Leela Gilday

Leela Gilday is a Dene-Canadian singer songwriter, born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.[3] She has released five solo albums since 2002, two of which have won the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year.

Leela Gilday
Leela Gilday wearing a patterned dress, standing onstage in front of a microphone with a guitar, squinting and smiling ahead, adjusting sunglasses on top of her head with her right hand.
Gilday in 2011
Background information
OriginYellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)
  • Guitar
  • vocals
LabelsDiva Sound Records[1][2]
Websiteleelagilday.com

Early life

Gilday was born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.[3] She is the sister of singer-songwriter Jay Gilday.[4]

Gilday earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Alberta in 1997.[5] She received an Alumni Horizon Award in 2004 and a Fleck Fellowship at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2008.

Career

Gilday has released five solo albums to date. In 2002, she was awarded Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, and Best Songwriter at the Canadian Indigenous Music Awards for her first release, Spirit World, Solid Wood. She was also named in Maclean's Top 50 Under 30 that same year. In 2003, she was nominated at the Juno Awards for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada.

Her second album, Sedzé, was released in 2006, and won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the 2007 Juno Awards. Up Here named Gilday Northerner of the Year in 2007.[6]

Her third album, Calling All Warriors, was released in 2010. It won Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2011, Gilday won Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards.[7] Her fourth record, Heart of the People, was released in 2014 and garnered a Western Canadian Music Award for Indigenous Recording of the Year, as well as a nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards.[8]

In 2019, Gilday had an acting role in the drama film Red Snow.

Her fifth record, North Star Calling, was released in 2019. In February 2020, Gilday was one of the inaugural recipients (alongside Haviah Mighty) of the SOCAN "Her" Music Award, a national prize recognizing outstanding achievement among female and female-presenting musicians. She won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year at the 16th Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2021 for North Star Calling.[9] The album won the 2021 Juno Award for Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year.[10]

In 2023, she participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's song "What I Wouldn't Do", which was released as a charity single to benefit Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health.[11] The recording also interpolated parts of Gilday's song "North Star Calling".

Discography
  • Spirit World, Solid Wood (2002)
  • Sedzé (2006)
  • Calling All Warriors (2010)
  • Heart of the People (2014)
  • North Star Calling (2019)

References
  1. Canada Council for the Arts (March 22, 2004), Leela Gilday
  2. CD Baby (2008), Sedzé Leela Gilday
  3. "5 Juno-nominated artists recommend their favourite books". CBC Books.
  4. "N.W.T.'s Jay Gilday takes the stage in first indoor concert since pandemic". CBC Music.
  5. Rojas, Carmen (Fall 2007), "Northstar", Work of Arts: The Faculty of Arts in Review, pp. 4–7. Work of Arts is distributed twice yearly by the University of Alberta's Faculty of Arts to alumni, friends, faculty and staff.
  6. "The Movers And Shakers From Years Gone By". Up Here Publishing. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  7. Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (2010), Leela Gilday CD Release "Calling All Warriors", archived from the original on July 6, 2011, retrieved October 24, 2010.
  8. "Tanya Tagaq, Leela Gilday nominated for 2015 Juno Awards". CBC News.
  9. "Pharis & Jason Romero Head CFMA Winners List". FYI Music News, April 11, 2021.
  10. "N.W.T. artist Leela Gilday wins Juno for 'most vulnerable' album yet | CBC News".
  11. Brent Furdyk, "Feel Out Loud: Alessia Cara, Serena Ryder & More Canadian Artists Collaborate on New Single Promoting Youth Mental Health Initiative". Entertainment Tonight Canada, March 2, 2023.
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