Emma-Lee
Canadian musician and photographer
title: "Emma-Lee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["canadian-women-singer-songwriters", "canadian-singer-songwriters", "singers-from-toronto", "canadian-women-singers", "canadian-folk-rock-musicians", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "living-people", "independent-music-awards-winners"] description: "Canadian musician and photographer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma-Lee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian musician and photographer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Emma-Lee |
| image | Emma-Lee 6 06 2014 -6 (14182133657).jpg |
| caption | Emma-Lee, June 2014 |
| birth_name | Emily Margo Doty |
| birth_place | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| genre | Pop |
| occupation | Singer, songwriter, photographer |
| instrument | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| years_active | 2004–present |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Emma-Lee | image = Emma-Lee 6 06 2014 -6 (14182133657).jpg | image_size = | caption = Emma-Lee, June 2014 | birth_name = Emily Margo Doty | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | genre = Pop | occupation = Singer, songwriter, photographer | instrument = Vocals, guitar, piano | years_active = 2004–present | label = | associated_acts = | website =
Emily Margo Doty, known professionally as Emma-Lee, is a Canadian pop singer, songwriter and photographer from Toronto, Ontario. She is considered a mezzo-soprano and is a self-taught vocalist. She has written hit songs for other artists in both the pop and country genres.
Early life
Emma-Lee was born in Toronto and raised in Markham, Ontario. She started playing guitar at age 14 and credits her father for teaching her. She soon began writing her own songs.
Published works
Albums
Never Just a Dream
She released her debut album Never Just a Dream in 2008 to critical acclaim from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. The album was picked up by Bumstead Records and re-released on March 3, 2009. Her vocal style is frequently compared to k.d. lang, Norah Jones and Feist. No Depression magazine described Never Just a Dream as "an album so full of ideas and potential that it is hard to know how to properly frame a description of its contents. It is a collection of songs that is far more than the sum of its influences" and dubbed her "the voice to remember from 2009."
Emma-Lee's song "That Sinking Feeling" was featured as the single of the week on iTunes Canada.
In November 2016 she released her first Christmas recording "It Won't Be Christmas" (by songwriters Karen Kosowski & Julie Crochetière) to radio and iTunes.
''Backseat Heroine''
On February 7, 2012, she released her long-awaited second album Backseat Heroine, co-produced by Emma-Lee, Karen Kosowski and Marc Rogers. The album features collaborations with Nicole Atkins, Jill Barber and Luke Doucet. Most of the album was tracked at The Chalet, a studio near Uxbridge, Ontario. Backseat Heroine blends multiple musical genres including pop, country, soul and rock. According to her online biography, "Emma-Lee's goal was to make a record that lived and breathed in its own world and could cross genres while still being a soundscape that was complete from start to finish."
Discography
Albums
- 2009: Never Just a Dream (Bumstead Records)
- 2012: Backseat Heroine (eOne Music Canada)
- 2017: Fantasies: Volume 1 (Special Agent)
Singles
::data[format=table] | Year | Single | Peak positions | CAN | CAN AC | CAN Hot AC | CBC Radio 2 | "Shot in the Dark" | "What Would Tom Petty Do" | "All the Way" | "Worst Enemy" | "It Won't Be Christmas" | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2011 | — | |— | | — | |— | | | | | | | | | 2014 | — | |— | | — | | 9 | | | | | | | | | 2015 | — | | — | | — | | — | | | | | | | | | 2016 | — | |18 | | 24 | | — | | | | | | | | | 2016 | — | |4 | | — | | — | | | | | | | | | "—" denotes releases that did not chart | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Awards and nominations
- 2014, won for best female vocalist in NOW Magazine's best of Toronto feature.
- 2013, her album Backseat Heroine won "Best Adult Contemporary Album" and the video for "Shadow of a Ghost" was nominated for "Best Short Form Music Video" for the 12th annual Independent Music Awards.
