marianne turner

Marianne Turner bases her music on personal and intense struggles. Her lyrics and performance promise to keep any crowd captivated.
(Re: Barrie New Music Festival, September 2009, photo of Marianne Turner featured as well. ) - Barrie Advance

4 Page Artist Profile Feature in Magazine, plus 5 photos:


Marianne Turner's got something to sing about.

Marianne Turner’s got many things worth coveting: a sultry voice; a unique beauty; a sense of self she’s fought hard to define; a 2008 nomination for Best Live Folk Artist: a talent for writing piercing lyrics; and an Uptown Magnetawan t-shirt.

“I remember everyone had ‘Downtown Magnetawan’ t-shirts,” laughs Turner. “My friend and I had ‘Uptown’ ones. We thought we were so cool.”

A small community in the Almaguin Highlands, Magnetawan is west of Hwy. 11 and about half an hour north of Huntsville. Travel east on Hwy 520 or Hwy 124 and you’ll find it, but don’t expect either of these routes to lead you to an uptown or downtown Magnetawan. Those places only exist on -shirts.“It’s such a small place, but it was such a great place to grow up,” she recalls.

Turner’s connection to this rural area runs deep – decades deep.

“My parents, Carol and Ken Turner, own a cottage resort in the Mag,” she explains. “They’ve owned Woodland Echoes Cottage Resort for over 35 years, and my grandparents had it for 25 years
before that.”

The resort sits on the bank of the Magnetawan River between Ahmic and Cecebe lakes.

“I remember the fresh water, swimming and playing, those traditional summer fun times in the north. But there was also a lot of work (at Woodland Echoes) like cutting grass, raking beaches and cleaning cottages,” said Turner. “People came from all over the world to stay at the resort, and it was cool to meet different kids. To know they’d come back the next year.”

These days Turner lives in Toronto but spent her youth in Muskoka, Almaguin and North Bay.

“Going back home is always great,” says Turner.

Mixed with this northern upbringing is an exotic heritage passed on to her by her birth-parents. Turner was born in Ottawa to a Kenyan birth-father and a French-Canadian birth-mother. She was
adopted by Carol and Ken Turner at the age of eight months and this family would grow to include siblings Dana, Jennifer and David.

Being adopted set Turner on an “insatiable search for self identity,” and it’s something she continues to wrestle with.

“I think I carried a lot of shame in my life and I won’t do it anymore,” says Turner, who traces her feelings of inadequacy back to her adoption. “My earliest memories of preschool were of feeling
not good enough. I guess I’ve never felt I had a place or a person to connect to, and I carry the feeling that I’ve done something wrong. It’s a feeling I can’t pinpoint, and it’s definitely not the case, but
that’s where the shame comes from.”

Parallel to this search for self has been her drive to create and perform.

“Music was always there, always a part of me,” said Turner. “There was always singing, dancing and drama.”

She performed on stage throughout high school and her Sheridan College years, where she pursued training in dance, theatre and vocals. Turner also studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Her love of travel saw her take her talents to the water, working for the Holland America and Royal Caribbean cruise lines in their main stage productions.

Then there was the time she performed to a crowd of 4,000-plus as part of a Spice Girls tribute band. It was a little over 12 years ago, and she sang the role of Scary Spice, aka Melanie Brown.

“In some ways larger crowds are more freeing because you have a bigger space around you,” she said. “In smaller venues it can be harder to let go, easier to get distracted.”

The tribute band toured around the East Coast and Turner was touched by the fans who waited for them after the shows.

“This one little girl would write me letters and we wrote back and forth for quite awhile,” she said.

With Let Her Let Go, gone are the sequined costumes and staged stylings of the cruise lines and Spice Girls numbers. This EP, produced by Juno-nominated Douglas Romanow, is fundamentally personal and
lyrically unapologetic. On Let Her Let Go Turner sings of love, loss and strength with a voice that is at times jarring in its emotions and at others as soothing as a lullaby.

“I say what I feel in a really honest, open and raw way,” she says. “We all have those moments of anger that we don’t really mean. I accept those moments and I don’t feel bad or ashamed of them.”

When Turner sings “I could rip off your head for changing your mind,” on the track Make Up Your Mind, listeners can relate. The song, about a woman whose lover has gone back to his ex, is emotionally charged.

