Janet Whiteway

Musicians For Change Toronto

The Holiday season is just ahead, please share this song as a message of love and hope for all people, every day.

Written by Elana Harte and Kim Jarrett. https://open.spotify.com/album/3ib6DSGgAEL0a5RH2EompW

 

Get It While It's Hot!

Wow, what a great summer for music, everyone is soaking up the sun and there are plenty of amazing gigs to go around for all to enjoy.

Grace has had a blast playing our blues fests in Collingwood, Barrie and Stratford and now we're headed for the Toronto Jazz Street Festival,we'll play 3 sets a night between 7 and 11pm, July 26th, 27th and 28th. Come out to the east end and hear some of Toronto's finest musicians, great for the whole family. We'll be on the south side of Queen St. E., just east of Lee Ave. in front of the Beauty Supply store.

 

I've recently started playing keys with one of Toronto's most popular Motown bands, BackTrack. What a fun group of musicians, playing all that R&B and soul that folks love. We'll be at the Scarborough Ribfest on Aug. 6, we'll be back at the never-really-going-to-leave-parkdale Cadillac Lounge on Sept. 15th and at the  Bier Market Square One on Sept. 29th.

I Will Be King, our David Bowie Tribute band, will be back at the Linsmore Tavern on Aug. 11th, this is my favourite project, you can't go wrong with Bowie, his music  inspires and challenges like no other.

 

Ricochet will take you back to the 80's, yes all that hairspray and shoulder pads, we'll have our inaugural gig at the Carrigan Arms in Burlington on Aug. 25th and we'll hit The Duke again on Sept. 28th.

 

I'll be bringing my own trio to Relish on Aug. 23rd and to the Kensington Jazz Fest at the Handlebar on Sept. 16th. We'll play tunes from both CD's Pure Sunshine and Love Is Hope, and some of our favourite covers, More to come on those gigs!

 

Hope you're having a great summer, I know we've faced some tough times, most recently the senseless and brutal attack on innocent people on the Danforth, my heart goes out to all those who are suffering and grieving and who feel unsafe and afraid.

I wish you all peace, Love IS Hope!

Elton Jan is back in the saddle...with pink chaps!

After a hiatus of nearly 10 years, hard to believe it's been that long, Elton Jan is back in the saddle! With a full band and 2 sets under our collective belts, we're going to take it to the next level and add more tunes and play some larger venues. 

We'll be focusing on the the early Elton songbook, hopefully incorporating the entire "Tumbleweed Connection" album. We'll also look at adding some deep cuts like "Pinky",  "Ticking" and "Meal Ticket". Fun, fun, fun. I'll be posting some practice video when we get our schedule worked out.

 

 

How about a pink feather boa...

What do I have in common with Mozart? I need a patron, and here's how you can help. I'll be launching my Patreon page on March 20th. What is Patreon, well it provides an amazing opportunity for artists to get some financial help from people who want to support the arts at a grass-roots level. You can become a patron of an artist, like me, and make a monthly gift of as little as $1. I will, in return, have more free time to create my music and work on the projects that need a concentrated effort. You will receive access to Patron only content like free downloads,  behind the scenes videos, guaranteed show tickets and, most of all, you will know that you are helping a local artist to maintain some semblance of artistic integrity by lightening our financial load.

Take a look at Patreon, here's the link:: https://youtu.be/rwvUjAv6pxg.

As always, thank you for your unending support, it means everything! xo

A brand new year and still lots of love and hope to go around! 

Thanks to everyone who came out to the CD release gig at the Cadillac Lounge, you packed the house and the band really felt the love. My heart felt thanks to Jean Deeth, Aimee O'Connor, Ilios Steryannis, Carrie Chesnutt and Kim Jarrett for being an awesome band and a great bunch of people. Thanks also for buying/downloading the new recording, if you don't have it yet, you can get it right here on my site, just click the "Music" tab.

What's up next?  Bless Your Purple Heart! We'll be playing the Linsmore Tavern for the first time on Saturday Feb.17th, hope you can get out and support our intimate and powerful tribute to the one and only Prince. Click here for the facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2096514300572047/

Ricochet and Grace both have gigs coming up at The Duke.  Ricochet will pump it up with all the 80's you can handle on Friday March 16 and Grace will be turning green on St. Paddy's Day Saturday March 17.

Keep this date in your back pocket, Saturday April 28th, I'll be playing tunes from the new album and some cool covers at Carrigan Arms in Burlington with Aimee O'Connor and Jean Deeth.

There are lots of gigs in the works, click the "Shows" tab for more details.

Thanks for supporting local musicians and for your love of music, it makes it all worth while!

Love IS Hope!

Janet xo

 

Love Is Hope CD Release 1 Week Away!!

Yes, we'll be at the Cadillac Lounge on Dec. 9th for an early show, 7pm sharp. Doors open at 6, so come by and enjoy some great food and a visit with the band. Reservations are a must, I believe that there are some seats left at the bar and then standing room, please email Sam to reserve: sam@cadillaclounge.com.

