Juno-winning R&B singer Jully Black will set off on her first tour in a decade across Canada this winter.Supplied
We see R&B singer Jully Black everywhere. If she’s not singing a controversial version of the Canadian national anthem at an NBA all-star game, she’s on the theatre stage for an award-winning turn in a production of Caroline, Or Change or competing on CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada. Currently her face is plastered on Toronto Transit Commission shelters as part of a Sinai Health Foundation campaign for menopause awareness.
Where we haven’t seen her is on the road. That changes this month, when the Juno-winning artist tours Canada for the first time in a decade. It’s a curious choice for a multitalented performer to cross the country in the middle of winter, with no new album to promote and at a time when rocketing costs make touring riskier than ever.
She spoke to The Globe and Mail about her motivations, her new management team and playing Montreal for the first time in 17 years.
What possessed you to tour Canada for the first time in 10 years, and in the coldest months of the year?
There’s a tattoo on my arm of a bridge. I’ve always been a connector. I’m 47 years old, feeling healthier than ever. So, with this tour, I’m literally canvassing Canada. I’m hitting every city, seeing who’s out there. I’m doing it like Blue Rodeo – Jim Cuddy and the boys.
Blue Rodeo tours relentlessly, though. Where they’ve built up an audience, you’ve been off the road for a decade. When was the last time you played Montreal?
I haven’t played Montreal since the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2008. Canada is lacking in platforms for Black music, and for Black artists, period. But there are audiences out there who want to see us, and there are performing-arts centres who have decided, “You know what, we’re going to bet on Jully.”
Black says her tour is about building community: ‘Look at the world today. If there is ever a time to show we’re together, this is it.’Supplied
It’s definitely a bet touring these days and hitting markets you’ve been away from for a long time.
I have an incredible team. I’ve done a lot of editing over the last few years – new manager, new agent, new publicist and a new band. I had to align with people who are ready to weather the storm. We’re all entrepreneurs. The production company providing the equipment are young entrepreneurs.
You’ve hooked up with the high-powered Paquin Entertainment Artist Agency. How did that unfold?
This is two years in the making. We sat down two years ago, right before I sang the national anthem at the NBA all-sar game. They told me it was going to take time to introduce my name to the performing-arts centres. Imagine the patience I had to have, wanting to go on tour.
At the NBA all-star game in Utah, you changed the lyrics from “our home and native land” to “our home on native land” out of respect for Canadian Indigenous people. That’s a big gig. How did you land it?
I have a great friend, Leisa Washington, who dwells in the sports space. She put me forward to do the anthem during the NBA Finals in 2019, when the Raptors won. I was on deck, getting ready, and then they changed directions. I won’t lie, it was disappointing. But I let it go. Fast forward to Dec. 21, 2022, out of the blue an e-mail pops in through my website from the NBA asking if I’d be interested in doing the anthem for the all-star game.
If you had done the anthem in 2019, you probably wouldn’t have got the all-star game in 2022. And the all-star game gave you greater exposure.
The universe had a bigger plan for me. All I had to do is trust the process. Examples like that help me get through life.
Will you make money on this tour, or is it about building your brand?
I have other ways of making money. I do speaking events and I have other businesses. For this tour, we need butts in seats. We feel we’re able to do this and not lose hope, lose dignity and not lose our homes or our cars [laughs]. This isn’t a “get Jully rich plan.” This is building community. Look at the world today. If there is ever a time to show we’re together, this is it.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Jully Black’s tour begins Feb. 7, at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, Oakville, Ont., and ends March 11, at Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre, Camrose, Alta.
