One of the most talented, versatile and prolific of musical artists, there really are very few creative avenues that the remarkable Canadian performer and songwriter Suzie McNeil has not explored with both great success and acclaim.
A Juno Award winning solo artist with five albums to her credit (featuring hit songs like Believe, Broken & Beautiful, Supergirl and Drama Queen) her prodigious and dynamic vocal prowess and engaging stage manner has meant she has been an in demand performer for both the stage and studio, working alongside some of the biggest names in the business, including Pink, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, the late great Scott Weiland, Gavin Rossdale, Buckcherry and the elite of the Canadian music scene, including Glass Tiger frontman Alan Frew and the brilliant Jeff Healey.
McNeil has been a reality TV sensation based on her tenure on the hugely popular CBS show Rockstar: INXS, performed at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, and also played Oz in the debut run of the massive stage hit We Will Rock You in Toronto and more recently co-created a country band in Nashville that was later hired to be Tyler’s backing band for his solo work. The list could go on, but the point is well made, McNeil is a prolific professional who has carved out an enviable career, full of surprises and unique – sometimes unexpected – paths.
And there’s more to come.
In 2019, McNeil will be presenting a revamped, revitalized and resolutely glorious new vision for her music and her career as she immerses herself in the great sounds of classic R&B, with all the soulfulness and passion she can muster. A kick-off for this Suzie McNeil and Chain Reaction project takes place at a special show in Oshawa at the Music Hall on Friday, Nov. 23. It’s a presentation that McNeil has been working on for months and one for which she is bubbling over with enthusiasm and excitement about presenting to an audience for the first time.
“It was a solo show that I originally postponed, but I am using the rescheduled show as way of introducing my new sound. So, I thought, ‘well, if I am changing my style and my sound, let’s do it there.’ The Music Hall has a great stage and lighting and is the perfect venue. We’re also going to record the show and to show people what we’re doing now. We’re just going to dive in to a full R&B spectacle,” said McNeil recently after she put her one-year-old son, Findlay James Mactaggart, down for a nap at her home near Toronto.
“I wrote a lot of stuff in that kind of style and I have always wanted to focus on it, but I had so many other things going on. I wanted to go in that direction a few years ago, but then started another band in Nashville. That band [Loving Mary] is still going strong, but slowed down a bit since our last tour. And we missed Canada and now that we have a baby, we kind of came back. And I also missed doing the Suzie thing, so I am kind of doing it all, but putting more emphasis right now into this new thing.
“And it’s not about having career longevity doing this kind of music, I’ve just always loved it. There was a song that I wrote on Rockstar: INXS that was very much in the vein of Sam Cooke. And I also did one of his songs. I just thought the older you get, the more you don’t give a shit and you just do what you are passionate about. And that’s a good thing – it’s very freeing. So, I thought, ‘now’s the time, let’s just do it.’”
And ‘it’ includes the full-on show, featuring a horn section and a group of singers/dancer she befriended while doing We Will Rock You to act as her Motown-style back-up singers.
“I am getting together the whole vibe. I have been ordering a lot of sequined outfits. I want a full sequined suit and I can’t find one. So, I am doing a new look, and everything. I am really excited about it. My manager and I are even talking about how this show would work at many of the blues festivals and jazz festivals. So, I think we’re going to target a little summer festival tour around Canada next year. It’s going to be great.”
McNeil became good friends and a frequent collaborator with top songwriter/producer Marti Frederiksen (Ozzy Osbourne, Faith Hill, Buckcherry, Dead Daisies, Carrie Underwood) in 2006 not long after the Rockstar experience and has worked with him off and on ever since. Eventually McNeil moved with her husband, guitarist Andrew Mactaggart, down to Nashville where large numbers of music business movers and shakers, including Frederiksen have been relocating.
“We are like best friends. I stayed in touch with him and I would go visit with him in Los Angeles and we would record and write. He is kind of my mentor and has just always kept me going. I remember feeling down about the business and what was I doing, and I would go and visit him and, even though he didn’t mean to, he would really lift me up and keep me going. He moved to Nashville a while ago and then I started visiting him there and eventually moved there. He just knows everybody down there and was inspired by me and my artistry and just started hooking me up with writers, and so I just started going more and more and decided it made sense to buy a place,” she said.
“And we would hang out a lot and sometimes we all had some wine together and I would be like ‘we should start a band, you are such a good singer. You are always behind the scenes and need to come out front.’ I bugged him about it, jokingly, for years and then it all just came together. We have been doing it for four or five years and we worked really hard to make it happen. And then within that, a lot has changed. We toured together a lot, every summer has been non-stop at least, but after this summer we kind of took a break. But there are new and exciting things happening for the band in the new year.”
