It’s rare to be afforded the luxury and privilege of do-overs in life, especially later in life. We all have passions, dreams, and goals—sometimes pursued from an early age, sometimes not until we are wiser and more mature. Jackie Findlay’s passion has always been music, and her journey has seen her youthfully chase down those dreams, only to be derailed by life’s challenges. But music transcends all. It is a universal teacher, a loyal companion, a trusted therapist, and a holistic healer for all of life’s trials and tribulations.
Raised in Belleville, Findlay was born destined to sing sweet melodies. In fact, she had her first gig by grade two when a friend invited her to sing with a local church choir. Early on, singing and music were the norm, as Findlay jokingly reflects, “I recall as a child that I was always singing, and I think sometimes it drove my parents crazy! My dad took up the bagpipes for a while, and that drove all of us crazy!”
It was her brother, Ronnie, who introduced her to another lifelong obsession: the guitar. When Findlay was thirteen, he taught her a few chords, and she was hooked, immediately singing along and soon thereafter writing her own material. Eventually, Findlay took formal guitar lessons while enjoying a great support group consisting of two understanding parents and an encouraging music teacher. Her parents proudly paraded Findlay out for house guests to sing and play her guitar.
As her proficiency increased, her music education continued with the widely respected and renowned Eli Kassner of the Guitar Academy. The academy was located in Toronto, so Findlay also began performing at area venues, drawing from musical influences like Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, James Taylor, and Shawn Phillips. She further immersed herself by studying piano and opera and eventually attended the music program at Queen’s University in Kingston. Findlay honed her tune-smithing skills by attending songwriting workshops and garnered interest from Nashville publishers for her incomparable songwriting and sound. For a brief time, Findlay also toured with Donna O’Connor and the band Hostage.
Findlay’s approach to songwriting is natural, earthy, spiritual, emotive, and even holistic, but it wasn’t always that way. She had this to say regarding the evolution of her songwriting and creative process: “When I was trying to write hit songs for publishers in Nashville, I would almost always write the words and music together, defining the hook. Now that I’m writing purely for my own enjoyment with no expected outcome, the process is more abstract.”
As can often happen, life-altering events and the mundane vanilla day-to-day grind hindered her dreams. The fire dwindled but never completely extinguished, with the embers patiently awaiting the day to be rekindled and once again rage on—that day has come. Now retired, Findlay has picked up where she left off, overcoming many trying times, formidable obstacles, and one terrible tragedy. After much agonizing and arduous navel-gazing, she’s returned to her first love, reunited with the greatest healer of all time: music. Findlay took all the love, the hurt, the grief, the joy, the pain, and everything in between and poured it into crafting songs and frequenting open stages, as well as songwriter showcases and now, her own shows. Song by song, performance by performance, smile by smile, and tear by tear, she rebuilt and reinvented herself, creating an extraordinarily magical crop of songs.
Her music is best described as alternative folk with classically infused guitar deftly married to soaring melodies and her signature angelic voice. Findlay has tapped into all her life lessons to adopt a spiritually sacred and holistic approach to her music, woven into the very fabric of the songs on her soon-to-be-released, must-have debut album. Don’t miss it!
jackiefindlay.com
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