$15 ($20 will include a CD) at door

We're really excited to share this new music with you, the amazing players will be:

Janet Whiteway: Vocals/Keys

Jean Deeth: Bass

Aimee O'Connor: Guitars

Carrie Chesnutt: Sax/Flute/Vocals

Kim Jarrett: Vocals/Percussion

Ilios Steryannis: Drums

Looking forward to seeing you there! xoxo

 

I want to again personally thank everyone who contributed to the gofundme campaign, we raised $2400, which was the lifeline for this project along with the great party we did last year at Mt. Zion Community Centre and the house party we did at Jean's. It takes a community to raise a CD! We appreciate your support so very much.

Next up, this Saturday I'm at the Duke with GRACE, a funckaliciouscrismas! Door at 9, start 9:30, $10.

Please check out the "Shows" tab to see all my gig dates and please continue to support live and local music and musicians, we can't do it without you!

Love IS Hope!

xoxo

 

We're finally heading towards the finish line with "Love is Hope", my new recording project. We will have 10 new tunes and hope to have the release party on December 1st. We'll keep you informed about time and location. We're really excited about what we have been able to accomplish and please check out my gofundme page to donate if you're able. (The link is above).

Ricochet is up next, on Friday Sept. 29th at the Duke, then we've put together a great Halloween show with Joyride, again at the Duke on Oct. 28th. I Will Be King will rock Drums N Flats on Sat. November 4th and again at the Linsmore on Nov. 11th. On Sat, November 18th Bless Your Purple Heart will roll into Maynooth and play at the Arlington, then Grace will cap the year off at the Duke for a funalicious night on Dec. 2nd.

Check out my "Shows" tab for more details.

It's been a great summer of gigs for Grace, we played a few festivals, including Barrie, Stratford, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach and Toronto's Beaches Street Fest. We also had record breaking attendance at our Collingwood Station Blues Society gig, with about 650 fans enjoying our funky and soulful sounds.Thank you Collingwood!

Keep the faith my friends, these trying times will pass and we can only hope to be stronger!

janet xo

 

 

 

 

 

Love is Hope...that's the name of the new recording project I'm working on. And boy, if there was ever a time for love and hope, it's right now!
We're aiming for a launch of some material in June of 2017, but we'll be previewing the songs at house concerts and gigs as we get the arrangements down.
If you're interested in hosting a fundraising house concert, and you have room for at least 20 people, let me know. It's a great way to entertain your friends and support a local artist at the same time!

I've had the pleasure and great opportunity to work on 2 tribute projects this year, Prince and Bowie. It's been so rewarding learning this great material and really picking it apart. Mike Garson is one of my favourite piano players ( along with Steve Nieve, Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and Elton John) and getting to play those lines is exciting and challenging. Arranging the Prince tunes has been humbling, and takes a lot of effort and concentration, but the rewards are great, especially getting to work with singers like  AshÉ and Suzanne Nuttall. Here is some news about those projects:

Bless Your Purple Heart (A Tribute to Prince) was a real success at the Rivoli and we're talking about perhaps bringing it to Montreal and maybe other cities in the new year. Stay tuned for more info.

I Will Be King (A Tribute to David Bowie) is gearing up for 3 shows, one this month at Drums n Flats (Nov. 25th) and 2 shows in the new year at The Linsmore. Check out the show listings on my site for more information.

Thanks everyone for your unending and beautiful support, we'll look forward to seeing some of you at the shows I have planned in the next couple of months, and we're excited to be in pre-production with the new tunes.

I know we are facing frightening and uncertain times, so now, more than ever, we have to find the strength to stand up against hatred and prejudice and refuse to let fear diminish our lives. Live with dignity and respect, and speak out against bigotry, ignorance and brutality...

Love IS Hope!

Peace to you all
janet




 

Hey folks, 

How have you all been? I've been enjoying a summer filled with friends, FUN and a plethora of great gigs from the Beaches Jazz Fest with GRACE to performing in Coe Hill at the fabulous Hideaway with Coe Hill Girls. There's still so much more to come, AND I've been feverishly working on NEW MATERIAL that I can't wait to share with you. Basically, the pic you see below has been my office for the last while and I've never felt more inspired to write...



COMING UP!!!

• I'll be joining Toronto's force of nature, Stiletto Flats @ Linsmore Tavern in Toronto September 3rd for 'I Will Be King: Paying Tribute To The Genius of David Bowie'. For more info., please click HERE. 
• GRACE funks things up yet again at Eton House Sept. 17th.
• Coe Hill Girls will provide an evening of great music (we'll be showcasing a ton of original stuff as well) at Relish Bar & Grill Sept. 22nd.

Hopefully you can make it out to one or ALL of the shows, can't wait to see you.

Peace,
Janet