Bluesativa began in 2002, in a Toronto basement. Adam King, Sue Passmore and Graeme Cornies all crossed paths in the music program at York University and got involved in a few projects between the three of them. After graduating in 2002, Passmore left the city. Meanwhile, King and hometown friend Joel Stouffer, fresh out of the Drummer's Collective in New York City, and playing with Andy Stochansky and Matthew Barber, began a basement project which put to use King's slick production, and Stouffer's writing and second love rhodes piano. Late that summer, Passmore and King touched base, bringing Passmore to Toronto for a session to add vocals to a track in progress. All three were taken a-back by the end product, which is the now popular track Somedays, and that weekend sealed the deal. Passmore moved back to Toronto within two months and the writing of the first album began.
Bluesativa settled into the final five-some that fall, adding Cornies on guitar and Dustin Harris on bass. Dustin was connected through Graeme as a member of former London, ON, group Fellow Nameless, later Toronto's VanA Primer, and was already of good friend of the rest of the group. After hitting the live stage in the summer of 2003, the debut album was released in January 2004.
Comparable to the UK's Thievery Corporation and St.Germain, and USA's Erykah Badu, Bluesativa offered up a fresh combination of electronic-based R&B, with undertones of urban, jazz, and drum'n'bass. Combining Passmore's sultry, often Sade-esque vocals, Stouffer on the Rhodes piano, Cornies' guitar, Harris' bass and King's sampling and manipulation of electronic beats, the group gathered a significant following across a wide demographic.
Though the group is currently on hiatus, the self-titled, debut album continues to receive high acclaim from audiences and the music occasionally appears as part of Sue's live show as a solo artist. The most noteable accomplishment for the group to date is hearing the track "Not My Way To Live" on CSI:NY in November of 2006. The group has also been featured on CMYK 88.1, Carleton University Radio, York University Radio and Roger's Television. 2004's venues included the Molson Amphitheatre - House of Blues side stage, the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, a monthly residency at the Hush Underbar, and various out of town appearances.
Keep one ear to the ground... there may be another album yet.
In the meantime, paruse the band members' other projects:
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