Pop and soul artist Jace Martin recently released his much anticipated full-length album Rainboworld , which features collaborations with over 20 artists, including Grammy nominee Gavin Brown, JUNO-winning artist Justin Abedin, Joey Stylez, Divine Brown and many more.
Reminiscent of the 1988 theatre production known by the same name, this LP contains slick bass and piano mixed with incredible vocals, and R&B, soul, pop and blues influences. With this release, Martin honours his greatest mentor in music, the great Salome Bey, widely known as “Canada’s Queen of Jazz,” who wrote and produced Rainboworld over three decades ago.
Three of the songs featured on the album were part of the original production of Rainboworld, written by Salome Bey and interpreted by Jace Martin. The song “Without Love” was translated into Mohawk, brilliantly spoken by Mohawk Art K. Martin. The album’s single “Give A Little” continues to climb the National Indigenous Music Countdown on Sirius XM and has reached nearly 50,000 streams since its release in October 2020.
Martin, a Mohawk from Six Nations of The Grand River, has been in the entertainment industry since he was 11 years old, appearing on tv shows and performing in numerous theatre productions. By the age of 13, he was singing professionally and performing at venues and on major stages in Toronto, Ontario.
Over the course of his career, Martin has shared the stage with musical greats such as Sam Moore, Jeff Healey, Jonny Lang and Robbie Robertson. He has been featured on CBC, GLOBAL, SHOWCASE and MuchMusic, and was heard by over 400 million people singing during the closing ceremony of the 2015 PanAm Games.
His last album Mighty was nominated for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year at the 2017 Independent Music Awards as well as Pop Album of the Year at the 2017 Toronto Indie Music Awards. His song “Free to Fly” debuted at #35 on the USA Mainstream Billboard Charts, following in the giant footsteps of “Come & Get Your Love” by Redbone (1974).
Martin has also taken his passion for music to the next level as a producer. He was nominated for a 2018 Indigenous Music Awards (Producer of The Year) for his work on Leah Belle’s Time For Some Country album, which is currently being played across Canada on over 30 major radio stations and on Sirius XM. Martin also produced AK Mcleod’s last album which made it through the first round of voting for Blues Album of The Year at the 2016 JUNO Award Nominations.
As a USA Billboard Top 40 producer and recording artist, Martin is not showing any signs of slowing down, always striving for the best. By pouring his heart and soul into his work, he hopes to have a positive impact on the world while inspiring other emerging First Nations artists.
