Biography

A Saskatoon native transplanted to the Niagara Region of Ontario, Suzie Vinnick is the proud owner of a gorgeous voice, prodigious guitar and bass chops, and an engagingly candid performance style.

Her career has seen triumph after triumph. Among her most recent successes: being awarded the 2019 Saskatchewan Jazz Festival Special Recognition Award; being nominated for a 2018 Canadian Folk Music Award for Producer of the Year with her co-producer, Mark Lalama.  Suzie achieved finalist status in the Solo/Duo Category at the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN; received the 2012 CBC Saturday Night Blues Great Canadian Blues Award and the 2012 Sirius XM Canada Blues Artist of the Year. Suzie has won 11 Maple Blues Awards (she has been nominated for 21 so far!), won the 2011 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Vocalist of the Year and is a 3X Juno Nominee.

Suzie has toured nationally with Downchild,  Stuart McLean’s The Vinyl Café and the John McDermott Band, and performed for Canadian Peacekeepers in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf. She was also the voice of Tim Horton’s for 5 years.

Suzie’s latest album is a full-band roots and blues extravaganza entitled Shake The Love Around.

 

Suzie Vinnick on The Canadian Encyclopedia

Suzie Vinnick on Wikipedia

 

QUOTES

“Suzie Vinnick is a unique talent; a triple threat singer/songwriter/guitarist. She is emotive, joyous and funky all in the same song. Shake the Love Around is a great evolutionary step for this thoughtful and engaging artist.”
– Blues Blast Magazine

“Vinnick’s newly released Shake The Love Around aims for a fuller sound that’s firmly rooted in the blues.  Accompanied by a group of seasoned musicians, Vinnick shines as a performer and a songwriter.  As a vocalist, Vinnick has extraordinary range.  She can turn on a dime from a jazzy, Rickie Lee Jones tone to a blueswoman’s growl.  Given Vinnick’s Canadian roots, Joni Mitchell comparisons are inevitable.  Indeed, Mitchell’s trademark swooping high notes and half-spoken asides make their way into Vinnick’s vocal style.  Vinnick handles all the guitar work on the album, and her deft touch shows on both acoustic strumming and electric leads.”
– Jon Kleinman, Elmore Magazine

“Sometimes, when it comes to contemporary blues, it’s a good thing to challenge convention. Canadian singer/songwriter Suzie Vinnick plays with the standard modern forms delightfully on her new album, the utterly enjoyable Shake The Love Around…(vocally) her range is staggering. She has the kind of voice that you never get tired of hearing.”
– Winnipeg Free Press

“Shake The Love Around is one of those records that makes you feel better for having listened to it.”
– Music Reviews by the Rock Doctor

​​“Blessed with a gorgeous voice, throughout Shake The Love Around Vinnick leads her band through terrific songs filled with rich lyrical insights, smooth arrangements, and stunning and near-overwhelming performances…Shake The Love Around is an excellent blues and roots album from Suzie Vinnick. She never disappoints.”
– Fervor Coulee

“Possessed of enough vocal sass and soul to hang out exclusively on blues turf, Suzie Vinnick ups the ante with songwriting partnering that crosses borders with skill and ease.  While delivering the bluesy goods on tracks such as “Lean Into The Light” and “Watch Me”, the Ontario-based multi-instrumentalist casts a spell in ballad country with “Crying A River”.  Ms. V serves up some decidedly un-shabby covers of John Fogerty’s “A Hundred And Ten In The Shade” and Percy Mayfield’s “Danger Zone” as well.  Stealing this show, however, may be a bona fide folk anthem-in-waiting, “The Golden Rule”.”
– Roots Music Report

“Serving up a set where it shows she’s a long way from getting jaded and losing her mojo, this girl most likely to…has more chops than the meat department at the Costco warehouse.  Blues, folk, rock?  She’s got a toe in all those waters and handles them all with the ease of wrapping them around her little finger.  A real blast of fresh air, this set hit’s the target every timeout.  Killer stuff throughout.”
– Midwest Record

“Me ‘n’ Mabel is a blues album that includes Suzie’s amazing singing, great material and wonderful acoustic playing and arranging. She’s truly blessed with a rare voice that’s playful, sassy and soulful….”
– Holger Petersen, CBC’s Saturday Night Blues

“This is the Suzie Vinnick recording that her blues fans have been waiting for: an intimate all-blues concert of just you, Suzie’s warm engaging voice, and her fine acoustic guitar, the eponymous Mabel….”
– Blues Doctor Julie Hill, Blue Remedy, CKLN 88.1 FM Toronto

“Suzie Vinnick’s new CD shows her at her most vulnerable and hence, most powerful. She has talent in every cell of her body….”
– Lynn Miles, Singer/Songwriter

“When Saskatoon native Suzie Vinnick takes the stage, she takes it from footlights to rafters and owns it. She can belt out a blues or croon a ballad with equal deftness. Her guitar work is effortlessly commanding and supremely tasteful. But it is mostly her powerful presence that leaves a lasting impression. This lady is a force of nature with a six-string guitar. You’ve got to experience her to understand.”
– Mike Agranoff, The Minstrel, Morristown, NJ

“you sing like sun on snow…”
– Craig Northey

“…a voice of spun gold and honey”
– Access Magazine

“Captivating and charismatic, Vinnick’s performance underlines the essence of the blues while setting out on a journey all
her own. A voice and a feel that’ll soothe the keeper at the crossroads.”
– John Rutherford, Musician, Calgary, Alberta”

“One of the greatest voices in Canada!…”
– Elaine Overholt, vocal coach to Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Catherine Zeta-Jones

“Her solo work jumps genre barriers with the ease of an Olympic hurdles champion… She’s equally at home in folk, blues, pop and country, and has come up with her best work yet here…”
– Kerry Doole, Exclaim Magazine

“An engaging performer…”
– The Globe & Mail

“She makes the act of genre-hopping seem completely effortless….”
– Kayla Hart, The Marlet, U of Victoria’s Independent Newspaper

“Warm, rich and emotional, Vinnick’s gorgeous vocals ring with confidence…”
– Ottawa Citizen

“Her powerful voice breathes sweet life into candid, personal and heartfelt lyrics…”
– Capital City

“Suzie Vinnick has a voice somewhere between Shawn Colvin, Rebecca Campbell and some angel who guided you through a night…”
– Vancouver Island Cosmic Debris

“Inevitable comparisons to a young Bonnie Raitt are fitting, as she moves easily through rock, country, pop and folk stylings…”
– Saskatoon Downtown

“Take an amazing voice, add a pinch of youth, mix slowly with some of the finest writing and instrumental talent around, and the recipe is complete…”
– Ballyrag

“…her big voice into a delicate space with style and tenderness; gentle-sounding, well-crafted, personal songs from the folk-pop neighbourhood of Shawn Colvin and Rickie Lee Jones…”
– Paul Morden, The Sarnia Observer