Biography
After gaining stage experience in Southern Ontario folk venues, Mae Moore joined Foreign Legion for her initial professional break and spent the mid-'80s refining a detailed acoustic style that began attracting wider notice. Going independent in 1985, she composed “Heaven in Your Eyes,” which Loverboy transformed into a major hit two years later through its placement in the Tom Cruise film Top Gun, though Moore herself received little recognition at the time. A fortuitous introduction to Colin Nairne, guitarist for Barney Bentall, proved decisive when Nairne helped her cut a first demo that secured a contract with CBS Records.
Issued exclusively in Canada, the 1990 album Oceanview Motel yielded the radio favorite “I’ll Watch Over You” as its opening single, yet broader momentum developed gradually. For the follow-up, CBS matched Moore with the Church’s Steven Kilbey; despite an immediate rapport, Kilbey’s substance-related difficulties derailed the Bohemia sessions, leaving Gavin MacKillop—who had previously worked with the Church and Toad the Wet Sprocket—to complete the project. Epic released the album in 1992, and its title track marked Moore’s strongest success to date, sending the atmospheric spoken-word piece into the Canadian Top Ten while drawing modern-rock airplay south of the border. Dragonfly arrived in 1995 but fell short of Bohemia’s commercial performance; shortly after receiving the SOCAN Award for most-played radio song with “Genuine,” Moore was dropped by the label and relocated to the quieter shores of Prince Edward Island to regroup.
En route, she began searching for the daughter she had placed for adoption at nineteen. A head-on collision at ninety miles per hour nearly proved fatal, yet the ordeal prompted deep personal reflection that brought her a measure of peace. Fellow vocalist and longtime friend Jann Arden, who had launched her own Big Hip Records, reached out and urged Moore to return to the studio; the collaboration produced her self-titled 1999 release. Three years later came It’s a Funny World.
Issued exclusively in Canada, the 1990 album Oceanview Motel yielded the radio favorite “I’ll Watch Over You” as its opening single, yet broader momentum developed gradually. For the follow-up, CBS matched Moore with the Church’s Steven Kilbey; despite an immediate rapport, Kilbey’s substance-related difficulties derailed the Bohemia sessions, leaving Gavin MacKillop—who had previously worked with the Church and Toad the Wet Sprocket—to complete the project. Epic released the album in 1992, and its title track marked Moore’s strongest success to date, sending the atmospheric spoken-word piece into the Canadian Top Ten while drawing modern-rock airplay south of the border. Dragonfly arrived in 1995 but fell short of Bohemia’s commercial performance; shortly after receiving the SOCAN Award for most-played radio song with “Genuine,” Moore was dropped by the label and relocated to the quieter shores of Prince Edward Island to regroup.
En route, she began searching for the daughter she had placed for adoption at nineteen. A head-on collision at ninety miles per hour nearly proved fatal, yet the ordeal prompted deep personal reflection that brought her a measure of peace. Fellow vocalist and longtime friend Jann Arden, who had launched her own Big Hip Records, reached out and urged Moore to return to the studio; the collaboration produced her self-titled 1999 release. Three years later came It’s a Funny World.
Albums
