In the early 2000s, pop rock Canadian artist Fefe Dobson stood out among her contemporaries as an edgy black female outlier in an otherwise male dominated genre.
Dobson headlines the Whoop-Up Days Stage Aug. 20.
Her debut album was released in 2003 and earned Dobson four consecutive Top 10 radio singles. The single Everything was also featured on the soundtrack for the teen comedy The Perfect Score in 2004.
Dobson also dove into the acting world, appearing as Tina Turner on the hit NBC series American Dreams.
As an accomplished songwriter, Dobson has penned hit songs for Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, and in 2010 she released the album Joy, which spawned the hits Ghost and Stuttering.
In 2014, Dobson took a hiatus from her own music projects to focus on writing for other artists, after relocating to Nashville.
According to Dobson, she can’t wait to come back to Canada and do some shows.
“I’ve been in the studio and just been chilling, so it’s nice to get back on stage and I just want to engage, interact and connect again with everybody,” she said. “I’m working on a new album and tracks and back at it. You can only sit still for so long and I need to express myself somehow.”
Music festivals are cool because you don’t have to be in the studio all the time, Dobson noted. “You get to interact with a ton of bands, and you pull in people that sometimes they’re not there for you, but they’re there for the other bands.”
“You kind of connect with a new group of folks, which is really rad. At the end of the day, it’s like I love doing stadium stuff as well and smaller, more intimate venues because everything has a different energy and can be really cool in different ways,” she added.
Dobson noted Nashville has live music everywhere, “wherever you go.”
The Canadian music scene has been amazing for a long time, she said. “Being from Scarborough and Toronto, we have great artists and great artistry. It’s like no other, honestly.”
These days, Dobson’s motto is to be happy. “It’s about making the art and having good people around you while you do it. The rest will come together.”
Whoop-Up Days runs Aug. 18-22.
Visit excitelethbridge.ca/events/whoop-up for more information.
