At the age of 13, Aselin Debison is already a singer who is a part of history. Only five years have passed since Aselin galvanized a coal miners' protest in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She sang the local anthem, "The Island," with such touching simplicity that thousands of angry striking miners wept, joined hands and sang along. Word of the young singer's dramatic performance and haunting voice spread quickly, and she became a sensation in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada. From the cheering crowds at the 2000 Canada Day celebration in Ottawa to the release of a Christmas recording the next year, Aselin has emerged as perhaps the fastest-rising star in Canadian music. Now with the release of her Sony International recording Aselin has been introduced to an international audience.
With pop luminaries Peter Asher and George Massenburg producing, "Sweet is the Melody", Aselin's Sony debut was recorded in May of 2002 and released internationally in September. Her repertoire includes stirring Celtic tunes that reflect the music of Cape Breton, as well as folk material and a smattering of country and pop sounds. Aselin's own one hour CBC/PBS TV Special was also shot in her home town of Glace Bay and aired several times in the US and Canada.
The daughter of a Cape Breton landscaper and hairdresser, Aselin's first name was inspired by the character of Aslan, the lion in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Aselin has been "enjoying making people happy with my singing" since early in her childhood. Though she has had no formal vocal training, she sang frequently at the age of three while enrolled in the Learning Leprechauns, a private preschool not far from her home in Glace Bay. "I was just one of the girls picked for singing," she told an interviewer. But it was not until a miner's wife called and asked her to sing at the protest rally that people began to hear what was special in Aselin's voice.
"After the miners' rally, when I saw how emotional everyone got when I sang, I thought I might get somewhere with singing," she said last fall in an interview.
With the impact of that performance, the Debison family was flooded with requests for Aselin to sing, requests that her parents have continued to field carefully. There have been many performances since, including in Japan, at Carnegie Hall with Clint Black, Canada Day on Parliament Hill, Boston's Tree Lighting Ceremony, and at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall for Queen Elizabeth.
Aselin Debison continues to live a normal childhood in Glace Bay with her parents, Donny and Joan, younger brother Blake and dog, Rory. A fan of pop and country music, she is a passionate basketball player, telling one interviewer she dreams of one day winning a college basketball scholarship.
Aselin is currently touring dates in Nova Scotia while working on her new album for Sony.
Source: http://www.aselin.com/
