Dawn Tyler Watson

Dawn Tyler Watson is a Canadian blues and jazz singer. She is most noted for her 2019 album Mad Love, which won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020. 

Born in Manchester, England, Watson emigrated to Canada with her family in childhood. Raised in Southwestern Ontario, she moved to Montreal to study jazz at Concordia University. She first began performing blues after being invited to contribute to a local compilation album of blues artists and released her debut album Ten Dollar Dress with her band Dawn Tyler Blues Project in 2001.

In 2004 she had an acting role as a jazz singer in the film Jack Paradise: Montreal by Night (Jack Paradise, Les nuits de Montréal), and performed much of the film's soundtrack. Over the next number of years, she regularly collaborated with guitarist Paul Deslauriers, with whom she recorded the albums En Duo (2007)and Southland (2013).

In 2016 she released the solo album Jawbreaker!, and in 2017 she won the International Blues Challenge.

With two recent Maple Blues Awards; Songwriter of the Year, and Best Album/Producer, she was also nominated by the Blues Foundation in Memphis for a 2020 Blues Music Award for Vocalist of the Year alongside greats like Curtis Salgado & Mavis Staples. Her latest record “Mad Love,” was awarded the 2020 JUNO award for Blues Album of the Year!

Add this to the six MBAs she already has, the nine Quebec Lys Blues Awards, a Screaming Jay Hawkins Award for Live Performance, a Blues Blast Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year, and you’ve got a decorated and consummate performer.

Since hooking up with a 7-piece killer band fronted by award-winning guitarist Ben Racine, Watson’s star has been on the rise. Taking home the coveted first-place prize at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2017, she’s been spinning magical moments on stage and sharing her expressive voice across four continents with shows that truly move the spirit.

(Dawn Tyler Watson at Riverfront Blues Fest in Delaware)