Amanda Marshall

Born in Toronto in 1972, Amanda Marshall emerged in the 1990s with pop-rock songwriting influenced by soft rock, rhythm and blues and adult contemporary, driven by a soulful voice and a very direct song format. Trained in music from childhood, including at the Royal Conservatory of Music, she began performing in the bars of Queen Street West before being spotted by Jeff Healey, who took her on tour. After contributing in 1994 to the Neil Young tribute album Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young, she signed with Epic and released Amanda Marshall in 1995, followed by Tuesday’s Child in 1999 — an album blending ballads, melodic pop and blues touches. On that second record she collaborated with, among others, Carole King and Richie Sambora. In 2001, Everybody’s Got a Story marked a clearer move toward contemporary R&B, featuring denser production and a more urban tone. Several of her songs also appeared on film soundtracks, including Tin Cup and My Best Friend’s Wedding. Legal disputes with her label then slowed her discography for many years, until she returned with Heavy Lifting in 2023, more than twenty years after her third studio album.