Biography
While countless performers chase fame by relocating to major urban centers, Kim Beggs discovered both creative inspiration and an expanding audience after settling in a remote yet striking region of Canada. Born in Val d'Or, Quebec, she spent her early years moving repeatedly with her family between mining communities across northern Ontario. During her teenage period the household relocated once more, this time to Toronto, yet Beggs soon found urban life unsuited to her temperament. With only fifty dollars in hand she packed her possessions into a backpack, acquired an inexpensive guitar, and boarded a bus bound for the Canadian Yukon.
There she earned a living as a carpenter while occasionally singing and playing at gatherings with acquaintances. Several years passed before she began composing original material, at which point her companions urged her to present the songs publicly. Her initial opportunity arrived when Kim Barlow included Beggs’ composition “Low Down” as a concealed bonus track on the album Gingerbread. Beggs completed her first demo in 2002 and followed it with the 2003 EP Beautiful. The candid, emotionally resonant quality of her work secured appearances on multiple regional compilations and a performance slot in a CBC Radio One national broadcast featuring musicians from Canada’s northern territories; she also joined Anne Louise Genest for the cross-country tour Those Bloomin’ Yukoners.
Near the close of 2004 Genest issued her debut album, Streetcar Heart, through the Yukon-based Caribou Records label. Folk-focused Canadian radio outlets responded warmly, prompting the autumn 2006 release of the follow-up full-length Wanderer’s Paean.
There she earned a living as a carpenter while occasionally singing and playing at gatherings with acquaintances. Several years passed before she began composing original material, at which point her companions urged her to present the songs publicly. Her initial opportunity arrived when Kim Barlow included Beggs’ composition “Low Down” as a concealed bonus track on the album Gingerbread. Beggs completed her first demo in 2002 and followed it with the 2003 EP Beautiful. The candid, emotionally resonant quality of her work secured appearances on multiple regional compilations and a performance slot in a CBC Radio One national broadcast featuring musicians from Canada’s northern territories; she also joined Anne Louise Genest for the cross-country tour Those Bloomin’ Yukoners.
Near the close of 2004 Genest issued her debut album, Streetcar Heart, through the Yukon-based Caribou Records label. Folk-focused Canadian radio outlets responded warmly, prompting the autumn 2006 release of the follow-up full-length Wanderer’s Paean.
Albums
