Alysha Brilla

Alysha Brilla
Brilla in 2022
Background information
Born (1988-11-03) November 3, 1988 (age 36)
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
OriginKitchener, Ontario, Canada
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • piano
  • drums
LabelsLava
Universal Republic Records
Sunny Jam
Websitealyshabrilla.com

Alysha Brilla (born November 3, 1988) is an Indo-Canadian musician, songwriter, and music producer. Brilla's music career includes festival performances at WOMAD, Woodford Folk and Montreal Jazz. Her music focuses on themes of connection and healing. Born in Mississauga, Ontario and raised in Brampton, Ontario, she started singing in her early teens in local bands and at festivals. In 2010, she signed a major record deal at Lava/Universal Republic Records.[1] Brilla has since released all of her music independently on her own music label, Sunny Jam Records. Brilla has received three Juno Award nominations for her self-produced albums.

Early life

Brilla was born in Mississauga, Ontario to her mother Kathryn Brillinger, a college communications teacher, and Tanzanian-born father Yasin Dewji, a bass guitarist.[2] Her father introduced her to jazz.[2] As a bass guitarist, he would play gigs with her later on. Brilla changed her name from "Brillinger" to "Brilla", which had been a long time nickname.[2]

Career

Jacksoul keyboardist and producer Ron Lopata and friend Brad Marshall introduced Brilla's eleven-song EP demo Got Soul to industry attention.[citation needed]

On July 26, 2015, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Brilla along with sisters Tameera and Nadia were pulled over by Waterloo Regional Police for bicycle riding topless, with the officer oblivious to the Ontario mandated female right to topless freedom due to a 1996 acquittal of Gwen Jacob by the Ontario Court of Appeal.[3] A week later, the sisters then subsequently organized and held a rally at Waterloo Town Square, under the "Bare With Us" banner, to educate the public about the female topless freedom right with Jacob, the central defendant in the Ontario Court of Appeal 1996 acquittal case of R. v. Jacob making an appearance.[4][5]

She composed music for Fawzia Mirza's 2023 film The Queen of My Dreams.[citation needed]

Awards and honours

  • 2017 JUNO Award Nomination for "Rooted", Adult Contemporary Album of the Year
  • 2016 Winner Midem Artist Accelerator, represented Canada in Cannes, France[6]
  • 2015 International Songwriting Contest winner in Lyric Category "Immigrant"[citation needed]
  • 2015 JUNO Award Nomination for "Womyn", Adult Contemporary Album of the Year
  • 2014 U.K. Songwriting Contest winner in Pop and Singer/Songwriter categories for "Never Gonna Get Me Back" [7]
  • 2014 Oktoberfest Woman of The Year winner.
  • 2014 JUNO Award Nomination for "In My Head", Adult Contemporary Album of the Year [8]

Studio albums

Year Album
2012 Brilla
2013 In My Head
2014 Woman
2016 Human
2017 Rooted
2022 Circle

References

  1. ^ "Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. - New Signings for LAVA and Cherry Lane". Cherrylane.com. 2010-06-14. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  2. ^ a b c Hill, Valerie (2013-07-05). "Brilla finds new life in her old hometown". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
  3. ^ "Three Ontario sisters say they were stopped by police for biking topless". Globe and Mail. July 28, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Women's topless rights rally draws big crowd in Waterloo, Ont". CBC News. August 1, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  5. ^ Mangione, Kendra (July 28, 2015). "'Bare with us': Ontario sisters to host topless protest". Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  6. ^ "Midem Artist Accelerator finalists revealed". Musicweek.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  7. ^ "2014 Results". Songwritingcontest.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  8. ^ "2014 Juno Nominees & Winners". Archived from the original on 2015-01-27.