Feist

Leslie Feist, who creates and performs under the name of Feist, was born in a Canadian city Amherst, Nova Scotia. Both her parents were artists and their marriage, as it often happens in the artistic circles, did not last long. So soon after her birth, Leslie and her elder brother Ben were taken by their mother to grandparents in Saskatchewan and later - to Calgary, Alberta. The girl dreamt of becoming a writer, but spent the major part of her free time singing in a local church choir. At the age of 12, Leslie became one of the 1000 dancers, performing at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. Later this amusing experience became the inspiration for her hit 1234. When Leslie became 15, she organized a punk band Placebo (should not be confused with the British rock band Placebo) and became its author and singer, performing under the name of Feist. In 1993, the collective won at a competition for the right to perform with the rockers Ramones at the Infest festival. During this event, Feist became acquainted to Brandon Canning and Kevin Drew, who would later perform with her.

Feist's band had a tense concert schedule and the singer strained her voice badly - the doctors were afraid she would never sing again. After this diagnosis the artist left for Toronto and during half a year she spent all her time in the basement of the house, playing the guitar and composing music. That was the time when she got involved in popular genre. In 1998, Feist managed to come back to the scene, but this time as a rhythm guitarist for the band By Divine Right. She took part in recording their album Bless This Mess in 1999 and toured with the group till 2000 inclusively. In 1999, Feist came back to singing again and recorded her first stylish baroque pop disc Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down), which became the result of her hard work in the period of recovery after the trauma. Moreover, the same year Feist acted as a guest vocalist on the full-length The Teaches Of Peaches by the electro-clash legend Peaches. During the artistic acts with Peaches the artist ran across musician Gonzales, with whom she concerted across Europe in all directions for about two years.

In summer 2001, Feist recorded several songs that became the basis of her famous album Let It Die. Thanks to the release of this fabulous disc the world learned out that Feist is not only an extremely talented singer-songwriter, but that she is a daring cover maker too. The same year she met Brandon Canning and Kevin Drew, joining to their Broken Social Scene collective and assisting in recording their second disc You Forgot It In People. A romance started between Canning and Feist, which goes on for now. During the period from 2004 to 2006, Feist mane a world Let It Die support tour, visiting all the continents. In April 2006, she finished her follow-up Open Season, featuring many guest artists, with whom Feist collaborated earlier. In spring 2007, The Reminder was ready. It is the biggest release of this performer to date. Thanks to such brilliant hits as 1234 and My Moon, My Man there were sold more than one million copies of this masterpiece, while Feist's popularity reached the level she has earned a long time ago. In 2008, Feist issued The Reminder (Bonus Deluxe Edition). The track-listing of the new release included remixes of some of the songs featured on the original version of the album.