Biography
Frazey Ford first rose to prominence as a founding member of the Vancouver alt-folk trio the Be Good Tanyas, where her dulcet voice helped secure both widespread critical praise and a devoted following throughout the 2000s before she stepped out on her own with the 2010 release Obadiah. Her subsequent solo work ventured deeper into soul and R&B on the horn-laden Indian Ocean in 2014, an approach she refined with greater restraint on the 2020 album U Kin B the Sun.
Born in the Kootenays region of southeastern British Columbia, Ford began establishing herself as a musician after relocating to Vancouver, where she joined forces with Samantha Parton and Trish Klein in 1999 to create the Be Good Tanyas. The group’s engaging mix of vintage folk, country, blues, and pop elements quickly found an audience on Americana and folk stages, yielding the debut Blue Horse in 2001 and Chinatown two years later. Each member handled vocals and original material, with Ford contributing guitar and, at times, mandolin. Wider attention, particularly south of the border, arrived when her composition “In Spite of All the Damage” appeared on the soundtrack for the Showtime series The L Word, prompting further placements in television and film as well as the band’s third album, Hello Love, in 2005.
As the decade closed, the Be Good Tanyas had essentially concluded their run, prompting Ford to prepare her debut solo record. Working alongside multi-instrumentalist John Raham at his Vancouver studio, she shaped 2010’s Obadiah to retain echoes of the folk sensibility associated with her former group while introducing a stronger soul dimension. Ford and Raham expanded that direction on Indian Ocean, which was tracked between Memphis, Tennessee, and Vancouver; the 2014 set leaned heavily on her affinity for R&B, soul, and Motown and enlisted Al Green’s legendary Hi Rhythm Section as the core backing band. The resulting rich textures suited her smooth, captivating delivery, by then frequently likened to 1970s vocalists such as Ann Peebles and Roberta Flack. On her third album, U Kin B the Sun, Ford scaled back to a leaner, funk-tinged aesthetic accented by subtle psychedelic hues, issuing the record in 2020 through Canada’s Arts + Crafts label.
Born in the Kootenays region of southeastern British Columbia, Ford began establishing herself as a musician after relocating to Vancouver, where she joined forces with Samantha Parton and Trish Klein in 1999 to create the Be Good Tanyas. The group’s engaging mix of vintage folk, country, blues, and pop elements quickly found an audience on Americana and folk stages, yielding the debut Blue Horse in 2001 and Chinatown two years later. Each member handled vocals and original material, with Ford contributing guitar and, at times, mandolin. Wider attention, particularly south of the border, arrived when her composition “In Spite of All the Damage” appeared on the soundtrack for the Showtime series The L Word, prompting further placements in television and film as well as the band’s third album, Hello Love, in 2005.
As the decade closed, the Be Good Tanyas had essentially concluded their run, prompting Ford to prepare her debut solo record. Working alongside multi-instrumentalist John Raham at his Vancouver studio, she shaped 2010’s Obadiah to retain echoes of the folk sensibility associated with her former group while introducing a stronger soul dimension. Ford and Raham expanded that direction on Indian Ocean, which was tracked between Memphis, Tennessee, and Vancouver; the 2014 set leaned heavily on her affinity for R&B, soul, and Motown and enlisted Al Green’s legendary Hi Rhythm Section as the core backing band. The resulting rich textures suited her smooth, captivating delivery, by then frequently likened to 1970s vocalists such as Ann Peebles and Roberta Flack. On her third album, U Kin B the Sun, Ford scaled back to a leaner, funk-tinged aesthetic accented by subtle psychedelic hues, issuing the record in 2020 through Canada’s Arts + Crafts label.
Albums
Singles
