Catriona Sturton (born June 8, 1976) is an
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Ontario–based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has had a prolific career, performing in bands such as
Plumtree
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Plums are ...
and collaborating with artists like
Joel Plaskett
William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of gen ...
,
Al Tuck
Al Tuck (born December 23, 1966), is a Canadian songwriter and folksinger from Prince Edward Island who has spent much of his career based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Early life
Tuck was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, the son of editoria ...
,
the late Dutchy Mason, the Mighty Popo and members of
Sloan and
Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, and colla ...
.
History
Sturton got her start at an early age when her parents put her into classical violin lessons for eight years. In her teens, while shopping for some fiddle music, she saw a harmonica and bought it. This led to a passion for the Blues, and she quickly acquired proficiency with the instrument. Her adolescence was spent under the tutelage of local Ottawa harp legend Larry "The Bird" Mootham and performing in and around Ottawa at various blues bars such as The Whipping Post, The Rainbow and Tucson's.
As a young adult Sturton left Ottawa to study History at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. While there she learned to play the bass guitar and joined the indie
all-female band
An all-female band is a musical ensemble, musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universa ...
Plumtree. With the band she released and recorded two albums, won a
YTV Achievement Award and toured extensively around Canada with others, like Thrush Hermit and the Weakerthans. Plumtree also inspired the comic series entitled "
Scott Pilgrim
''Scott Pilgrim'' is a series of graphic novels by Canadian author and comic book artist Bryan Lee O'Malley. The original edition of the series consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by P ...
," named after their hit song. She claims that she used the experience to cut her teeth on the rigours of songwriting, traveling, marketing and other aspects of being a touring musician.
In 2000 Sturton moved to Japan to teach English.
[ While there she met Sonnet Bingham from Arizona. Together with two locals they started The Secret, a bilingual J-Pop influenced Garage band, and toured Japan and Canada. The experience gave Sturton the confidence to write and sing her own songs. During her time in Japan she was greatly influenced by the ]shamisen
The , also known as or
(all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi.
The Japanese pronunciation is usually b ...
.[
]
Current musical projects
The first instrument Sturton studied seriously was the harmonica. During her teen years, she wanted to be a professional blues harp player and since then, has studied with Larry "The Bird" Mootham and Cuban-Canadian harmonica virtuoso Carlos del Junco.[ In 2013 Sturton quit her job with a non-profit literary foundation that required her to travel across Canada to focus on her solo music career and follow her passion for playing harmonica. To date she has performed on stage with ]Neko Case
Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...
, Dutch Mason and Paul Oscher
Paul Allan Oscher (February 26, 1947 – April 18, 2021) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Primarily a harmonica player, he was the first permanent white member of Muddy Waters' band.Norman Darwen, "Obituary: Paul ...
, and performs regularly with Ottawa blues singer and guitarist John Carroll.
Selected discography
*2024: ''Night Bell'' - JMI Recordings
See also
*Plumtree (band)
Plumtree was a Canadian indie rock/power pop band formed in 1993 in Halifax which consisted of sisters Carla and Lynette Gillis, Amanda Braden, Nina Martin, and later Catriona Sturton. The band achieved moderate success during their seven years ...
*Scott Pilgrim
''Scott Pilgrim'' is a series of graphic novels by Canadian author and comic book artist Bryan Lee O'Malley. The original edition of the series consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by P ...
References
External links
*Plumtree
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Plums are ...
on Allmusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturton, Catriona
1976 births
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Canadian women singer-songwriters
Canadian rock singers
Canadian pop singers
Canadian blues singers
20th-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
Singers from Ottawa
Canadian harmonica players
21st-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
Canadian women accordionists
20th-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian guitarists
Canadian folk singer-songwriters
Canadian indie rock musicians
Canadian blues guitarists
20th-century Canadian women singers
21st-century Canadian accordionists
21st-century Canadian women singers
20th-century Canadian women guitarists
21st-century Canadian women guitarists
20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters
21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters