Leslie Feist

Leslie Feist (born February 13, 1976 in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada) is a Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter. She performs as a solo artist under the name Feist, and has been a member of the indie rock supergroup Broken Social Scene. In 1991, at age fifteen, Feist got her start in music when she founded, and was the lead vocalist for a Calgary punk band called Placebo (not to be confused with the British band Placebo). She and her bandmates won a local Battle of the Bands competition and were awarded the opening slot at the festival Infest 1993, featuring the Ramones. At this concert she met Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, with whom she formed Broken Social Scene ten years later.

In 1995, Leslie Feist was forced to take time off from music to recover from vocal damage. She moved from Calgary to Toronto in 1996. That year she was asked by Noah Mintz of the Canadian Band hHead to play bass in his solo project Noah's Arkweld. She played the bass guitar in Noah's Arkweld for a year despite never having played bass before. In 1998, she became the rhythm guitarist for the band By Divine Right and toured with them throughout 1998, 1999, and 2000.

In 1999, Leslie Feist moved in with a friend of a friend, Merrill Nisker, who then began to perform as electro-punk musician Peaches; Feist worked the back of the stage at Peaches' shows, using a sock puppet and calling herself "Bitch Lap Lap". Feist appeared as a guest vocalist on The Teaches of Peaches. She also met musician Gonzales during this time, and a long-term collaboration formed.

Feist's third solo album, The Reminder, was released on April 23, 2007 in Europe, and on May 1, 2007 in Canada, the USA, and the rest of the world. She toured worldwide to promote the album. The album features "1234", a song co-written by New Buffalo's Sally Seltmann, that became a surprise hit after being featured in a commercial for the iPod nano, hitting #8 in the US, a rare feat for indie rock musicians and even more notable since it hit the Top Ten on the strength of downloads alone. She has been lauded in the press and was featured on the cover of the New York Times arts section in June 2007. The Reminder had sold worldwide over 700,000 copies.

Prior to the Apple iPod Nano commercial airing, The Reminder was selling at approximately 6,000 copies per week, and "1234" at 2,000 downloads per week. Following the commercial, the song passed 73,000 total downloads and reached No. 7 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Reminder jumped from No. 36 to No. 28 on the Billboard 200, with sales of 19,000.[2] Following the television advertisement for the iPod nano in the UK, the single beat its original chart position of 102 to become number 8 in the UK charts. Time magazine named "1234" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #2. Writer Josh Tyrangiel called the song a “masterpiece”, praising Feist for singing it “with a mixture of wisdom and exuberance that's all her own."

In 2006 Leslie Feist collaborated with former roommate Peaches on a track entitled "Give 'Er", which appeared on Peaches' album Impeach My Bush. Feist contributed backup vocals. Feist also lent her voice to the two tracks "La Meme Histoire" and "We're All in the Dance" for the soundtrack to the film Paris, je t'aime. Feist has had her music covered by many artists such as fellow Nova Scotians Travis MacRae and Buck 65, as well as bandmates Broken Social Scene and former tour mate Bright Eyes. Fellow Canadian Buck 65 appeared in the Feist-directed music video for "One Evening", which was also nominated for Video of the Year at the 2004 Juno Awards.