Michèle singer/songwriter on vocals and classical guitar.
Ken plays violin and provides backup vocals.
Winston produced "Adios Barcelona"
Ken Cade produced "Way of Life", "Mary Jane Parker", "Coming Home" (in the bathroom!)
Us performing live on CJSF90.1 FM.
Michèle, native to Southern Ontario, is a singer/songwriter who calls music home. Having lived in Texas, Baltimore and Toronto, and traveled extensively in the past, she has performed in diverse folk venues throughout North America. Her music began as a teen, when she taught herself how to read music and play the guitar. She had an opportunity to study classical guitar at Wilfrid Laurier University with a master player from Budapest. After moving to Toronto, she continued her studies with Eli Kassner, a student of Andrè Segovia and master teacher for Liona Boyd and Jesse Cook. During this period, she was also honing her songwriting craft and has written an abundance of songs. Her unique vocals stylings and songwriting was showcased for the first time in an electronic music duo when she toured Northern Ontario for a year. She performed top 40 songs and the odd original tune as she began exploring various vocal stylings to complement her unique songwriting. Shortly after that, Michèle embarked on a solo career, focusing solely on her own songs and making the rounds of folk clubs primarily in Toronto, Ontario. During that time, she became well known in venues such as the Renaissance Café, Freetimes Café, Holy Joes and the Tranzac Club. While living for short durations in the US, she was also a regular at clubs in Dallas, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. An avid folk festival supporter, she was featured at Mel Lastman Square in Toronto in 2004 during the Summer in the Square Music Festival when she teamed up with Michael Laderoute. www.mtladeroute.com. Michèle's biggest fan base is in Elora, Ontario among her dear friends Lynda and Terry Golletz. The beauty and natural setting of their home as well as Terry's artwork, has brought solace and inspiration to Michèle's songwriting. Michèle began recording her songs at Terry's 'Stream of Sound Studio' in Elora (www.terrygolletz.ca; myspace.com/terrygolletz). Most recently she made the move to Vancouver, BC, with an interest to broaden her songwriting and creative vocal stylings where she performs solo and in a duo with Ken. Her duo is called Sillken, which is quickly becoming popular at folk venues around Vancouver. The last couple of summers saw the duo drawing crowds busking on Granville Island. Ken studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as a teen and then studied with Terry Hallowick, Violinist in the Toronto Symphony who helped prepare him for successful auditions for the Chicago Civic Orchestra (Training Orchestra for the Chicago Symphony) and DePaul University (Chicago). Ken received a scholarship and studied music at DePaul for five years concentrating on violin and vocals. After his university years he began work in the film business. He was an assistant editor for many years, in charge of sound design for many commercials. Next, with the support of his employers, he started his own Sound design and Jingle company Sound Bytes (Toronto) and Edible Audio (Vancouver). Ken has won numerous Bessie awards for his commercial work. In the mid 90s Ken moved to Vancouver where he started working on feature films and television series. He was the sound designer for many successful TV series such as The Outer Limits, Poltergeist, Star Gate, Highlander and The 4400. He was nominated three times for a Gemini Award, twice for a Golden Reel Award, and, once for a Leo Award. He has won a Golden Reel and Leo Award as well as being nominated for an Emmy in 2008. Over the years he has expanded his abilities as a musician. After years of the constraints of classical music he discovered the joy of improvising in many styles from experimental to jazz and folk music. He produced and played on his first CD, The Other Side, for Laura Fernandez, a Toronto based singer songwriter. You can listen to mp3s at www.laurafernandezmusic.com. In the last few years he has enjoyed playing music with Michèle and has found a real chemistry that seems to move the people they perform for.
Listen to Sillken on this compilation Xmas cd in support of the BC-SPCA.
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Look for Sillken on the Acoustika Vol. 6 compilation cd produced by 272 Records.
