Shirley Eikhard

Shirley Rose Eikhard (7 November 1955 – 15 December 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Although moderately successful in Canada as a performer in her own right, she had her greatest Canadian and international success as a songwriter for other artists, most notably as the writer of Bonnie Raitt's 1991 hit "Something to Talk About".

Early life Eikhard was born in Sackville, New Brunswick. Her mother, June Eikhard (born Marguerite Cameron in Moncton) began her musical career with her husband, Eikhard's late father, bassist Cecil Eikhard, in the 1950s when both parents were members of a small local band, the Tantramar Ramblers. Her mother, June, released her debut album, Canada's First Lady of the Fiddle, in 1959, and was the first woman to participate in the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers' Contest. Following her 1987 album Taking Charge for WEA Records, a period which she would later describe as the nadir of her life, her prominence in the music industry had significantly declined, and she had started to pursue background extra work in film and television to support herself. despite the song not being on Murray's album, it was still titled Something to Talk About. In 1991, Bonnie Raitt recorded the song and released it as the lead-off single for her album Luck of the Draw. The biggest chart hit for both Eikhard and Raitt, the song had significant airplay throughout the 1990s. The song earned Raitt a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1991, with the album earning Raitt a second Grammy that year. In Canada, "Something to Talk About" earned Eikhard a Juno nomination as Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1992, and later a SOCAN Classics award. her songs were also recorded by artists such as Quartette ("It's Just a Little Rain") and Cher ("Born with the Hunger"). She sang the theme song to the movie The Passion of Ayn Rand, "Love Is, Love Is Not". "Lovers Forever", a song she originally wrote with Cher for the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, is featured on Cher's 2013 studio album Closer to the Truth.

In 1995, she recorded a new album, If I Had My Way, co-produced with her long-standing keyboard player Evelyne Datl. headlining her own concert special in 1998 as an episode of Bravo!'s Live at the Rehearsal Hall.

Eikhard released her final album, On My Way to You in October 2021. It featured the song "Anything Is Possible", about her recent diagnosis with cancer.

Eikhard died of cancer in Orangeville, Ontario on 15 December 2022, at the age of 67.

Awards and recognition 1973: winner, Juno Award for Best Country Female Artist 1974: winner, Juno Award for Best Country Female Artist 1992: nominee, Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year 2020: inducted, Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame

Discography

Albums Year TitleCAN 1972 Shirley Eikhard 58 1975 Child of the Present 1976 Let Me Down Easy 1977 Horizons 1987 Taking Charge 1995 If I Had My Way 1996 The Jazz Sessions 1998 Going Home 1999 The Last Hurrah 2001 End of the Day 2003 Stay Open 2005 Country Pop 2006 The Holidays Are Here 2007 Stuck in This Groove 2008 Riding on the 65 2012 Dream of a Perfect Day 2021On My Way to You

Singles Year Title Chart Positions Album CAN CAN AC CAN Country 1971 "It Takes Time" — 7 33 Shirley Eikhard "Something in Your Face" — 2 11 1972 "Smiling Wine" 49 1 1 1973 "Right on Believing" — — 40 single only 1974 "Rescue Me" 87 70 98 1975 "Play a Little Bit Longer" 72 18 — Child of the Present 1976 "I Just Wanted You to Know" 77 18 — "Say You Love Me" 34 4 — Let Me Down Easy 1977 "Let Me Down Easy" 64 20 — "Someday Soon" — 21 —Horizons "Don't Let Me Down" 76 19 — 1983 "Something That Lasts" — 22 —Taking Charge 1986 "It's Understood" — 27 — 1987 "You're My Weakness" — 25 — 1995 "Take the Fall" — 30 51 If I Had My Way2021"Anything is Possible"On My Way to You