VANCOUVER, CANADA —-
Canadian pop singer Elaine Shepherd has released a new single, titled “Diamond In The Ruff,” Shepherd’s new single – a bouncy, summer-love radio melody – was produced by Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor, in conjunction with his newfound ambition to celebrate Canadian pop-reggae culture.
Like many Canadian artists, Shepherd’s success can be attributed to her Celine Dion-like vocal chops and her genre-blending creative versatility, from which she has garnered numerous music awards, continuous concert appearances, and steadfast radio airplay. But despite her melody-making skills, it was the universal language of love that most inspired Shepherd’s vocal delivery on “Diamond In The Ruff.”
“When people hear ‘Diamond In The Ruff,’ I want them to feel warm and tingly inside,” said Shepherd. “I am a sucker for love, and I’m a hopeless romantic. I think there is a purity and an innocence to being in love – it’s quite like experiencing the feeling of your first love all over again. Despite my views on love and relationships, I think a lot of people are confused about what love is about, and are far too focused on materialism and social-media standards of what a loving relationship should be. But true love does exist, and I want people to feel that magic and those butterflies all over again, even with just a thought or a dream, that somewhere out there lies a ‘Diamond In The Rough’ specially made just for them.”
Shepherd’s versatility makes her a prime candidate for pop-reggae success – her fruit-flavored vocal tone and her jazz-like improvisational delivery bring a special visionary quality to McGregor’s pop-reggae production concept. Shepherd likens her artistic style to a cobble smith’s patchwork of Canadian musical and cultural influences, intertwined to create Shepherd’s own unique sense of creative selfness.
“I have always been an artist of many flavors,” said Shepherd. “In terms of my creative concepts, their emancipation and delivery are not specific to any style. I am so influenced by life, my surroundings and my mind, that certain vibrations draw out my creativity. The music I make is such a mash-up of all my musical influences, that although they may be labeled as a specific genre depending on the track’s direction, I feel it is not 100% authentic to just that one style. It is more of a fusion of everything.”
Raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Elaine Shepherd is a two-time JUNO Award nominee (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards), and a four-time Reggae Music Achievement Award nominee. She won the JUNO Award for “Reggae Recording of the Year” in 2011, and received a JUNO nomination for “Reggae Recording of the Year” in 2013. Shepherd won the award for “Most Promising New Artist” at the Reggae Music Achievement Awards in 2010, and was nominated for “Best Female Vocalist,” “Best Reggae Single” and “Artist of the Year” at the Reggae Music Achievement Awards in 2011. She is currently performing a province-wide concert tour in British Columbia, Canada.
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