Let Her Let Go is “a collection of songs that have held me in the past,” says Turner, a self-professed dweller. “I hold onto things, I always have.I’m getting better at letting things go and the title of the recording is a statement of where I was at that time in my life; of how I wanted to move forward.”

Part of moving forward has also meant embracing and speaking about her eating disorder, an illness she knows many women struggle with.

“When I was going through the eating disorder I felt shame, but now I don’t,” says Turner. “I knew it was unhealthy and was ashamed that I was behaving that way, but I got out of that because I told someone. That’s the only way I could make it stop is if I told someone.”

With truthful, beautiful music and a drive to succeed, Turner has made a name for herself on the Toronto indie music scene. She was recently nomination for Best Folk Artist at the Toronto Independent Music Awards.

“It’s an honour, but it was a bit of a surprise because I’ve never thought of myself as a folk artist,” said Turner with a laugh. “It’s a real honour to be acknowledged for my work.”

Let Her Let Go is enjoying chart success, with Butterflies and One Hundred and Eighty taking nods for track of the day and week on GarageBand.com. Visit www.marianneturner.ca to hear Turner’s work and to find out about her upcoming gigs.

She’s planning a tour throughout Ontario for late fall, with stops hopefully in Georgian Bay, North Bay and Muskoka. - Beyond the City Magazine

North Bay native Marianne Turner performs at the Wall, Thursday night. The independent pop rock singer's debut EP is Let Her Let Go. Her performance was the showcase of the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities Central Regional Conference.

Performance Photo also published. - The North Bay Nugget

"In my estimation Marianne Turner is 'the real deal'. She is one of those rare artists who totally engages the audience both musically and with her stage presence."
-Jane Harbury
Jane Harbury Publicity
Toronto, ON - Jane Harbury Publicity

"Marianne Turner's music is alive with passion, soul and honesty. Her collection of new songs display a musical and emotional maturity beyond her years. She is a dedicated and determined talent worth watching as she reaches for the stars."
-Liz Janik
President
Janik Media
- Liz Janik

"Armed with a truly beautiful and simultaneously strong and vulnerable voice, Marianne Turner's songs paing vivid pictures, and they captivate."
Blair Packham
Singer Songwriter - Blair Packham

"Marianne Turner's poetic song writing, coupled with a unique voice that can travel from rock to folk, make her a talent to watch out for."
Jay Devonish
Koch Entertainment Canada - Jay Devonish

"Marianne's songs are lyrically strong and carry a great depth to them. Her music is enjoyable and her unique sound and vibe separate her from so many of her peers".
Daniel Mekinda
ibentertainment
- Daniel Mekinda

Rarely does an artist reveal so much potential within a few notes softly sung in an opening song, but “North Of Bloor�, the first sampling from Marianne Turner’s first EP “Let Her Let Go�, does just that, in that it illuminates a simply phenomenal independent artist and reveals her true musical beauties. A compelling and wicked collection from start until all-too-short stop, Marianne’s EP serves as the perfect vehicle to showcase her countless talents. Produced and selectively co-written by Juno-nominated Douglas Romanow, “Let Her Let Go� holds all the pertinent elements to a raw and unique record. Heavier tracks like “Underneath� are paired with breezy vocals, a captivating concept which allows Marianne’s voice to soar. Turner’s impeccable songwriting skills, seen through each of her recordings, work hand in hand with voice and a full-piece band to produce a record that doesn’t simply glisten, but truly shimmers. From “Freckles Fly� to “Butterflies�, it’s more than clear that Marianne Turner is an artist who, because of personal struggles and emotional rifts, is able to take the sorrows of her past and create truly wonderful vocals out of them. These songs however, are not inaccessible, rather, they are radio-pleasant yet intimately satisfying, allowing for the closed-appeal of Sarah McLachlan blended with the gregarious boom of Alanis Morisette, along with so many other intuitive and influential female voices in between. “Let Her Let Go� is truly an artist’s record, where the vibrancy and number of influences blend together to create a new, dynamic sound that doesn’t need to be overly flashy to get its crucial, and appealing message across to the masses. With this EP, it is so clear that Marianne is a pristine talent who deserves praise limited only by time.

- Matt Chisling -All Music Guide