OUR STORY
Empress Music
is a record label run by
Emilie-Claire Barlow
and Steve Webster.
Emilie-Claire founded Empress in 2005 to release her 4th album Like a Lover and has released eight more full length albums and many singles in subsequent years both as a solo artist and as Bocana, her duo project with Steve Webster.
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In 2013 Emilie-Claire and Steve joined forces in life and music to arrange and orchestrate the Juno Award winning album Clear Day, (Vocal Jazz Album of the Year) featuring Holland's Metropole Orkest. Barlow and Webster were also honoured with a Producer of the Year nomination at the 2016 Juno Awards for this effort.
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Now, the duo is taking their combined 60+ years of experience in the music business, and their passion for creating and sharing music to the next level by presenting the music of additional artists.
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Our music is distributed by Believe Music
about
Empress Music Group
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Steve Webster
Musician - Composer - Arranger - Producer
From rocking out with Billy Idol to arranging a symphony orchestra for Emilie-Claire Barlow's "Clear Day"... award winning composer, bassist and producer Steve Webster has been working at the leading edge of music for over 30 years. An early adopter of music technology, Steve includes video editing, photography and audio engineering in his arsenal of talents.
Not only a master of technology ... Steve is also renowned as a bassist and has recorded and toured with multi-platinum artists such as Billy Idol, The Parachute Club and Alannah Myles. Working with many star producers and engineers, including Daniel Lanois (U2,Peter Gabriel), Michael Beinhorn (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Paul Northfield (The Police) and Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam), Steve has had the opportunity to learn from the best.
While spending most of his life in a recording studio, Webster is no stranger to the stage. During the 80's and 90's he performed before well over a million people in hundreds of venues across the globe.
His 2016 Juno Award nomination for "Producer of the Year" and win for "Clear Day" (Best Vocal Jazz Album) book ends his 1984 Juno Award nomination for "Composer of the Year" and Juno win for "Single of the Year" for The Parachute Club's "Rise Up". Steve was recently inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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Emilie-Claire Barlow
Singer - Musician - Composer - Arranger - Producer
A two-time Juno Award winner and seven-time nominee, Barlow has released 12 self-produced albums. Emilie-Claire has sold over 150,000 albums worldwide, and has amassed over 190 million streams on digital platforms.
Her performing career spans over 24 years in venues ranging from Toronto’s storied Montreal Bistro, Tokyo’s Cotton Club and more recently concerts with symphony orchestras at Toronto’s Massey Hall and Montreal’s Maison Symphonique. She has performed at the Montreal jazz Festival on 7 occasions including a 2015 performance on the Main Stage with 50,000 people attending.
Ms. Barlow has lead bands featuring the finest musician’s in Canada. Her work as a band leader and producer has been recognized with a Juno Award nomination for “Producer of Year” for her recording “Clear Day” — notable for being only the 2nd Jazz recording nominated in this category. Ms. Barlow is also one of a very few women to be honoured as “Producer of the Year”.
Fluent in English and French, Ms. Barlow also sings in Portuguese and Spanish. Her all francophone recording “Seule ce soir” won a Juno and Felix Award in 2013 representing an unprecedented achievement in Canadian bilingualism.
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Emilie-Claire has recently released a series of James Taylor covers (The JT Project) and is currently beginning work on a new album.
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