Mary Barry
Biography (300 words)

Newfoundland's ‘Jazz Chanteuse’ Mary Barry is a nationally acclaimed award-winning singer/songwriter and graduate of Vancouver Community College’s Jazz Program. Barry is a bilingual artist whose music is described as “a goldmine of nuggets for collectors of original jazz and blues.” 

In February, 2010 Mary Barry was selected to represent the province of Newfoundland & Labrador at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where she performed at the Atlantic Canada House, La Place de la Francophonie and on the Air Canada stage. Other performance highlights include her recent appearances at the Festival Acadien in Caraquet, New Brunswick, the Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival as well as the 2010 JUNO’S.  She has performed at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Le Centre Culturel Francophone de Vancouver, Festival d’Été in Quebec City, the Magnolia Springs Alabama Jazz Festival and the Vancouver, Victoria, Halifax, St. John's and Montreal Jazz Festivals. 

Barry is an acclaimed songwriter. Her second CD, These Days, highlights four award winning songs, won her Female Artist of the Year at the Music NL Awards in 2005 and an ECMA nomination the same year. Her third independent recording, Red Eye Tonight, which features musical talents Brian Way, Bill Brennan, Pat Boyle, Rick Hollett, Gary Davis, Mark Peddle and Gary Tilley, was released to rave reviews and won her both Female Artist and Jazz/Blues Artist of the Year at the Music NL Awards in 2007 and another ECMA Nomination (2009) for Jazz Recording of the Year.

Mary Barry has just released her first full length recording in French entitled "Chansons Irisées". The album, which was produced with assistance from the Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council, was recorded at Seismique Studio in Québec City by Bruno Fecteau, arranger and musical director for Québecois legend Gilles Vigneault.