The collaboration with her pal Frederiksen that led to the formation of Loving Mary, which also features Grammy winner Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman and Sara Tomek, also led directly to touring alongside rock legend Steven Tyler in his country-tinged solo project over the last couple of years. It was an enlivening experience on many levels, one where McNeil had the opportunity to work alongside the best in the business, performing all over the globe before rapturous audiences, but also get to see a side of Tyler that most do not.
“He treated us so well. When I played with Pink it was awesome but she would stay at the Four Seasons and the rest of us would stay at the Marriott. She flies first class and we were in coach – things like that. Whereas I think Steven loves the feeling of just spoiling us. So, we had five-star situations every time we played with him. And it’s his joy, he loves doing that for us. He loves to see the looks on our faces when we get on the private jet or we’re looking out our hotel room over the Riviera,” McNeil said.
“He is a very, very generous man. He loves music; he is like a little kid with music. He has more energy than I do. He is just a beautiful soul. He cares a lot about the small stuff, like people’s birthdays, and I don’t know if that’s because he has been famous for so long that he probably appreciates all those little things more than we do, because they feel mundane for us. I do think people who have had fabulousness for so long appreciate the simpler things in life for sure.”
Getting the gig was not something that was planned and was one that saw McNeil challenging herself in ways she had not for some time.
“That was a whole other learning process for me too. I have always been a singer – that’s what I have been. I can dabble in harmonica, piano and guitar, but suddenly I was a back-up musician and it was scary as anything. But it was really good for me, and really healthy. I learned all those parts and nailed them every night. But the whole Steven thing, we didn’t set out to be his backing band. Marti and him are like brothers and we had just kind of started and there was a show that came up in Washington and Steven needed somebody for that. Marti told him he had a band all ready to go, so it was totally fate. It was weird, but perfect timing and Steven loved it,” she said.
“He had been with Aerosmith his whole life, and there are three girls in our band, so he loves that. Just being able to do what he wants without four other dudes arguing with him about everything. It’s been like a long marriage in Aerosmith and it’s no secret that they have had their problems, so it was just very freeing for Steven to be able to get back to doing music for music’s sake. You could just see how excited he was each and every night.”
Music also still excites McNeil as much as it ever has, and her drive to explore many musical avenues is as potent as it’s always been. But now there are other priorities in life, as happens when one becomes a wife and mom.
“Being a mom especially gets rid of things that I didn’t need to be feeling: self-indulgence, worrying about what people think. All of those things come part and parcel with being an artist, but it’s not exactly the healthiest place to live your daily life. So, motherhood changes you in the best way. My husband Andrew plays guitar on stage and has for years, and he has that desire, but he doesn’t have ‘Lead Singer Syndrome,’” she said, with a laugh.
“Having a baby gets rid of that. Honestly, I have been thinking a lot about this and I have also talked pretty liberally about this. I wanted to get pregnant and then when I was pregnant I kind of freaked out. ‘What have I done? My career is over. I love my life, I love my career. Do I need a baby? Why did I do this.’ And I was sort of worrying the whole time I was pregnant, which was probably hard on my husband. And then he was born, and it all changed. My husband always said we would make it work.
“Being able to tour with him [they bring a nanny along to help] are really special, although a lot more work with travel days and just making sure he’s okay and waking up early when you’ve worked all night. But it’s all worth it. And to answer your question, it is what you said, it just weeds out the bullshit as to what’s important in life. The music and performing is still important to me but having a baby just gets rid of that insecurity part of it. There is no worrying about things like my backstage rider and things like that. It kind of makes you happier. This little guy wakes up from his nap smiling and making baby talk and you’re like ‘oh gosh this is so cute, and he is so happy, and life is good, the sun is shining, we live in Canada.’”
Happiness and life, happiness in her career – and all of it well earned. For Suzie McNeil, life still has plenty of musical adventures, and wonderful family moments ahead. If there was an overarching theme of her current mindset, it’s probably gratitude.
“I love doing this so much. I love getting paid for it, I love being able to support myself doing something that I love. To me, that was always the goal. Plus, I do kind of get bored and like to have new challenges and different experiences. I love musical theatre, so I loved being able to do that with We Will Rock You. I love 1970s music, so I loved doing that show. And when I look back at my life, I am very proud, and very proud of all the different experiences I have had and people I have been able to meet and work with. And there’s a lot more to come. In the New Year there will be new music – new everything,” she said.
For more information, visit https://www.suziemcneil.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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