JADE TURNER

Best Country Album, 2017 Indigenous Music Awards

Ininew Country artist Jade Turner hails from Misipawistik Cree Nation, Manitoba, Canada. Turner’s 11-time nominated, second album North Country pays tribute to life in the north, and her single “Worth” has been a way for her to help people, which Turner says has been an honour.

Turner was inspired to write this song about the youth suicide crisis in Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

Turner said she remembers feeling suicidal when she was 12 years old and even attempted to take her own life. Her family moved around a lot, so Turner was always the new girl in school, and with her light skin she was an easy target for bullies. Turner wrote “Worth” because she wanted to be able to voice to young people what she needed to hear when she was young.

A small girl with a big voice, Turner has been drawing in audiences and gaining momentum since North Country was released in February 2017. Her first album Thanks to You was nominated for Best Country CD and Best New Artist at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards. Her music has topped the Aboriginal Top 40 Music Countdown Charts and in 2013, Turner was presented with the Most Outstanding Manitoban award.

By day, Turner is a red seal millwright but at night she trades in her wrenches and work boots for a microphone and cowboy boots. This 30-year-old musician makes her living fixing industrial equipment in Grand Rapids, Manitoba. She initially started the job as a way to support her music career, but what Turner didn’t realize was how much she would love being an industrial mechanic.

“It’s a change every day; you’re always doing something different. It’s not expected of somebody of my size — 5’1” — to be working with all the guys, and it really pushed me to want to do that even more, I think,” said Turner.

The rotating work schedule (one week on and one week off) allows Turner the time to develop and invest in her music career. “For this record, I had to grow as an artist and a songwriter,” said Turner. “But above all I hope when people listen to this album that it puts them in a good mood.”