- 2013, her album Backseat Heroine won the 12th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop Fan Choice Award for "Best Adult Contemporary Album" and the video for "Shadow of a Ghost" won the Independent Music Awards Vox Pop Fan Choice Award for "Best Short Form Music Video."
- 2013, won for best female vocalist in NOW Magazine's best of Toronto feature.
- 2012, nominated for a CBC Radio 3 BUCKY award in the category of Hottest Pipes.
- 2010, Emma-Lee's song "Until We Meet Again" from the album Never Just a Dream won in the 9th annual Independent Music Awards as "best love song".
Film/TV placements
- "Boomerang" in Syfy's Wynonna Earp
- "All The Way" in CBC's Hello Goodbye
- "Flow" in Degrassi: The Next Generation, CBC's The Border and Bomb Girls
- "Pick Me Up, Dust Me Off" in CBC's Heartland - performed by Carleton Stone
- "Never Just a Dream" in CBC's 18 to Life and Alias
- "That Sinking Feeling" in Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
- "Shot In The Dark" in HBO's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, Lifetime's Dance Moms, promotional ad for FX's Wilfred, 2014 feature film The Scarehouse
- "I Could Live With Dying Tonight" in NBC's Saving Hope and MTV's Teen Wolf
- "Shadow Of a Ghost" in Degrassi: The Next Generation
- "Figure It Out" in Beauty & the Beast
- "It Won't Be Christmas 'Til You're Here" in CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles - performed by Julie Crochetière
Collaborations
- sings backing vocals on the album "Let Me Prove It To You" by Steve Strongman (2014)
- sings backing vocals on the album "Rustbucket" by Sean Pinchin (2013)
- sings on "I Put a Spell On You" and "Ne Me Quitte Pas" on Jesse Cook's The Blue Guitar Sessions album (2012)
- sings a duet with country music artist Josh Macumber on his song "Tomorrow" (Josh Macumber Was Here, 2012)
- sings on "It Was You" by Peter Katz (Still Mind Still, 2012)
- sings on Jill Barber's song "Took Me By Surprise" (Mischievous Moon, 2011)
- sings on Rob Szabo's song "Something Like Me" (Rob Szabo, 2011)
Songwriting credits (selected discography)
::data[format=table]
References
References
- (2009-03-01). "Toronto singer Emma-Lee ready for her close-up".
- "Emma-Lee Never Just a Dream Review". awmusic.ca.
- Sharpe, Lizzie. (6 October 2017). "Review - Emma-Lee".
- Carter, Kern. (Spring–Summer 2013). "Emma-culate". Boss Magazine.
- (2012-12-19). "Gold Sprinkled Dream". Globe and Mail.
- (2009-05-05). "Emma Lee's Never Just a Dream - Americana and roots music". No Depression.
- "Album Review: Emma-Lee - Never Just a Dream | Music". ShowbizMonkeys.com.
- "NOW Magazine // Music // EMMA-LEE". Nowtoronto.com.
- Doug Heselgrave. (2009-05-05). "Emma Lee's Never Just a Dream". No Depression.com.
- "Free iTunes 2008 - MacRumors Forums". Forums.macrumors.com.
- (21 November 2016). "Christmas Comes Early For Emma-Lee". Canadian Beats Media.
- "Karen Kosowski Backseat Heroine Released".
- "Emma-Lee To Release Backseat Heroine Out February 7th On Eone Music". Top 40.com.
- (2012-05-08). "Raised on Radio Song of the Day". Raised on Radio.
- "Biography". Emma-Lee Official Website.
- "NOW's Best of Toronto - Best Music".
- "12th Annual Independent Music Awards".
- (6 August 2013). "12th Annual Independent Music Awards".
- Wright, Graham. "Vote now on the 2012 Bucky Award Short List". [[CBC Radio 3]].
- (2012-01-24). "Emma-Lee To Release Backseat". Top40.com.
- [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1391137/soundtrack soundtrack], IMDB.com. Retrieved August 2011
- (4 November 2016). "Leah Daniels - Salt Water Music Video".
- "Artist of the Month: River Town Saints | Country Music Association of Ontario".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::