Aselin Debison
Encyclopedia
Aselin Debison is a Canadian pop
and Celtic music
singer.
Classical president Peter Gelb
at the East Coast Music Awards. Her debut album Sweet Is the Melody appeared that same year.
In October 2002, Debison was chosen to sing for Queen Elizabeth II
at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario, during her visit to Canada for her Jubilee celebration.
Debison sang with country music artist and Runrig
vocalist Bruce Guthro
on a CBC
(and later a PBS) special entitled "Aselin Debison: Sweet Is the Melody". She performed selections from her debut album and also classic Cape Breton Island
songs, such as the Island's anthem. During her tour to promote Sweet Is the Melody, she performed in New York, Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, Korea.
One track from the Sweet Is the Melody, Debison's cover of the distinctive Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
medley arrangement Over the Rainbow
/What a Wonderful World
, became popular in Korea and Japan. (This song has been frequently, and incorrectly, attributed to America
n singer Norah Jones
.) Thanks to its inclusion in soft pop compilation albums such as Sony Music Korea/Splash Music's 2003 Crossover Romance, it became a firmly established element of ambient music
in many parts of east Asia. Debison also did covers of "Driftwood" a song by the Scottish band Travis and Garth Brooks
' Christmas song "Gift
." Several other tracks from Sweet Is the Melody were also included in Korean and Japanese pop compilations. Debison's version of Mike Oldfield
's "Moonlight Shadow
" entered the pop music top 20 in many parts of Japan. "Sweet is the Melody" peaked at album number 10 on the Billboard charts and 55 on the authoritative Oricon
pop charts in Japan. In Jan 2010, Debison's Asian success extended to Hong Kong
, with "Sweet as the Melody" reaching number 60 on the KKBox Hong Kong classical album chart and the single "Moonlight Shadow" reaching number 46
In March 2005 Debison released her second album, Bigger than Me, and the singles "Life" and "Faze" have been popular on light rock and pop radio. Whereas Debison's early recordings consisted of cover versions, for Bigger than Me she wrote the material herself with assistance from Dave Thomson (co-founder of teen pop band Wave
) and producer Thomas "Tawgs" Salter (initially renowned as a member of the 1990s Canadian rock band Dunk
).
Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
has hailed Debison as the next Céline Dion
. Debison received official congratulations for her musical success in a resolution from the Nova Scotia
provincial legislature in April 2002.
She is currently enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University
in Antigonish, Nova Scotia
, studying Human Kinetics and planning to continue on in Education
She has many uncles, aunts, and cousins in Glace Bay and all over Cape Breton Island.
She is engaged to be married to fellow musician Jonathan Ettinger.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
singer.
Career
Debison began her singing career in 1999, when she was asked to sing at a rally of protesting miners in her hometown. Soon after this performance she began working on a Christmas album The Littlest Angel which was released in 2001. In 2002, she was spotted by SonySony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
Classical president Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb is an American arts administrator. He is currently General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.-Early life:...
at the East Coast Music Awards. Her debut album Sweet Is the Melody appeared that same year.
In October 2002, Debison was chosen to sing for Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario, during her visit to Canada for her Jubilee celebration.
Debison sang with country music artist and Runrig
Runrig
Runrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...
vocalist Bruce Guthro
Bruce Guthro
Bruce Guthro is a Canadian singer / songwriter, from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Guthro has recorded as a solo artist, and in 1998 also joined Scottish folk rock band Runrig, whilst still pursuing his solo career...
on a CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(and later a PBS) special entitled "Aselin Debison: Sweet Is the Melody". She performed selections from her debut album and also classic Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
songs, such as the Island's anthem. During her tour to promote Sweet Is the Melody, she performed in New York, Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, Korea.
One track from the Sweet Is the Melody, Debison's cover of the distinctive Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Israel "IZ" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole was a Hawaiian musician.He became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993...
medley arrangement Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
"Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...
/What a Wonderful World
What a Wonderful World
"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...
, became popular in Korea and Japan. (This song has been frequently, and incorrectly, attributed to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n singer Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
.) Thanks to its inclusion in soft pop compilation albums such as Sony Music Korea/Splash Music's 2003 Crossover Romance, it became a firmly established element of ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
in many parts of east Asia. Debison also did covers of "Driftwood" a song by the Scottish band Travis and Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
' Christmas song "Gift
Beyond the Season
Beyond the Season is the first Christmas album by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 25, 1992, and peaked at number 2 on both of Billboard magazine's Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums sales charts that year...
." Several other tracks from Sweet Is the Melody were also included in Korean and Japanese pop compilations. Debison's version of Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's "Moonlight Shadow
Moonlight Shadow
"Moonlight Shadow" is a pop song written and performed by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, released as a single in May 1983 and included in the album Crises of the same year. The vocals were performed by Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly, who had joined Mike Oldfield in 1980...
" entered the pop music top 20 in many parts of Japan. "Sweet is the Melody" peaked at album number 10 on the Billboard charts and 55 on the authoritative Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
pop charts in Japan. In Jan 2010, Debison's Asian success extended to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, with "Sweet as the Melody" reaching number 60 on the KKBox Hong Kong classical album chart and the single "Moonlight Shadow" reaching number 46
In March 2005 Debison released her second album, Bigger than Me, and the singles "Life" and "Faze" have been popular on light rock and pop radio. Whereas Debison's early recordings consisted of cover versions, for Bigger than Me she wrote the material herself with assistance from Dave Thomson (co-founder of teen pop band Wave
Wave (band)
Wave was a Canadian pop rock duo, from Niagara Falls, Ontario. The band members were Dave Thomson and Paul Gigliotti. They were signed by Warner Music Canada and released their debut album, Nothing as It Seems. Their radio single "California" quickly increased in airplay and reached #1 on the...
) and producer Thomas "Tawgs" Salter (initially renowned as a member of the 1990s Canadian rock band Dunk
Dunk (band)
Dunk was a Canadian pop-rock band from Niagara Falls, Ontario, best known for their 2000 Canadian top-30 single "Crowdsurfing".-Starkicker:The group formed after the Dunk brothers dissolved their earlier project Starkicker a few years prior...
).
Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
has hailed Debison as the next Céline Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
. Debison received official congratulations for her musical success in a resolution from the Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
provincial legislature in April 2002.
Personal life
Since her last album, Debison has been almost completely out of the public eye. However, a fourth album called "Homeward Bound" has recently been released on her own label and is available to buy on cdbaby.com and iTunes. The new single "Close to You" has been released.She is currently enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...
in Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Antigonish is a Canadian town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous highland games in North America.-History:...
, studying Human Kinetics and planning to continue on in Education
She has many uncles, aunts, and cousins in Glace Bay and all over Cape Breton Island.
She is engaged to be married to fellow musician Jonathan Ettinger.
Studio albums
| Date of Release | Title | Label |
| 2001 | The Littlest Angel | [Aselin Music Inc.] |
| October 2002 | Sweet Is the Melody | Epic Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A... |
| February 2005 | Bigger Than Me | Epic Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A... |
| 2010 | Homeward Bound | [Aselin Music Inc.] |
Filmography
- Easter Seals Telethon (1998) TV Series .... Herself
- Sweet is the Melody (2003) Public TV Special ... Herself
- Rita MacNeil's Cape Breton (2007 – CTV) TV Series .... Herself
External links
- Official Facebook Fan Page
- CBC program guide
- "Life" music video
- http://www.muchmusic.com/artists/1096/aselin-debison/more/ MuchmusicMuchMusicMuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
biographical page