Andrea England

Nova Scotia born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Andrea England has a unique ability to work successfully in two different music worlds, recording and performing as an Americana/folk solo artist herself while landing cuts on albums as diverse as 2017 CCMA Female Artist of the Year, Meghan Patrick’s Grace and Grit, and pop-star / XFactor judge / Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger’s Killer Love (for which Andrea earned a U.K. Gold Record).

Having written with top Canadian emerging country artists as well as with an international who’s who of songwriters, Andrea - an artist herself- has also released two full-length critically acclaimed albums to date: Lemonade, which thrust her onto the scene with Music Nova Scotia Award nominations, a flurry of US network TV and DVD placements (incl. for hit shows Dawson’s Creek, Beautiful People, Joan of Arcadia, and Party of Five), and prizes in the John Lennon International, USA, International, OCFF and NSAI songwriting competitions; and Hope & Other Sins (produced by powerhouse producer/guitarist Colin Linden), which spent a dozen weeks on Cashbox Magazine’s Top 50 Folk chart and reached #1 on the Galaxy Folk Roots Radio. Of it, John Apice wrote for No Depression: “…Andrea continues to prove her talent with words is no flash in the pan. The stories are decorated in wonderful images and turn of phrase. Many songwriters sing and write fairly good melodies but to catch that ear with a clever line in a lyric over and over is talent of a rare kind. Joni Mitchell has it, Dylan, Leonard Cohen, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and several others – who are famous. Despite still flying below their radar, Andrea deserves the special attention for her detailed, concise writing ability and fine voice. She is economical in her approach but the recipe is flavorful, consistent and memorable.”

Andrea is a voting member of both the American (NARAS/Grammys) and Canadian (CARAS/Junos) Academies of Recording Arts & Sciences, has been a judge for the Juno Awards, Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, Canadian Folk Awards and more, has performed at SXSW, NXNE, CMW, CCMAs, ECMAs, OCFF and FAI music festivals, and has led songwriting workshops for Guitar WorkshopPlus and Elaine Overholt's Big Voice Studios in addition to being a volunteer mentor with the Honey Jam and the Singing Competition while also working for Seneca College as a part-time Lyrics professor and doing music business analysis for the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency.

In addition, Andrea is the founder, curator, and host of Four Chords & the Truth, Toronto’s hottest songwriter series, taking place quarterly at the Dakota Tavern. Featuring appearances by songwriters as diverse as Jason McCoy, Rose Cousins, Scott Helman, Jully Black, Justin Rutledge, Tom Cochrane, Paul Reddick, Donovan Woods, Russell deCarle, and Sylvia Tyson, early bird tickets to the series are sold out for the entirety of 2018. In the three years since it’s inception, the series has brought together songwriters of different genres to celebrate musical diversity in order to create a cross-genre sense of community and raise money and awareness to benefit the Unison Benevolent Fund.