Earlier this week, Avril Lavigne won the Fan Choice Award at the Juno’s for the second year in a row.
She’s originally from Napanee like singer-songwriter/author Stephen Bruce Medd. He reached out to us right after her win, to share a story about her early recordings.
Thanks to him, our Throwback Thursday song on 91X today will be “Temple of Life.” Listen in at 8:15 am!
He’s shared with us over e-mail a summary of how he helped her career in the early days. Rolling Stone magazine even interviewed him in his kitchen after more fans discovered her music.
“Avril performed in 1998 and 1999 at the Quinte Spirit Festival in Greater Napanee. The festival was created to inspire musical and artistic creativity in the Kingston – Greater Napanee – Quinte region and to celebrate the region’s natural beauty. As an extension of our festival two CD projects were undertaken to help promote local musicians. Over 30 musicians participated on the two CDs.
I wrote a country-gospel song for Avril called “Touch the Sky” on my first CD, “The Quinte Spirit” which would become Avril’s first studio recording. This opportunity helped inspire her. She said to me and her Dad afterwards that it was one of the most memorable moments of her life (up to that point!). It was important to me that my friends John Lavigne and Cliff Trott join their daughters on the making of this CD.
In December 1999 “The Quinte Spirit” CD was released at a CD release party at Chapters bookstore in Kingston, Ontario. While a few of us sang a few songs to promote the CD which was being sold there, there was a man videotaping Avril who would eventually become her first manager. This gig was a transition point for Avril singing as a young amateur to becoming an international pop superstar.
My second CD, “My Window to You” was released in the fall of 2000. Avril recorded two songs on this CD that I wrote for her: “Temple of Life” and “Two Rivers”. I was happy to find out that my CDs were used in the beginning as Avril‘s demo CDs in the U.S. The core team that supported me on both CDs were Cliff Trott, David Archibald, and Duncan Holt. In the liner notes of Avril’s internationally successful debut CD, “ Let Go”, she thanked us all for believing in her.”
Want to keep going back further? Here’s is a link to her first ever studio recording called “Touch of Sky.” This is a song that Medd wrote for her, which later appeared on his first album called “The Quinte Spirit.”
If you have a throwback story or want to send tunes our way, feel free to e-mail! We love hearing local stories.
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