The Kelele Brothers
| Ron Sexsmith | |
|---|---|
Sexsmith in 2011
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Eldon Sexsmith |
| Born |
8 January 1964 St. Catharines, Ontario Canada |
| Genres | Pop, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter, and Author |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts |
The Uncool The Kelele Brothers |
| Website | ronsexsmith.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Taylor 812 | |
Ronald Eldon "Ron" Sexsmith (born 8 January 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2002 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own melancholic pop material in 1985 at age 21, and has since recorded fifteen albums. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary called Love Shines.
Sexsmith grew up in St. Catharines and started his own band when he was 14 years old.
Sexsmith was seventeen when he started playing at a bar, the Lion's Tavern, in his hometown. He gained a reputation as "The One-Man Jukebox" for his aptitude for playing requests. However, he gradually began to include original songs and more obscure music which his audience did not favour. He decided to start writing songs after the birth of his first child in 1985. That same year, still living in St. Catharines, he collaborated on recording and releasing a cassette, Out of the Duff, with a singer-songwriter friend named Claudio. Side one of the cassette contained five songs written and performed by Sexsmith; side two featured Claudio.
A year later, Sexsmith and his family moved to Toronto, living in an apartment in The Beaches neighbourhood. Still in 1986, Sexsmith recorded and released the full-length cassette There's a Way, which was produced by Kurt Swinghammer. Meanwhile, he worked as a courier, and befriended Bob Wiseman whom he met at an open stage. They became friends, and Wiseman agreed to produce and arrange Sexsmith's next release in between his tours with the band Blue Rodeo. Because of Wiseman's busy schedule, work on the album stretched out over several years.
After the album, Grand Opera Lane was rejected by several Canadian labels, the pair released it independently in 1991. Grand Opera Lane was credited to "Ron Sexsmith and the Uncool"; the backing band was Don Kerr and Steve Charles, and also featured Sarah McElcheran (horn arrangements) and Kim Ratcliffe on electric guitar. On the strength of this album, and the attention garnered by the song "Speaking with the Angel", Sexsmith earned a contract which led to his self-titled album in 1995. The album was praised by Elvis Costello, for whom Sexsmith later opened.
Between 1997 and 2001, Sexsmith released three more albums, and then Cobblestone Runway in 2002.Retriever, his next album, is a more pop-oriented album and is dedicated to Elliott Smith and Johnny Cash. In 2004, he performed at the RuhrTriennale in the concert series Century of Song hosted by Grammy Award-winner Bill Frisell.
...
Wikipedia