Blues diva Dawn Tyler Watson’s latest achievement was capturing the 2020 JUNO award win for Blues Album of the Year, for Mad Love, and she got it in a pandemic sort of way.

The prestigious musical event, essentially the Canadian Grammys, was to occur in mid-March, but the Coronavirus pulled the red carpet out from under the nominees’ feet and the event was cancelled just two days before the big night. In an airport queue for the flight that was to take her there, Watson received a text regarding the ceremony’s cancellation; announcement of winners was placed on hold.

Months later, in July, Watson’s home phone started to buzz with accolades; the JUNOs had just been announced live online. With no black tie, no makeup, and hair in a ponytail, her Mad Love had won for Best Blues Album.

Born in England and raised in Canada, this adopted, biracial girl was a self-proclaimed wild child. Watson lost her youth to drugs and alcohol, and spent some time homeless. Nevertheless, when she sang, she always lit up the room. As a young adult, her voice got her into the Jazz program at Concordia University, a starring role in a film noir about a jazz singer, and then the upwards to clubs, to theaters, to International festival stages. Although schooled in jazz, she has taken to the Blues and crosses genres with a vocal agility and range that is reminiscent of Dinah Washington. From playful scatting, through heartbreaking ballads, to her unique phonetic “horn” sound, Watson shines on stage.

In Canada,Watson has earned five Maple Blues Awards, nine Quebec Lys Awards and, now, the JUNO. In the United States, she was not only the first female bandleader to win the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge (2017) for Best Band, but also the first international band to take that prize. She won the 2019 Blues Blast Award for Best Female Artist, as well as a 2020 Blues Music Award Nomination in their Best Vocal category.

Congratulations! Next year she may take a Grammy and actually walk that Red Carpet.

Learn more about Dawn Tyler Watson HERE