Influences
Ricki Lee Jones, Nora Jones, Diane Krall, Sara McLachlan
Sounds Like
Ricki Lee Jones meets Jewel meets Emmy Lou Harris meets Neil Young meets Mazzie Star meets Nico (Velvet Underground-Christa Päffgen)
Sillken is made up of formerly two solo artists until recently - you may have seen them at the Freetimes Cafe, C'est What, and at other various acoustic gathering spots around Toronto. Sillken moved to Vancouver two years ago, where they are active on the west coast music scene. With warm vocals, classical guitar, and violin, Sillken weaves together a tapestry of heartfelt contemporary country/folk originals. Michèle's is one of those voices that draws you in and makes each song feel personal and intimate. Michèle has a great interest in furthering the cause of women and female performers. Some of her signature songs include a song that asks the question, What is a Woman? Often inspired by other womens stories, she has created the Elle Chronicles--a series of songs crafted from the words, phrases, text and partial or whole stories of real women depicted in this popular pop culture magazine. These melodic collages have become snapshots of the lives of everywoman, such as a moment in time with pregnant Mary Jane Parker or the neverending cycle of drug abuse and low self image of everywoman in the song, On and On. Endearingly, called the mistress of mellow, Michèle's music catches you off guard as it invites the listener to share the profound, yet familiar in her lyrics. Her songs are introspective, philosophical, historical, fictional and autobiographical. Comments about her music include the following: "Michèle writes reflective lyrical ballads, always charged with a message, which may keep you thinking for days or minutes - her writing transcends time. She has a unique vocal styling that provides a strong clean delivery for her tunes."--Brian Gladstone, Renaissance Café, Toronto. "A couple of Michèle's songs have been playing in my head since I last heard them. I find her music gentle with an edge and provocative; its like the total is more than the sum of the parts; it wants you to come closer and feel it; and the feeling gets you high."--Tim Mar, Little Mountain Neighborhood House, Vancouver.
Track of the Day Awarded Twice for our song "Way of Life"!
Enjoy--you can hear our version of Silent Night on Darkhorse Radio Dec. 17, 2006!
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I'm hitting the road in a couple of weeks to raise money for War Child, Coast-to-coast – 50 cities – ALL PROCEEDS TO WARCHILD. Why? 66% of all war victims are CHILDREN. Shocked like me? War Child helps these children that have been affected by war. Check out the new blog – the whole story is up there. Love to have you be a part of it.
You’ll find a Blog, Tour page and a Bio page. I’ll be blogging daily from the road.
first - thanks for the beautiful german words and the myspace friendship. very emotional songs and a very wonderful voice. i love your voice. greetings from munich/germany very best wishes from the love and peace
Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane.To those who don't know me, I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! new videos too! Ruby Jane
Oh boy! You're sweet AND lucky. So you get an audio lollipop! Go get your free downloadable lollipop of The DoneFors song "In a Cornfield" from www.thedonefors.com. You'll feel all sugar-rushy inside. Love, The DoneFors
When Im done my CD, (in the next month or so) you guys should pop over to the island and I'll record one of your best songs. Your sound is very, very, nice Love Georgina xoxox
well, it has been a long and winding road, and an even longer time coming, but my debut CD, I Remember, is FINALLY HERE!!! YAY!!!!!
to celebrate, American HeartBeat Records(tm) has arranged a FREE DOWNLOAD of Now Is The Time in exchange for a valid email address. Now Is The Time is a brand new, upbeat song I wrote: we are living in turbulent times. suddenly it is okay to be greedy and heartless? no way! a song of hope for our future, a new vision of America and the world.
we have a bunch of exciting things planned to kick this whole thing off, and we need to get a better picture of who our friends are, so the FREE DOWNLOAD form will ask you a few questions, like, what is your country and nearest major city. it all takes maybe 15 seconds.
anyhoo, the FREE DOWNLOAD, and the FUN, begins at www.JAETCHISON.com
I look forward to getting to know you a little better, and I thank you SO VERY MUCH for your friendship and support!
please tell your friends about JAETCHISON.com, and ask them to sign up for the email list, too! FUN things are coming up!!
hello sillken, just passing by your part of the world and thought i would grab a listen. sounding very good today. i must admit i was taken by your song WAY OF LIFE very beautiful indeed. you have a very sweet voice easy to get lost in. hope you have a great weekend.. peace love and understanding always allan
Thank you for your kind words. Terry was a great addition to the band and made a huge impression at his debut with us at The Moonshine Cafe. Very much enjoyed listening to your songs.
Your voice and sound is incredibly haunting, addicting and unique. It was cool to finally meet you and hear you! Thank you for saying by to my littlest one, she wanted to meet you two:-) We shall meet again! xo
I just finished listening to your posted songs. It's a privilege to share the upcoming comp CD with music like yours. I am from a long line of old time musicians including grandparents that ran taverns fot 40 years and provided some of the entertainment. My music is mostly a reflection of my experiences or someone close to me. Hope to hear more from you Michelle and Ken.
Hello! Just wanted to drop in and let you know that pre-orders for my new jazz standards album "Bittersweet" are now taking place! The first 100 pre-orders will receive a signed and numbered copy! Release date is set for May 19th, but you will get your copy a few days earlier! Kate and I are very excited about the record, and we can't wait for you to hear it. Head over to www.bittersweetthealbum.com to pre-order! Thanks! ~Mark
Why thank you. ANd Vancouver really is getting more and more beautiful as the seasons go on. Yes, working on playing live around here sometime soon.. Really enjoyed your sound too guys.. r u playing anywhere at the mo? Cheers Sunjack
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