Ariana Gillis,
Legendary Elton John lyricist, Bernie Taupin, was driving to the airport. He was listening a tune called “John and the Monster” on satellite radio. Taupin was so struck by the artist that he had to pull over and listen.
Taupin immediately called rock historian/radio show host, Dave Marsh.
Marsh told him it was a Canadian singer named Ariana Gillis.
“And then Bernie brought my album and was listening to it through the whole plane ride,” says Gillis.
“That was really awesome. Bernie said some nice things about me ... I was very humbled to receive that praise,” she says.
Gillis met Dave Marsh while networking at a music conference in Memphis, where she ended up performing for him in a stairwell.
“I played “John and the Monster” and another tune that I cannot recall,” says Gillis. “Dave did not really say much, but he liked it. Then he got (second) album (“Forget Me Not”) and he just freaked out over the songs. He loved it and then he started playing my music on his radio show. Dave became a really big fan, and a huge supporter who helped me a lot.”
Gillis was born in Hamilton but was raised in the scenic town of Vineland near Niagara. Her father is acclaimed songwriter/guitarist/producer David Gillis.
“I was six when I started taking singing lessons. My parents put me in them and I was naturally very confident off the bat so I really loved it. I remember singing at a recital. It was a song from ‘Little Mermaid’ called ‘Part of Your World.’ My dad said it was so good he actually got jealous for a second because I had a stage presence that he did not have and I was singing a Disney song,” she says with a laugh.
“After that I took singing lessons for about seven years or so,” she says. “Then my dad told me that I started to sound like everybody else which is true because when you are taking conservatory they make you sing in a structured way. I am a very unstructured person in general so this was not actually everything that I wanted to do. That’s when I started learning guitar, and writing songs. I was 13 years old. It went from there.”
Gillis loved writing songs and playing music, but never took it too seriously until she lost her voice after contracting double pneumonia, during her final year at high school.
“It freaked me out,” she says. “When you are that sick with pneumonia you just want to be able to breathe let alone sing.
“It was scary and definitely one of those things that made me decide to do this professionally because I missed playing so much.”
Her distinctive voice and poignant songs garnered Gillis Songwriter of the Year at the 2009 Niagara Music Awards, followed by Female Vocalist and Album of the Year in 2010. She networked at music conferences, which led to that two-song performance for Dave Marsh, airplay on his radio show, and the ear of Bernie Taupin.
Nashville songwriter/producer/radio host Buddy Miller (Emmy Lou Harris, Steve Earle) is another fan of Gillis’s work.
Her voice is like an instrument in itself, stripped bare, full of passion and honesty like Ani DiFranco, Terra Lightfoot, and Patty Griffin with hints of Tom Waits, Nick Drake, and Bob Dylan.
She sings of magical cancer-healing creatures (“John and the Monster”) or a young singer with an abusive father missing her mother (“Dream Street’). Her latest single “Freedom” is a song about the global repression of human rights and the importance of human kindness.
“I actually wrote it when I found out Russia was invading Ukraine. I was pretty scared for them honestly. I am a little bit Ukrainian as well so I have strong Ukraine heritage. That struck home a little bit,” she says.
“Other than that, I really don’t know where most of my songs come from,” admits Gillis. “I am a very isolated songwriter. I cannot usually write with other people present. I go into another world and things just come out of that world. If I try to consciously get into that world it does not happen but if I let myself get inspired, go to that place, and cool things come out of it.”
Currently she is recording new music with her father David Gillis, and acclaimed producer Joel Moss (Tony Bennett, Joe Cocker, Talking Heads). She met Moss while performing at Peaceful Acres Horse Ranch in Schenectady, N.Y. Gillis also met fellow horse lover/Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak who had organized a benefit to save these abused horses.
Gillis met drummer Benjamin Rollo through noted bass player Mark MacIntyre who also plays with Danny Michel.
“We had been looking for a drummer for a long time, and Mark suggested Ben. We got Ben for the gig and we loved his playing,” says Gillis. “Ben and I have been playing and touring together for years,” she says with a laugh. “It’s a long history.”