PHOTO : AMY WILLARD came lead singer with Whale Tooth , from roughly 2009 to 2012 , and played gigs at venues like Lee ’ s Palace and Sneaky Dee ’ s around Toronto , and slots at some festivals like NXNE . Music journalist Adam Bunch called her former band “ one of Toronto ’ s best live acts ” and described LeGrow ’ s “ frontwomaning with Whale Tooth some of the best frontwomaning a city full of amazing frontwomaning ” had to offer . Indeed , their always energetic shows featured songs that were both quirky (“ Growing Pains ”), and straight-ahead but catchy indie tunes (“ Wolves ”).
LeGrow wistfully explains , “ We toured Canada a couple of times but met the fate of a lot of bands when you ’ re in your 20s . There were political differences that led to our demise , but it was a lot of fun , a really good experience . I still really love that song , ‘ Wolves ,’ the video for which we filmed in an alley off Queen and Bathurst .”
But even though the band had split up , LeGrow had something comfortable to fall back on – or , rather , continue doing , as she ’ d been performing standards all throughout her time in Whale Tooth .
Around the time the band broke up in 2012 , LeGrow put out a self-titled EP that included the original song “ No Good Woman ,” which made some waves in Canada . But since very few outside of Canada heard that collection , she promises that revamped versions of its cuts will appear on her next record of originals .
“ At various points in my career , I ’ ve had the opportunity to perform all these types of music , and all have informed where I ’ ve landed now .”
Anyway , after 2012-13 , LeGrow found herself looking for a label partner that could support her future career aspirations . “ I took meetings but didn ’ t find the interest in making the kind of records I wanted to make ,” she says candidly . “ And , I wanted to tour with a live band . I had a vision that others didn ’ t seem to share . There were also suggestions of me going a lot more pop , and that wasn ’ t what I wanted to do .”
But she persisted and through a great contact with Toronto ’ s Awesome Music and its founder , Asim Awan , she got a meeting with S-Curve ’ s Steve Greenberg , who ’ d gotten a copy of “ No Good Woman ” and was impressed . LeGrow recalls , “ A guitarist and I went down in February 2016 , and I performed a few songs in S-Curve ’ s beautiful Manhattan office on the 19 th floor with a gorgeous view .”
She killed the audition and S-Curve saw an opportunity to put the Soul Sessions creative / production team back together and let LeGrow delve into Chess ’ s richly varied catalogue – most of which falls under the S-Curve / BMG and Sony / ATV umbrellas .
With S-Curve ’ s help , LeGrow narrowed the massive list of options down to about 30 songs . She explains her three major selection criteria : “ First , for anything I want to sing , it has to have a strong melody . I ’ m going to sing these songs over and over — god forbid , they become successful — and sing them for the rest of my life . Two and three are connected ; either they have to personally resonate with me , or they have a compelling story I want to tell with characters you care about . So basically , everything on the record has two of those criteria , with melody being the foremost , and then either one of the other two – something personally relatable or a cool story . I mean , with ‘ Who Do You Love ,’ I ’ ve never killed a guy or never been in prison , so it ’ s about someone who ’ s had a life much different than mine , but it ’ s a pretty cool story and worth re-telling .”
While the Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs stand out , she says it was a treat to find some unassuming , lesser known
40 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN