|||
| 2007 | "Hung Up" | 55 | — | — | Broken & Beautiful |
| "Believe" | 61 | — | — | ||
| "Broken & Beautiful" | — | — | — | ||
| 2008 | "Lonely (Are You Coming Home?)" | — | — | — | |
| "Let's Go" | — | — | — | Rock-n-Roller (and Rock-n-Roller: Reloaded) |
|
| 2009 | "Supergirl" | 26 | — | 3 | |
| "Help Me Out" | — | — | 27 | ||
| 2011 | "Drama Queen" | 96 | — | 23 | Dear Love |
| "Merry Go Round" | 75 | 8 | 38 | ||
| 2012 | "Tough Love" | — | 25 | 38 | |
| "Love Can't Save Us Now" (featuring Faber Drive) |
— | 15 | — | ||
| 2015 | "The Best is Yet to Come"[13] | — | 36 | — | TBA |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
Other appearances
| Year | Title | Other artist(s) | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "God's Top Ten" | INXS | Switch[14] | Backing vocals |
| 2006 | "I Want to Know What Love Is" | Clay Aiken | A Thousand Different Ways[15] | Featured artist |
| ? | Jesse McCartney | Right Where You Want Me[16] | Backing vocals | |
| 2007 | "Bulletproof Weeks" | Matt Nathanson | Some Mad Hope[17] | |
| "Sooner Surrender" | ||||
| 2009 | ? | Foreigner | Can't Slow Down[18] | |
| 2010 | "Story of Us" | Brian Melo | The Truth[19] | Featured artist |
| 2011 | "(It) Feels So Good"[20] | Steven Tyler | N/A | Backing vocals |
| 2012 | "Ain't Got No Home" | Garth Hudson | Chest Fever: A Canadian Tribute to the Band[21] | Featured artist |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Juno Award for New Artist of the Year[22] | Broken and Beautiful | Nominated |
| Independent Music Award for Favourite Pop Artist[23] | N/A | Won | |
| Canadian Radio Music Award for Hot AC[24] | "Hung Up" | Nominated | |
| Canadian Radio Music Award for AC[24] | "Believe" |
References
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- ↑ Canada AC peak positions:
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- ↑ Canada Hot AC peak positions:
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Suzie's Official Website
- Suzie's MySpace
- Audio Interview recorded April 2007 in Toronto, Canada
- Suzie McNeil Official Fan Site
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