Biography
Rae Billing first drew attention fronting Crybaby, the alternative country ensemble formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Songwriting skills she brought to the project helped lift the group’s profile across her home country upon the 1996 appearance of Paintings, their debut full-length. Those same vocals and compositions also earned scattered listeners south of the border the following year, when Crybaby performed at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival. Although the band dissolved in 1997 after only three years together, its inaugural album had already stirred considerable notice on the Toronto scene; Eye Magazine placed Paintings among the city’s three best country releases of the year, alongside work by Lyle Lovett.
Billing spent her early life in Metchosin on Vancouver Island, assisting her mother on the family farm. Before reaching twenty she left home and traveled, landing first in London for a two-year period working in fashion. Upon returning to Canada she studied art, yet continued to feel restless and took up skydiving, pursuing the sport in Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton before finally settling in Toronto. The death of a friend in the early 1990s prompted her to begin writing songs; after testing material at local open-mic nights she recorded a six-song demo that received frequent airplay on CKLN, a Toronto college station. That exposure led directly to the formation of Crybaby.
Once the group disbanded, Billing teamed again with Toronto producer Peter J. Moore, who had already worked on Crybaby’s debut. He assembled a studio band for her self-titled album that included guitarists Rob Philipp and Rick Whitelaw, drummer Kevan McKenzie, bassist Peter Cardinali, and keyboardist Dave McMorrow. She later assembled her own road group consisting of drummer Michael Clifton, bassist Chris Bennett, and guitarist and backing vocalist Bob McNiven.
Billing spent her early life in Metchosin on Vancouver Island, assisting her mother on the family farm. Before reaching twenty she left home and traveled, landing first in London for a two-year period working in fashion. Upon returning to Canada she studied art, yet continued to feel restless and took up skydiving, pursuing the sport in Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton before finally settling in Toronto. The death of a friend in the early 1990s prompted her to begin writing songs; after testing material at local open-mic nights she recorded a six-song demo that received frequent airplay on CKLN, a Toronto college station. That exposure led directly to the formation of Crybaby.
Once the group disbanded, Billing teamed again with Toronto producer Peter J. Moore, who had already worked on Crybaby’s debut. He assembled a studio band for her self-titled album that included guitarists Rob Philipp and Rick Whitelaw, drummer Kevan McKenzie, bassist Peter Cardinali, and keyboardist Dave McMorrow. She later assembled her own road group consisting of drummer Michael Clifton, bassist Chris Bennett, and guitarist and backing vocalist Bob McNiven.
Albums
