Alison Jane

Toronto singer-songwriter Alison Jane’s powerful new single, “Where We Went Wrong,” needed little embellishment to get the raw emotion behind the lyric out. The stirring soul song is the first release from her forthcoming EP and came from a very real place. You can hear it. 

The vocals were performed and written by Alison and the song was recorded, produced, and co-written by Kiril Travinski in Toronto. 

The song started out as an impromptu jam between Alison and Kiril at a studio in Guelph, Ontario during a break from a collaborative studio project; through which Alison was introduced to Kiril. The song didn’t get touched until a year later when they finally got together to finish what they started. It then evolved from the original emotional motivation to being about a relationship that feels one-sided. 

“It came from an emotional torrent of sadness. The original motivation came from the hurts of romantic relationships. A year later, when I had found out about a close family member being ill, the melody came pouring out like an avalanche and I was able to improvise most of the vocal performance and finish writing the song.” 

Alison has been influenced by the music of the ‘70s, the Motown music of the 60s and ahead to the 90s, the grunge movement. 

Arguably predisposed to a life of music, Alison inherited her musical talents from both her maternal grandmother who played the piano and her paternal grandfather who was a well known professional musician and bandleader who sold records all over the world and recorded at Abby Road Studios. Alison showed real emotion as a singer from the age of three, when she emigrated with her family from London, England to Toronto, Canada. She would stand up in shopping carts and just belt it out. She started composing her own songs at eight. In grade 2, she asked her teacher if she could sing a few songs in front of the class, a couple written by her uncle and aunt, and one of her originals. The teacher told her mother, “She’s such a shy girl with such a big voice.” 

That was such a significant statement, Alison always remembered it. She picked up the guitar at age 11 and started writing songs all the time; eventually getting good enough to play in bands all throughout high school and during her entire career. She hasn’t really stopped. She’s become an accomplished guitar player and has picked up the bass guitar along the way. She has also composed songs on her keyboard. Alison has worked tirelessly to maintain her vocal prowess and has trained with a coach regularly for the past few years. After graduating high school, she took a year of music biz and tech courses at Harris Institute For The Arts, then dove into singing and writing again. 

In between performing,composing and collaborating with other artists and producers, over the past decade, Alison recorded and released two albums. More recently, Alison teamed with Jeff Karlechuk on an acoustic duo called Sunny Nights. She also had the learning experience of singing backup with former INXS singer JD Fortune for his band Fortune in 2013, including recording some songs and performing their debut gig at the famed Stone Pony in New Jersey. 

What is Alison Jane’s dream? “I want my music to be raw and organic. A typical four piece, but I’d love a full orchestra, including horns, strings, back-up singers. I want to be a touring act with all that behind me.”