Heather Bishop

Heather Bishop possesses the type of resonant, endlessly expressive voice that makes audiences want to sing along and weep at the sheer beauty. What sets Bishop apart is the grounded spiritual energy that infuses all her work, live and recorded. Her career has spanned three decades of spreading her messages -- sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, always passionate -- in urban U.S. and Canadian centers (Bishop hails from Manitoba), fly-in Yukon villages, festivals, and conferences.

In her teens, Bishop began to study the acoustic guitar; by the late '70s she was touring across the North American continent building bridges between communities and generations. Although she is an artist who moves easily among genres, Bishop considers herself to be a folk musician who belts out the blues, croons ballads, and delivers stirring political songs.

In 1981, Bishop released her first children's recording, Bellybutton, to much critical acclaim. Thereafter, Bishop often included children's concerts in her busy touring schedule. Her children's concerts are known for their ability to draw everyone into the act, from just singing along to performing on-stage. Bishop's concerts have been called "a powerful energy field of fantasy and fun."

Bishop's second children's recording, Purple People Eater (1985), was a collection of original and old-favorite songs that had been tested on the concert tours. Bishop's third children's album, A Duck in New York City, wove a musical tale about a duck that inadvertently includes the Big Apple in its flyway. The album received the Parent's Choice Gold Award in 1990. Old*New*Borrowed*Blue (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mother+of+Pearl+Records%22">Mother of Pearl Records</a>, 1992), her ninth album, remixed and digitally mastered versions of "old" tunes from her five albums for adults, "new" tunes (five by Canadian women), cuts "borrowed" from artists admired by Bishop, and several blues numbers.

After a hiatus lasting a few years, Bishop released Chickee's on the Run (1997), reprising her proven mixture of quirky animals and worldbeat music. Standouts on the album include "Jungle Groove" and "Dirt Bike Boogie." She followed Chickee's on the Run with a live album, simply titled Live, in 2001 and three years later issued A Tribute to Peggy Lee. Bishop then spent several more years away from performing and recording to pursue her love of painting, but returned in 2009 with her 14th album, My Face Is a Map of My Time Here. A booklet of her paintings was included along with the CD. ~ Laura Post & P.J. Swift, Rovi