Elizabeth Shepherd

Elizabeth Shepherd is a Canadian pianist, singer, songwriter and producer.

Early life Born in 1977, Shepherd is the daughter of two ministers of The Salvation Army. From an early age, she grew up on choral music, brass bands and classical music. She studied classical piano at conservatories in Canada and France, then came to jazz through old school hiphop, to eventually complete a degree in jazz piano from McGill University in Montreal after considering a career in music therapy.

Career In 2004, Shepherd moved to Toronto and worked as a waitress at a piano bar. She began performing, and became a regular entertainer at the restaurant. She formed The Elizabeth Shepherd Trio with Scott Kemp on bass and Colin Kingsmore on drums. In 2006, she recorded her debut album, Start to Move, which was voted among the top three jazz albums of 2006 by the listeners of The Gilles Peterson Show on BBC Radio 1. The album was nominated for a Juno Award in 2007.

Heavy Falls the Night (2010) featured only one cover song, a reworking of "Danny's Song". Shepherd produced the album with the exception of the first single, "Seven Bucks", which was co-produced with Japanese DJ Mitsu the Beats and climbed to No. 37 on the "Tokio Hot 100" chart. The album was long listed for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.

In 2012, the choice of songs for her album Rewind was influenced by her pregnancy. The album consisted of jazz-pop cover versions of traditional pop songs by Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers, Kurt Weill, and José Luis Perales. Rewind was dedicated to her daughter and was nominated for the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2012.

Shepherd's album The Signal (2014) consisted of ten original songs on topics as varied as motherhood, Monsanto, witchcraft, and war, and featured guests such as Benin-born guitarist and composer Lionel Loueke and drummer Larnell Lewis. Real Detroit Weekly has called her "a jazz virtuoso blessed with a pop sensibility", while Mojo Magazine has described her as "wholly unique - an unclassifiable style that blurs the boundaries between jazz, R&B, pop, and hip hop". and received a 2023 Word Guild award for her book, 'MONTREAL'.

Discography Start to Move (Do Right, 2006) Besides (Do Right, 2007) Parkdale (Do Right, 2008) Heavy Falls the Night (Do Right, 2010) Rewind (Pinwheel/Linus Entertainment 2012) The Signal (Linus, 2014), feat. Lionel Loueke MONTREAL (Pinwheel Music, 2019) Three Things (Pinwheel Music, 2023), feat. Jasper Hoiby