Mae Moore
Encyclopedia
Mae Moore is a Canadian
singer-songwriter
. Her music is a blend of pop
, folk
and jazz
. Her most successful album, 1992's Bohemia, was an international hit, although her other albums have been successful mainly in Canada.
to pursue music. Her first hit came by co-writing the song "Heaven in Your Eyes
" (with John Dexter), which would later be recorded by Loverboy
for the Top Gun
soundtrack in 1986. She then worked with Barney Bentall
and Colin Nairne from the band Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts
, providing background vocals on their self-titled 1988 album Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. She sang background vocals on and appeared in the music video
for the Legendary Heart's "She's My Inspiration" song from that album. Her association with Bentall and Nairne paid off, as CBS Records in Canada soon awarded her a recording contract.
Moore's debut album, Oceanview Motel
, arrived in 1990. It was produced by Bentall and Nairne, and featured Vancouver
-area musicians from both Barney Bentall & the Legendary Hearts and Spirit of the West
. Three singles were released including "I'll Watch Over You" which found some success on Canadian radio. That same year she again worked with Bentall, providing vocals on the band's song "Life Could Be Worse" from the Lonely Avenue album.
In 1991, Moore was nominated for a Juno Award
for "Most Promising Female Vocalist". That year she travelled to Australia
to write tracks for what would become her second album Bohemia. There she collaborated with Steve Kilbey
, the lead singer from the popular Australian band The Church
, and the resulting recordings featured a more atmospheric sound than her first album. Although Kilbey was producing the album, his ongoing drug addiction resulted in producer Gavin MacKillop being asked to complete the record, and Bohemia was released in 1992.
Moore's third and final studio album for CBS was 1995's Dragonfly. It featured her most successful single to date "Genuine", which reached #6 on the RPM
"Top 100" singles chart in Canada. Ironically, Moore was dropped from CBS just as she awarded a SOCAN award for the most airplay of that single.
Towards the close of the decade, Jann Arden
asked Moore to record an album on Arden's label and the result was 1999's self-titled Mae Moore. Moore's most recent solo album is It's a Funny World.
In 2002, Moore launched an occasional performing collaboration with folk musician Lester Quitzau
. Moore and Quitzau subsequently married in 2003. Together they released an album in 2004 entitled Oh My!. Her most recent appearance is a song on Quitzau's 2009 album The Same Light.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. Her music is a blend of pop
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...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Her most successful album, 1992's Bohemia, was an international hit, although her other albums have been successful mainly in Canada.
Biography
Moore studied art before moving to British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to pursue music. Her first hit came by co-writing the song "Heaven in Your Eyes
Heaven in Your Eyes
"Heaven in Your Eyes" was a single released in 1986 by the Canadian rock band Loverboy, for the Top Gun soundtrack. It later appeared on Loverboy's 1989 hits compilation Big Ones. The power ballad reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the U.S.The song was originally written by Mae Moore...
" (with John Dexter), which would later be recorded by Loverboy
Loverboy
Loverboy is a Canadian rock group formed in 1980 in Calgary, Alberta. Throughout the 1980s, the band accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, earning four multi-platinum albums and selling millions of records...
for the Top Gun
Top Gun (soundtrack)
Top Gun is the soundtrack from the film of the same name, released in 1986 by Columbia Records. In 1999, it was reissued in a Special Expanded Edition with additional songs. In 2006, it was reissued again in a Deluxe Edition with more additional songs...
soundtrack in 1986. She then worked with Barney Bentall
Barney Bentall
Barnard Franklin "Barney" Bentall is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter who is most well known for his 1990s-era band, Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. Their most successful Canadian singles included "Something to Live For", "Life Could Be Worse", "Crime Against Love" and "Come Back to...
and Colin Nairne from the band Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts
Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts
Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts are a Canadian rock band, based out of Vancouver that formed in 1980. The band's name was taken from the title of Lou Reed's 1983 album.-Biography:...
, providing background vocals on their self-titled 1988 album Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. She sang background vocals on and appeared in the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the Legendary Heart's "She's My Inspiration" song from that album. Her association with Bentall and Nairne paid off, as CBS Records in Canada soon awarded her a recording contract.
