Biography
Jo-Ann Lawton came “late” to the folk music scene, acquiring her first guitar in the early 80's, whilst in her 3rd decade (20 something).
Jo-Ann is self taught, and has no formal musical training. Her diploma in Fine Art from Fanshawe College hardily prepared her for the direction her adventure in music was to take her.
By the late 80's and early 90's much of her musical efforts were put into working with others in trios (No-In-Betweens [1988-1993] and Sirens [1995-2009].
Hearts Made Great Photo by Bert Denda
Sirens was originally a trio, featuring Jo-Ann Lawton, Donna Creighton and Nora Galloway.
Jo-Ann was singing and performing her music as a solo performer, and Nora had joined her to sing backup harmonies for several concerts. Donna joined them later to create the trio, Sirens. Originally Sirens performed only Jo-Ann's music, but with Jo-Ann's encouragement Nora and Donna also started to write songs. They recorded 2 CD's. The 2nd of those CD's with the all-Canadian folk label Borealis www.borealisrecords.com
No-In-Betweens
Top to bottom:
Jo-Ann Lawton, Lynn Devine, Myrna Bray
Original Sirens
left to right
Donna, Nora &
Jo-Ann
After Nora left the trio in 2002, (she followed a bluegrass dream with Foxtail www.foxtail.ca ) several other performers {including Jennifer Thorpe and Amber Cunningham} stepped into the breach. But none of them stood the test of time. After some soul searching, Donna & Jo-Ann decided to carry on together “alone”.
They performed across North America & recorded 2 more CD's, one of which earned them a nomination for a Canadian Folk Music Award.
Sirens were four-time winners of the London Music Awards, best Folk/World/Celtic group and two-time recipients of the Jack Richardson Folk/Roots award.
Jo-Ann co-conceived, co-produced and performed in Hearts Made Great with Orchestra London, which might run again close to Remembrance Day.
But in September of 2009, after14 years together, but almost 2 years of not doing any collaborative music, Donna Creighton & Jo-Ann Lawton decided to officially disband as a Musical Duo, and they will no longer be working together. Despite the many accolades from fans, and the near National fame achieved in 2007, with a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination, Donna and Jo-Ann had gone separate ways, with individual projects and personal and family matters taking precedence over their collective musical endeavours for the previous two years, and the time had come for both of them to move on.
Sirens (the duo) onstage with Tanglefoot.
Home County Folk Festival 2007
Jo-Ann Lawton was a solo artist long before she conceived playing with trios or duos.
Whether singing harmonies with others or working alone, Jo-Ann is an accomplished performer. She has a voice that will hush a drinking crowd (though she rarely performs in bars){unless they are Folk Clubs}
Jo-Ann’s song writing is influenced by the musical stylings of the 40s, and crosses the boundaries between contemporary folk, rock-a-billy, blues and country.
Her songs cross the oceans from poignant heart-wrenching ballads to upbeat sing-a-longs with a dash of humour. You will never be bored listening to Jo-Ann’s music.
Jo-Ann also runs 'song writing workshops’. More recently, Jo-Ann has originated “one-on-one” 'song writing workshops', just herself and the prospective song writer. In the first of these workshops, the song that came out of the project was "Three Daughters, Three Sons"; a great song and a co-write with her friend Janey Botting, who had never written a song in her life before, but wanted to write it as a tribute and memorial to her mother.
That song should be on the next CD.
<<<< Click here for larger image
Songwriter Singer
Jo-Ann’s musical endeavours over the last three decades have been very diverse, but her latest challenge has been to learn many traditional and old-time-favourite songs which she performs (solo) at various Old Folks Homes, and at various functions around the area with an ensemble of (up to) seven ukulele playing ladies {the Ukellettes}
Solo performances by this Artist, of her original material, have been rarer occurrences over the years, but the opportunity to see and hear her is hapenning regularly now at the East Village Coffeehouse
