Dominique Royer

Dominique Royer was born and raised in the remote northern community of Blind River, Ontario, which is situated on Lake Huron's beautiful North Channel, and contains a culture molded by a century of logging history. With virtually no outlets for youth to foster their artistic talents, Dominique's growth for music began while singing at church, in school choir, and for audiences at home, where he quickly learned to develop his own unique voice.

Though never formally trained, Dominique always surrounded himself with music enthusiasts and local musicians, from which he learned to embrace music as a lifestyle. Whether singing alongside a guitar to his grandfather's own compositions or writing a song of his own to perform for his family, Dominique's earliest imitations saw his true potential as an artist, both as a performer and as a songwriter.

Following a well-rounded education, Dominique left Blind River in pursuit of understanding the world with a broader view, which brought him to the University of Guelph to study within an Interdisciplinary Arts Program. His studies included English Literature and Language, Studio Art, Architectural Studies, and Anthropology. However, after completing three years of an English Literature Degree at the University of Guelph, Dominique began to feel a change of direction in his life, a pull, which brought him back to Northern Ontario to begin pursuing music as a profession.

After a year long stint in Sudbury (both writing and performing live), Dominique moved to the city of Toronto in further pursuance of his passion for music. Though Toronto was able to bring out great things for him (such as honing his songwriting and performance skills, connecting with local musicians, and finding his true identity), Dominique felt his inspiration had been lost since relocating from his natural element of the suburbs. With no inspiration and a yearning to leave the hustle and bustle of Toronto, Dominique took a step forward, and relocated back to the North to settle in and start work on his forthcoming record.

June 2009 marks the release of Dominique's highly anticipated debut record 'The Blackbook'. Produced by none other than Ottawa, ON's Dave Draves (Kathleen Edwards, Jim Bryson, Julie Doiron), 'The Blackbook' features a selection of 11 original songs, laid out raw and real for listeners. As a testament to his love and appreciation for all types of music, 'The Blackbook' is a marriage between Dominique's cultural background and his many musical inspirations throughout the years.