Heather Latter
She’s been compared to the likes of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, but blues singer Sunday Wilde says she’s just a small-town girl working hard to share her music with the world.
And she must be doing something right because the 42-year-old mom from Atikokan only began singing five years ago yet already her music career is taking off.
Her third album, “What Man? Oh That Man,” hit #1 on the Global Blues Chart on AirPlay Direct last week. And back in March, she was nominated for a 10th-annual Independent Music Award for best blues song with “That Man Drives Me Mad.”
“I was the only Canadian in the category and the only woman, so that’s pretty cool, pretty exciting,” Wilde enthused.
She started writing music several years ago when her brother died.
“And then it just went from there because it was in a place of pain and just needed to come out somehow,” Wilde explained, noting her blues-based music is not your typical blues sound given it has some honky-tonk and jazz styles mixed in.
After that, she took part in a tour across Canada with a bass player and was hooked.
Upon returning to Atikokan, Wilde had a difficult time since she didn’t play an instrument. So she taught herself to play the piano so she could make her own music.
She said she broke into the music scene not only because of her talent, but because she works hard to promote her music.
“There’s lots of talented people in small towns but unless they are working their butts off trying to get out there and get their music heard—and investing money, it’s not going to happen,” she stressed.
Wilde added she has to work even harder because of living in a small town like Atikokan.
“There’s only so many places I can play and there’s only so many places that are going to like the kind of music that I do,” she reasoned.
“But the way technology is now, the Internet, just because I live in a small town didn’t hold me back.
“You don’t have to live in Toronto, you just have to be working hard,” she reiterated. “I think that’s a really important message for people living in the north.”
Wilde does all her own music promotion—finding places to play, booking concerts, making posters, and sending out her albums to radio stations and reviewers all over the world.
She’s had glowing reviews from as far away as Belgium and Spain.
Wilde also has had one of her songs featured on Dan Akroyd’s syndicated radio show, “House of Blues Radio Hour.”
“This is an interesting path I’m on now,” she enthused. “My kids are getting older and I now have time to focus on my music.”
Her next step is to concentrate on promoting her music to the film and television industry.
She already has a start after recently signing a contract with a licensing company in New Jersey that has hopes of getting some of the songs played on a TV drama.
“There are people that think I want to get rich and famous, but it’s not like that,” Wilde stressed. “When you are pouring out your soul, you are trying to share something with other people.
“It’s about reaching another person and that’s the most important thing that a writer can do.
“If you reach one person, then you are doing what you are supposed to do,” she added.
Wilde also will be playing at the Pride Festival in Thunder Bay on June 11, which will be her last show for a while.
In addition, she is asking people to vote for her song for the voters’ choice award with the Independent Music Awards, which will be given out in July.
Visit www.independentmusicawards.com to vote.
