Suzanne Elizabeth Ungerleider, who formerly wrote and performed under the name Oh Susanna, is an American-Canadian

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

singer-songwriter from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, British Columbia.

Career

Ungerleider chose to perform under the name Oh Susanna, alluding to the classic American folk song "

Oh! Susanna "Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), first published in 1848. It is among the most popular American songs ever written. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all ti ...

", rather than her given name as a means of keeping her private and professional lives separate. She initially wanted to be a somewhat theatrical performer. "I had this notion, okay I'm going to try and wear these vintage clothes and I play this old Stella guitar, which is like this mail order guitar that blues guys used to play," said Ungerleider. She played her first show under the name Oh Susanna at the Railway Club in Vancouver in July 1995, and released her first independent recording, a seven-song EP, in 1997. At approximately this time, she decided to relocate to Toronto after attending

Blue Rodeo Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country 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, a ...

's Stardust Picnic festival. In 1999, she released her full-length debut, ''Johnstown'', and toured Canada and the United States with fellow musicians

Veda Hille Veda Hille (born August 11, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, keyboardist and tenor guitar player from Vancouver, British Columbia. She writes songs about love and tragedy, as well as about topical British Columbia subjects. ...

and

Kinnie Starr Alida Kinnie Starr (born 1970) is a Canadian multidisciplinary recording artist. Early life Starr was born and raised in Calgary, where she attended Western Canada High School. Her ancestry is French, German, Irish and indigenous, specificall ...

, in what they dubbed the "Scrappy Bitch Tour". At the

19th Genie Awards The 19th Genie Awards were held on February 4, 1999 to honour Canadian films released in 1998. It marked only the second time in the 1990s, after the 16th Genie Awards in January 1996, that the awards were held in the winter of the year ''followin ...

in 1999, she won the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

for Best Original Song, for her song "River Blue" from the film '' The Fishing Trip''. She has since released eight more albums, ''Sleepy Little Sailor'' (2001), ''Oh Susanna'' (2003), ''Short Stories'' (2007), ''Soon the Birds'' (2011), ''Namedropper'' (2014), ''A Girl in Teen City'' (2017) and ''Decemberly''(2018) a holiday EP with Michael Johnston. Her recordings have featured guest musicians

Luke Doucet Luke Doucet (born June 9, 1973) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has written and performed as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock band Veal and the folk rock band Whitehorse. In 2006 and 2011, Doucet was nominated ...

, Justin Rutledge, Burke Carroll, Bazil Donovan and

Jim Cuddy James Gordon Cuddy, (born December 2, 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter primarily associated with the band Blue Rodeo. Early life and education Cuddy was born in Toronto, Ontario. His Mother Jean Cuddy was an English teacher at Monarch Pa ...

Ruth Moody Ruth Moody is an Australian-born soprano singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. Biography Moody grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with her parents, Charles and Marcelline, and three siblings, older brothe ...

The Wailin' Jennys The Wailin' Jennys are a Canadian music group. They have released several albums and received two Juno Awards. The group has been featured several times on the American Public Media program ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and their album ''Fire ...

, and members of

Weeping Tile A weeping tile (also called a drain tile or perimeter tileGradwell, John B., and Malcolm Welch. ''Technology--shaping our world''. South Holland, Ill.: Goodheart-Willcox, 1991. 116. Print.) is a porous pipe used for underground water collection ...

. Of the inspiration for her songs, Ungerleider has said "A lot of that stuff comes from other people who have told me things. Some of its totally made up". She also says that her Western Canadian upbringing has inspired some of her lyrics. In 2012, Ungerleider announced that she intended to obtain

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in ...

. Plans to begin recording a new album were sidetracked in 2013 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, she has undergone treatment for that, and released the album, ''Namedropper'' on October 7, 2014. Her next project ''A Girl in Teen City'' was released in 2017. The album is an autobiographical depiction of herself in her youth "in search of identity, falling in love, getting drunk, having her heart broken, hanging out with friends in bedrooms, basements and parking lots, sneaking into shows in burnt out warehouses, watching the waves, walking home over bridges and railroad tracks in all that endless rain." In 2019, Ungerleider marked the 20th anniversary of her critically acclaimed debut album ''Johnstown'' by releasing a remastered version of the album on

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

(April 13). In 2020, she released a deluxe edition reissue of her 2001 album ''Sleepy Little Sailor''. In 2021, she announced that she was retiring the Oh Susanna stage name, after learning more about the complicated racial history of the song "Oh! Susanna".

Personal life

Ungerleider was born in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

but raised in Vancouver. Her father, Charles, is a professor at Vancouver's

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Her mother, Mary, is a documentary film editor In 2019 she moved back to Vancouver where she resides with husband/drummer Cam Giroux and their child who was born in 2005.

Discography

Studio albums

; As Oh Susanna * 1997 – ''Oh Susanna'' ( EP) * 1999 – ''Johnstown'' * 2001 – ''Sleepy Little Sailor'' * 2003 – ''Oh Susanna'' * 2007 – ''Short Stories'' * 2011 – ''Soon the Birds'' * 2014 – ''Namedropper'' * 2017 – ''A Girl in Teen City'' * 2018 – ''Decemberly'' (with Michael Johnston) (EP) ; As Suzie Ungerleider * 2021 – ''My Name Is Suzie Ungerleider''

Contributions

* ''The Fishing Trip'' ( film) (1998,

Mongrel Media Mongrel Media is an independent Canadian film distributor established in 1994 by Hussain Amarshi. It is the exclusive Canadian theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures Classics, Neon, and Lionsgate and titles from A24, Amazon Studios, Saban Fi ...

) – "River Blue" * ''

Maybe This Christmas Too? ''Maybe This Christmas Too?'' is a holiday compilation album released in October 2003 through Nettwerk Records featuring contemporary musicians performing both classic and original Christmas songs. The compilation served as a sequel to '' Maybe ...

'' (2003,

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

) – " Go Tell It On the Mountain" * ''

Great Canadian Song Quest ''Great Canadian Song Quest'' is a Canadian songwriting contest, presented by CBC Music. The competition has been presented in three editions to date, in 2009, 2010 and 2013. 2009 edition For the inaugural installation of Great Canadian Song Quest ...

'' (2009,

CBC Records CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest h ...

/ iTunes) – "Tough City"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ungerleider, Suzie American emigrants to Canada Canadian alternative country singers Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian country singer-songwriters Best Original Song Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Living people Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts People from Northampton, Massachusetts Canadian Folk Music Award winners Canadian women country singers 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers Year of birth missing (living people)