With four Canadian Juno Awards to her credit, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Leslie Feist was already a rising star in her homeland before her song "1234" turned her into something of a phenomenon in 2007. The tune, from her album The Reminder, was used in several ad campaigns worldwide, but it was the fall 2007 campaign for the third-generation iPod Nano that gave new life to the single and shot it straight into the Top 10 singles charts in the U.S.
Feist was still in high school when she formed and fronted a punk band called Placebo, who once opened for The Ramones. She stuck with Placebo for five years, touring across Canada until she'd thrashed her throat to the point where she was told she would never sing again. Just in her early 20s at the time, she moved to Toronto for better medical care and as she rested her voice she took up guitar; within a year she was playing six-string for indie darlings By Divine Right. In addition to making one album with By Divine Right (Bless This Mess), Feist has also been a member of Broken Social Scene, with whom she won two of her Juno awards.
In time her voice returned to its original splendor, allowing Feist to record her first solo album in 1999. In 2004, she released another album, Let It Die, which earned her Alternative Album of the Year and Best New Artist Junos, and The Reminder followed three years later.
Provenance: Raised in Calgary, Canada, Leslie Feist now lives in Toronto.
Latest release: The Reminder (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Feist