Moore's debut album, Oceanview Motel
Oceanview Motel
Oceanview Motel is the debut album by Mae Moore released in 1990. The Vancouver-area musicians featured on this record include the members of Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts, Spirit of the West and 54-40.- Track listing :...
, arrived in 1990. It was produced by Bentall and Nairne, and featured Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
-area musicians from both Barney Bentall & the Legendary Hearts and Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West are a Canadian folk rock band, who were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.-Early years:The band began...
. Three singles were released including "I'll Watch Over You" which found some success on Canadian radio. That same year she again worked with Bentall, providing vocals on the band's song "Life Could Be Worse" from the Lonely Avenue album.
In 1991, Moore was nominated for a Juno Award
Juno Awards of 1991
The Juno Awards of 1991, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 3 March 1991 in Vancouver, British Columbia at a ceremony in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Paul Shaffer was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on CBC Television.This was...
for "Most Promising Female Vocalist". That year she travelled to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to write tracks for what would become her second album Bohemia. There she collaborated with Steve Kilbey
Steve Kilbey
Steven John Kilbey is the lead singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for The Church, an Australian rock band. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter....
, the lead singer from the popular Australian band The Church
The Church (band)
The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
, and the resulting recordings featured a more atmospheric sound than her first album. Although Kilbey was producing the album, his ongoing drug addiction resulted in producer Gavin MacKillop being asked to complete the record, and Bohemia was released in 1992.
Moore's third and final studio album for CBS was 1995's Dragonfly. It featured her most successful single to date "Genuine", which reached #6 on the RPM
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
"Top 100" singles chart in Canada. Ironically, Moore was dropped from CBS just as she awarded a SOCAN award for the most airplay of that single.
Towards the close of the decade, Jann Arden
Jann Arden
Jann Arden is a Canadian singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Arden was born and raised near Calgary in Springbank, Alberta and attended Springbank Community High School. Her breakthrough came with her critically acclaimed 1993 debut album Time for Mercy and her first single "I Would Die For You"...
asked Moore to record an album on Arden's label and the result was 1999's self-titled Mae Moore. Moore's most recent solo album is It's a Funny World.
In 2002, Moore launched an occasional performing collaboration with folk musician Lester Quitzau
Lester Quitzau
Lester Quitzau is a Canadian folk and blues guitarist.In addition to his own albums, he also collaborates in the roots trio Tri-Continental with Bill Bourne and Madagascar Slim, and in a touring and recording partnership with folk-pop singer Mae Moore, to whom Quitzau is married.-Discography:*...
. Moore and Quitzau subsequently married in 2003. Together they released an album in 2004 entitled Oh My!. Her most recent appearance is a song on Quitzau's 2009 album The Same Light.
Singles
| Release date | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... RPM TOP 100 |
Album | ||
| August 1990 | "I'll Watch Over You" | #16 | Oceanview Motel |
| November 1990 | "Where Loneliness Lives" | #30 | |
| March 1991 | "Red Clay Hills" | #23 | |
| October 1992 | "Bohemia" | #26 | Bohemia |
| January 1993 | "Because of Love" | #12 | |
| May 1993 | "Coat of Shame" | #11 | |
| September 1993 | "The Wish" | #50 | |
| May 1995 | "Genuine" | #6 | Dragonfly |
| September 1995 | "Watermark" | #29 | |
| February 1996 | "Love Won't Find Us Here" | #18 | |
| May 1999 | "Free To Love Me (Warm Song)" | - | Mae Moore |
Albums
| Release date | Title | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... RPM Album charts |
||
| September 1990 | Oceanview Motel Oceanview Motel Oceanview Motel is the debut album by Mae Moore released in 1990. The Vancouver-area musicians featured on this record include the members of Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts, Spirit of the West and 54-40.- Track listing :... |
- |
| October 1992 | Bohemia | #66 |
| May 1995 | Dragonfly | #59 |
| June 1999 | Mae Moore | - |
| 2000 | Collected Works 1989-1999 (greatest hits compilation) |
- |
| April 2002 | It's a Funny World | - |
| January 2004 | Oh My! (With Lester Quitzau) |
- |
| February 2011 | Folklore | - |
External links
- Mae Moore - Official site