Chris Brown and Kate Fenner were a

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

duo, consisting of vocalist Kate Fenner and multi-instrumentalist

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

, who were active from 1996 to 2005."Former Bourbons making mark as a duo". ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published four days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postm ...

'', June 20, 1998. Although based primarily in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, both Brown and Fenner are Canadians and the group remained intimately connected to the Canadian music scene.

History

Brown and Fenner were founding members of the Canadian

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

group

Bourbon Tabernacle Choir The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir were a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in 1985 in Toronto. History The band consisted of vocalist Kate Fenner, vocalist and organist Chris Brown, vocalist and guitarist Andrew Whiteman, guitarist Chris M ...

in the 1980s. That band moved to New York City following their 1995 album ''Shy Folk'' in an attempt to break into the larger American market, but broke up soon afterward, with most members returning home to Toronto. Brown and Fenner opted to stay in New York City, and continued writing and performing as a duo. They released their debut album ''Other People's Heavens'' in 1997, and toured extensively in the United States as an opening act for

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

and in Canada as an opening act for

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. Brown also spent some time as a supporting musician in

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

, during

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's hiatus from the band for cancer treatment; he and Fenner simultaneously played some dates together as an opener for Barenaked Ladies during that tour. They then released ''Geronimo'' in 1999, and supported the album with further touring both on their own and as an opening act for

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

's ''Music @ Work'' tour in 2000,"Tragically Hip greeted with full-swing singalong". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', June 24, 2000. also participating as supporting musicians in the Hip's headlining sets. During that tour, they also performed some separate live club dates during which they recorded the live album ''Great Lakes Bootleg'', which was released in December 2000. They recorded their next album, 2001's ''O Witness'', at The Tragically Hip's

Bathouse Recording Studio Bathouse Recording Studio is a recording facility located in Bath, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Many influential albums have been recorded there by artists such as The Tragically Hip, S ...

. In the same year Brown organized the compilation album '' GASCD'', which featured musical and spoken word tracks as a fundraiser to cover the legal costs of the

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activists who had been arrested at the Quebec City Summit of the Americas earlier in the year."Protest pop as it used to be". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', December 27, 2001. The album included Brown and Fenner's own song "How You Gonna Bring Your Children to God?" In 2001 and 2002, Brown and Fenner played a number of concert dates to promote the album and raise additional funds, along with artists including

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

Sarah Harmer Sarah Lois Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musical lifestyle as a teenager, when her older s ...

Jason Collett Jason Robert Collett is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. He has released six solo studio albums, and is a former member of Broken Social Scene. Early life Collett was born in Bramalea, Ontario, Bramalea, a Greater Toronto Area ...

, Barenaked Ladies and

Rheostatics Rheostatics are a Canadian indie rock band. They were formed in 1978, and actively performed from 1980 until disbanding in 2007. After a number of reunion performances at special events, Rheostatics reformed in late 2016, introducing new songs a ...

, and activist speakers including

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and

Naomi Klein Naomi Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses; support of ecofeminism, organized labour, and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism and Criticism of capitalism, ca ...

. In 2003 they released ''Songs'', a two-CD rerelease of the by then out of print ''Other People's Heavens'' and ''Geronimo'', along with a non-album track, "Resist War", which was distributed as a free Internet download. At the same time, Brown and Fenner each released solo albums, although their tour to support the albums was still undertaken as a duo. They released their sixth and final album as a duo, ''Go On'', in 2004."Citizens band together: With Kate Fenner in tow, Chris Brown returns to Wolfe Island". ''

'', August 6, 2005. Following ''Go On'' they stopped recording under the Chris Brown and Kate Fenner name, instead each pursuing solo careers, although they continued to collaborate on each other's recordings and in live performances. In 2005 they were commissioned to write "Chansons du Salamandre", a song cycle supporting

Mystery on Fifth Avenue "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" is the title of a ''New York Times'' article written by Penelope Green in June 2008 about a mystery apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The apartment, a 4,200-square-foot luxury co-op formerly inhabited by Marjorie ...

project; the song "Salamandre" was covered by Sarah Harmer on her album '' I'm a Mountain''.

Discography

* ''Other People's Heavens'' – 1997 * ''Geronimo'' – 1999 * ''Great Lakes Bootleg'' – 2000 * ''O Witness'' – 2001 * ''Songs'' – 2003 * ''Go On'' – 2004

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.chrisandkate.com Canadian folk rock groups Folk rock duos Male–female musical duos Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups from Toronto Rock music groups from New York City Canadian musical duos