Greg Keyes

Greg Keyes is an award winning musician and a great Canadian guitarist. From rock to blues, flamenco to Jazz, Keyes can do it all. His ability to adapt to any performance situation, no matter what style of music it is, has won him the reputation as Newmarket Ontario’s best guitarist, and Toronto’s next major talent. Keyes’ musicianship and artistry attracted CBC’s attention and put his original music on the nationally televised television show Sport Compact TV.

As a 24 year old guitarist residing in Toronto Ontario, Keyes has already overcome many obstacles. After purchasing his first guitar at the age of twelve with money he had saved up from his paper route, he took lessons and quickly began to impress his teachers with his rapid ability to learn. However, only one year later he nearly lost one of his fingers in an ice skating accident. Two operations, and two years of physiotherapy ended up only being a minor hindrance for the ambitious guitarist. At the age of 16 he became the youngest guitar instructor at Newmarket Ontario’s main teaching academy The Arts Music Store. At only the age of 17, Keyes was playing for more than eight hours a day. Without knowing the dangers of playing for so long, Keyes developed tendonitis and had to temporarily stop playing music. After seeking the advice of many physicians who told him it was in his best interest to stop playing the guitar, Keyes met Barbara Paull, a musician’s therapist who coached him back to health.

In the years to come, Keyes completed a music degree at York University while studying on scholarship. There he studied with Toronto’s best musicians including Lorne Lofsky and Roger Scannura. He taught guitar part time to pay for bills while also performing in an original music rock band. At York he realized the importance of being a diverse musician. He focused on jazz guitar, while also learning electronic music, folk and flamenco guitar. Roger Scannura recognized Keyes’s talent and invited him to accompany his flamenco group Ritmo Flamenco. He received the Harvey-Marsden Jazz music award, and his final year he was acknowledged with the Imasco performance award, one of the most prestigious music awards at York. In the meantime he also completed his grade 8 classical guitar certificate through RCM. He was awarded a silver medal by RCM and is planning on completing the ARCT program.

After Keyes graduated he was offered a part time position teaching first year Jazz and Flamenco at York University. As one of York’s youngest professors he began to teach session guitarist Dan Kanter of the Fefe Dobson band. Kanter, impressed with the his professor, invited Keyes to join the Fefe Dobson band.

Today Keyes performs Flamenco, Jazz, Classical, and Contemporary Rock all over North America, while working on his Masters Degree in Composition. He currently plays in The Fefe Dobson, The Sarah Melody band, and he writes and performs for the band FNA. He teaches at York University and is the Music Director for AFC Arts Adventure camp. He has begun work on his debut album which he is also producing and engineering. Keep your ear open for the guitar mastery and versatility of Greg Keyes!