2017 Inductee: Liberty Silver

Written by John Stewart

A press release for Liberty Silver’s 2010 album Groove Symphony, explains that “Liberty’s inspirations for the album revolve around the life lessons and the ups-and-downs we face in life.” If we assume that ups-and-downs are kindling for the spirit, Liberty Silver has experienced more than her share of inspiration by adversity — which has only seemed to make her innately strong voice even stronger.

A black girl adopted as a baby into a British family in Peterborough, Liberty grew up a child out of sorts with most everything but the music that was her lifeline to joy. She was bullied incessantly by fellow students and disrespected by teachers. When she won high school track meets, she wasn’t allowed to go to provincial championships. When she was kicked out of Sunday school for suggesting Jesus looked like a black man, Liberty gave her own solo concerts in the church basement. History suggests that if the congregation wanted to hear someone communing with God in a truly unique voice, they should have headed downstairs.

She bolted from her home as a pre-teen after learning she was adopted. In one of the many remarkable turns of events that mark her life, she found herself opening for Bob Marley at Madison Square Garden’s shortly after that – as a 13-year-old. “Music is my life,” Liberty has said. “It saved me from what I went through at a young age. There’s a purpose. Music is what was given to me.”

For someone who couldn’t win an audition to be a chorus singer in high school, she’s done pretty well for herself.

The scorecard includes a Grammy, three Junos, five Black Music Awards, a couple of Olympic theme songs and a whole lot of confusion about what type of singer she is. If Duke Ellington was known for being “beyond category,” then Liberty Silver should be known for being beyond categories.

The industry’s always been a bit baffled about exactly where to slot her. Her first album was jazz. She’s been Jazz Report Magazine’s Female Singer of the Year. She’s won Junos for reggae & calypso and r & b & soul. She’s headlined the Smooth Jazz Awards at LAC with George Benson. She’s had a #1 Canadian country hit.

If they can’t class her, they at least know she has class. She’s shared stages with Harry Belafonte, Aretha Franklin. B.B. King, the SOS Band, Manhattan Transfer, Maya Angelou, Natalie Cole, Mary Wells and Stevie Wonder. And with Bobby Dean Blackburn, who was inaugurated into the Mississauga Music Walk of Fame last year.

When David Foster caught her at The Blue Note one night, he recruited her to sing on the Ethiopian relief charity single Tears Are Not Enough with Canada’s musical elite. She may have been surprised to find herself in such company, but she shouldn’t have been.

Through a prodigious number of recordings, concerts, festivals and television shows, Liberty has proven she fits wherever she chooses to sing and whatever type of material she chooses to master. With her own Mississauga home studio, where Groove Symphony was produced, Liberty controls her own career and keeps her musical integrity intact

Her Brampton-based charitable foundation allows her to teach the business of music and pass on the lessons about navigating life’s ups-and-downs to at-risk youth.

Her advice to readers of the liner notes of Groove Symphony sums up both her credo and her contribution: “Life is a gift, shine in everything you do and light the way for others.”

That’s what she’s done.