Amanda Marshall

Amanda Meta Marshall (born August 29, 1972 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian pop-rock singer.

She grew up in Toronto in a biracial family to a Caucasian father and a Black Trinidadian mother. In several of her songs, Marshall has reflected on her racial identity «as a woman who looks white but is also half-black».

Marshall studied music extensively during her childhood, including at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. While performing on the Queen Street West bar scene in her teens, she met guitarist Jeff Healey, who was struck by her powerful voice and took her on tour.

Career
She signed a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1991, but both parties agreed that they were not a good fit and went their separate ways. In 1995, Marshall signed to Epic Records, and released her debut album Amanda Marshall the same year. The album was a major success in Canada, generating a great deal of airplay and spawning six Top 40 hits — «Let It Rain,» «Beautiful Goodbye,» «Dark Horse,» «Fall From Grace,» «Sitting on Top of the World,» and «Birmingham,» which remains her biggest hit internationally.

In 1997, her song «I’ll Be Okay» was included into the original soundtrack of My Best Friend’s Wedding.

In 1999, she released a successful follow-up album, Tuesday’s Child. It followed in the same vein as her debut, with a mix of soulful pop songs and ballads, characterizing her powerful voice. Her song «Ride» from that album would be featured in the The Replacements and on its soundtrack. Another single from that album, «Believe In You,» was featured on one episode of Touched By An Angel, while Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi was the guest guitarist on the track «Why Don’t You Love Me.»

In 2001, she released her third album, Everybody’s Got a Story. It marked a change in style and sound for Marshall, with a noticeable R&B influence. Her singles «Everybody’s Got a Story» and «Sunday Morning After» received some Canadian airplay, and for the album, Marshall worked with the likes of Peter Asher and Billy Mann.

In 2003, she released a greatest hits album entitled Intermission: The Singles Collection, which was followed by another greatest hits album, Collections, in 2006. In 2008, yet another greatest hits album, The Steel Box Collection, was released.

In 2007, the Canadian Idol Top Ten Finalists covered Amanda’s song «I Believe In You.» The profits from this track were to be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities across Canada.

On July 1, 2009, Amanda Marshall performed[4] during a Canada Day celebration concert at Chinguacousy Park[5] in Brampton, ON. On July 9, 2009, she performed at the 2009 Kinsmen Cornwall Lift-Off in Cornwall, Ontario.

In an interview on May 29, 2009, Marshall announced that she is in a Toronto studio working on a new album, with a planned 2010 release and tour.

Amanda Marshall’s absence from the music scene was due to legal battles with her record label after she fired her management in 2002. As the disputes are not yet settled, Amanda Marshall is not allowed to reveal the substance of the disputes.

Amanda Marshall’s latest appearance was a concert at Casino Rama on November 5, 2010.

Discography
Albums
Year Album Chart Positions CRIA Certification
CAN US US Heat UK
1995 Amanda Marshall 4 156 6 47 Diamond
1999 Tuesday’s Child 4 — 30 — 3x Platinum
2001 Everybody’s Got a Story 15 — — — Platinum

Compilations
Year Album CAN
2003 Intermission: The Singles Collection 95
2006 Collections —
2008 The Steel Box Collection —

Singles
Year Title Chart Positions Album
CAN CAN AC US AUS
1995 «Let It Rain» 10 5 — 30 Amanda Marshall
1996 «Birmingham» 3 6 43 —
«Fall from Grace» 17 2 — —
«Beautiful Goodbye» 5 4 — —
«Dark Horse» 5 1 — —
1997 «Sitting on Top of the World» 5 2 — —
«Trust Me (This Is Love)» 24 5 — —
«This Could Take All Night» — — — — Tin Cup (soundtrack)
1998 «Believe in You» 10 3 — — Tuesday’s Child
1999 «Love Lift Me» 10 5 — —
«If I Didn’t Have You» 31 11 — —
2000 «Shades of Gray» 25 27 — —
«Why Don’t You Love Me?» 42 26 — —
2001 «Everybody’s Got a Story» 6 — — — Everybody’s Got a Story
2002 «Sunday Morning After» 20 — — —
«Marry Me» 19 — — —
«Double Agent» 19 — — —
2003 «The Voice Inside» — — — —
«Until We Fall In» — — — — Intermission: The Singles Collection

Awards and nominations
Marshall has received 11 Juno Award nominations, between 1996 and 2002 in all of the major categories, including Album of the Year (for her first two albums), Single of the Year (for «Birmingham,» «Dark Horse,» and «Everybody’s Got a Story»), and Artist of the Year.