Michelle McAdorey is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario. She was a member of the 1990s band
Crash Vegas
Crash Vegas was a Canadian folk rock band which formed in 1988, and achieved moderate success in the early 1990s.
Biography
The band was formed by Michelle McAdorey and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo in 1988, who were also in a romantic relationsh ...
, and now performs and records as a
solo artist
In music, a solo () is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, a continuo group (in Baroque music) ...
.
Early life
McAdorey was born in Toronto. She is the niece of Canadian television personality
Bob McAdorey
Robert Joseph McAdorey (July 24, 1935 – February 5, 2005) was a Canadian television and radio broadcaster, most noted for his roles as a radio DJ for Toronto radio station CHUM in the 1960s, and as an entertainment reporter for the Global Televi ...
.
Career
In the early 1980s, McAdorey lived in the United Kingdom, where she was briefly a
backup singer
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
for
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl (, ; 10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter. The daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl, she recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop ...
, singing on MacColl's 1981 record ''
Desperate Character
''Desperate Character'' is the first solo album of British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released in 1981. The album was re-released in March 1985 as ''Kirsty MacColl'', with three tracks replaced with other songs. The album has been remaste ...
'', where she was credited as Blanche McAdorey. While there, she joined a new wave band called Cold Fish. CBS Canada released the record and changed the name of the band to Corect Spelling without the band's consent. Although the band received widespread exposure for their debut single, "Love Me Today", produced by
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...
, the band broke up after receiving poor support from their label.
McAdorey eventually moved back to Toronto, where she wrote songs with
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 ...
's
Greg Keelor
James Gregory Keelor, (born Francis McIntyre; August 29, 1954) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as a member of the band Blue Rodeo, where he shares song writing and vocal duties with Jim Cuddy. Keelor has also rele ...
, and appeared in the video for Blue Rodeo's hit single " Try".
McAdorey and Keelor later formed the band
Crash Vegas
Crash Vegas was a Canadian folk rock band which formed in 1988, and achieved moderate success in the early 1990s.
Biography
The band was formed by Michelle McAdorey and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo in 1988, who were also in a romantic relationsh ...
; they recruited Jocelyne Lanois and drummer Ambrose Pottie to complete the group. Some of the songs she had written with Keelor were included in that band's 1990 debut album, ''
Red Earth Red Earth may refer to:
Music
*Red Earth (band), a Native American rock band from Albuquerque, New Mexico
* ''Red Earth'' (Crash Vegas album), a 1989 album by Crash Vegas
* ''Red Earth'' (Dee Dee Bridgewater album), a 2007 album by Dee Dee Bridge ...
''. McAdorey was awarded the 1990 Socan Songwriter of the year award for the song "Inside Out" off of the album Red Earth. Crash Vegas was also nominated for a Juno in the same year. Crash Vegas went on to release two more albums, ''Stone'' in 1993, for which McAdorey was the main songwriter, and ''Aurora'' in 1995.
Crash Vegas disbanded in 1996. In 2000, McAdorey released her solo debut, ''Whirl''. The same year, she appeared on
Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiz ...
'', co-writing and lending her vocals to the title track. In 2003 McAdorey released ''Love Don't Change'' with Eric Chenaux. The two had played together for years and this recording was a document of their live playing to date. In 2013 McAdorey released a single on Peterborough label Seventh Fire as part of a limited edition 7" vinyl club.
Her latest solo album, ''Into Her Future'', was released on 30 October 2015 via DWR, and was longlisted for the