| Who is Jim Fidler? |
| Good question! Jim is one of Canada's premiere singer/songwriter/composers. Born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania in the 60's, Jim moved to Newfoundland at an early age with his Mom. He grew up in the diverse Rabbittown section of Newfoundland's capital city, St. John's and spent a good deal of his youth along Conception Bay. Surrounded by history in the names of the streets of Rabbittown, he learned early to appreciate Newfoundland's music and culture. He was "a born musician," having been singing, dancing or playing one instrument or another since the tender age of two. His family found that he frequently picked up instruments and mastered them with ease. As Jim puts it, "If you talk to some hockey players and ask them if they can remember when they first skated, some of them can�t because they were so little when they learned. I�m like that with music. I was born with it more or less." Blind since age 9, he continued to use music to share his talents with the larger community. By the age of 10, he had formed his own band and began performing with them in shopping malls and community festivals. Teenage years found him in Halifax where he continued his musical studies and eventually earned a degree in classical piano and music theory at the Maritime Conservatory of Music in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jim plays upwards of 15 instruments and doesn't think that's any different than a carpenter knowing how to use 15 kinds of tools. He uses these tools to create a variety of music ranging from reggae to bluegrass, Celtic to North African.? In addition to his three albums - Gypsy (1995), Friendly Fire (1999) and Musaik's In This World (2003), Jim has produced CDs for other musicians and lent his instrumental skills on countless others. His reggae group, Pressure Drop, was fairly popular in Atlantic Canada and launched Jim into prominence as a drummer and songwriter. Somewhere between Pressure Drop and his first solo CD Jim was somehow part of the group that would eventually become Great Big Sea. His debut solo CD, Gypsy, won awards for Roots/Traditional Album of the Year and Independent Album of the year in 1996. His love for Newfoundland and his hopes for world peace come through in all the music of this "Citizen of the World." In 1998 and again in 2000 Jim was featured in the Toronto production of "The Needfire." Great Big Sea, Paddy Keenan, Celtic Connection, the Masterless Men and Atlantic Union have all benefitted from Jim's prowess as musician, producer and arranger. He continues to live in one of St. John's colorful row houses in the West End with his wife, Lillian and cat, Gypsy. And lucky for us, he continues to create and produce music and we should be hearing from him again soon! |
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