Serena Ryder

Folk-rock singer Serena Ryder was born in Ontario and grew up listening to her parents' Beatles and Leonard Cohen records. After joining an artist's commune at the age of 17 she began to perform locally and came to the attention of fellow Canadian singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman. Workman owned a small independent record label called Isadora and subsequently backed the limited release of Ryder's first live album 'Live in Oz'.

Her career began to take off, albeit slowly, until the release of her fourth studio album 'Is It O.K.' in 2008 which went to number one in the US Heat Charts. Ryder's follow-up album was four years in the making and shortly after its release in 2012 went platinum in Canada, firmly establishing the artist as one of the country's top musical acts.

Ryder's strength as a performer lies in her extraordinary voice which she uses to great effect in her music. She has a three octave range and delivers it in a nasal raspy style, the quality of which has drawn comparisons with artists such as Aretha Franklin. Ryder is also a talented visual artist and draws, paints and sculpts. Many of her works have been sold for charitable causes and she is an active campaigner on many issues, particularly climate change.