KELOWNA –– k.d. lang is that rare performer who, over 25 years as a major-label artist, has matured before our very ears.
The Alberta native launched her career with a blend of country-rock stylings and a punk-like attitude, but from the very beginning, her bravura singing belied her kitschy cowgirl outfits and spiky hair.
The Times of London has declared: “It’s a quirk of the music industry that one of the sexiest, most sensual voices in all of pop music comes not from some raven-tressed siren in a glitter-dress, but a middle-aged woman with a utility haircut and a penchant for male tailoring.”
The Canadian crooner and her new band, The Siss Boom Bang, visit the Kelowna Community Theatre July 24.
On the heels of her retrospective CD, Recollection, lang sails into uncharted waters on Sing It Loud, her first work with a full-fledged band since the Reclines.
The album comes out April 12 and was recorded in Nashville at the studio of Joe Pisapia (who co-produced with Lang).
Sing It Loud is a true collaborative effort with nearly all of the album’s 10 tracks co-written by the artist (five with Pisapia, and three with Siss Boom Bang members Daniel Clarke and Joshua Grange).
Lang is one artist who has truly never been pigeonholed.
After independently releasing A Truly Western Experience in 1984 at home, lang joined Sire/Warner Bros for her 1987 U.S. debut, Angel With A Lariat, with her then band, the Reclines. Her 1988 follow-up, Shadowland, brought her right to the heart of Nashville for a countrypolitan-themed collaboration.
Her 1989 Grammy Award-winning Absolute Torch and Twang (Best Female Country Vocal Performance) combined her love of country with increasingly sophisticated, emotive torch singing, and her 1992, platinum-selling Ingenue yielded her biggest hit, Constant Craving, as well as another Grammy, this time for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
On subsequent releases, lang has continued to both fine-tune and expand the parameters of her songwriting and repertoire. Along the way, she has garnered two more Grammies, eight Juno Awards, and the Order of Canada.
In 2005’s Hymns of the 49th Parallel, lang presented her most compelling set of material by other Canadian songwriters, and her cover of Leonard Cohen’s oft-covered Hallelujah has become, along with her breathtaking cover of Roy Orbison’s Crying, an in-concert showstopper.
Lang originally recorded the latter song with the legendary Orbison for the teen flick Hiding Out. She has since collaborated with the who’s who of the Canadian and international music industry, including Jane Sibbery, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John and Tony Bennett, with whom she released the 2002 CD, Wonderful World.
Bennett has called her “the best singer of her generation.”
Tickets to see k.d. lang with the Siss Boom Bang are $66 (plus charges) and go on sale today at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.ca or call 1-855-985-5000.
