Rita Chiarelli is an accomplished singer-songwriter, a gifted vocalist and a skilled musician. Add to that a warm persona and a fine sense of humour and you have all the ingredients for an outstanding performer.
Chiarelli is equally comfortable belting out the blues; delivering her original material, crooning an Italian folk song or wailing R&B or an Elvis Presley cover tune. Rita’s songwriting is also outstanding; three of her four JUNO nominations have been for albums consisting largely of original material. Performing since the age of fifteen, Chiarelli has developed a unique sound that is a blend of musical influences. Her songs shimmer with blues based rock undertones, jazz riffs, Cajun and country tinged melodies blended with a folk-roots flavour.
In addition to her talents as a gifted storyteller, lyricist and master of poetic imagery, few can match the wide (4 octave) range of Chiarelli’s voice nor the soul from which it springs.
Chiarelli’s most ambitious recording project to date was her collaboration with the Thunder Bay Symphony on the album Uptown Goes Downtown Tonight.
She is an honorary lifetime member of The Manitoba Blues Society, and the 2002 recipient of CBC’s Great Canadian Blues Award, and despite a JUNO win, four Juno nominations, and multiple Maple Blues Awards, Canadian Folk Music, and Toronto Independent Music awards, Rita somehow remains under the radar. Her most recent recording is Sweet Paradise; a down-to-earth, acoustic album full of heartache, heartbreak and hope.
For more information on Rita visit http://www.ritachiarelli.com/
For a little taste of Rita’s music, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PixtN7Fe6E&feature=related
