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Toronto ’90s chart topper Amanda Marshall returns with a new single

New album “Heavy Lifting” is out this summer, along with a national tour including two nights at Massey Hall

TORONTO, April 17, 2023 – The music industry has undergone a gargantuan phase shift since Amanda Marshall ranked alongside Canadian sirens like Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, and Celine Dion during the mid to late Nineties.

But after an extended recording hiatus, the Toronto singer/songwriter has finally resurfaced with the new single, “I Hope She Cheats”. Her new album Heavy Lifting (on Coalition Music/The Orchard) is slated for summer release, and a national tour hits Toronto’s Massey Hall on June 16 and 17.

The fun video finds Marshall – with her trademark blonde tresses – strolling a basketball court lamenting a lost love, before a trash-talking power chorus proclaims, “I hope she cheats on you with a basketball player.” It’s a cover of a song by British urban artist Marsha Ambrosius.

“I heard it in a clothing store, and I was immediately, ‘What is that?,” she relates. “I wrote this totally different arrangement. (But) there’s a humour to her writing. It really was a catalyst for the rest of the album.”

And while Rap may now rule the charts, there’s no denying Marshall’s natural vocal talents, which prompted late Toronto blues/rocker Jeff Healey to take her under his wing at the age of 17 – and take her on tour with him across North America.

What followed was a succession of Top 10 singles off her 1995 self-titled debut. It became one of just 24 Canadian albums to sell more than 1 million copies domestically – and moved more than 6 million copies worldwide. Anyone over the age of 40 will have indelible memories of the blues-inflected radio staples “Let It Rain”, “Dark Horse”, and “Birmingham” (winner of a Juno for Single Of The Year).

She opened tours for Tears For Fears, John Mellencamp, and Whitney Houston, her song “This Could Take All Night” was heard in the hit 1996 movie “Tin Cup”, and in an appearance on “The Rosie Show” rock superstar Elton John listed her among the artists he was currently listening to!

But soon enough, things went sideways. On the heels of two more multi-Platinum- selling albums, Marshall fired her manager in 2002 and fell into a drawn-out legal squabble over royalties (just like Dylan, The Who, Springsteen, etc., etc.).

But, she voices “zero regrets” about fighting this drawn-out battle.

“It was absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me. It was instrumental in forcing me to grow up,” she says.

And so, being carted around in limos was replaced by learning to cook and pay bills, puttering around at crafts, and walking her two dogs.

After early-on collaborations with successful writers like David Tyson, and Carole King, Marshall soon branched out as a songwriter, addressing subjects like her own multiracial background. (Her Dad is from Toronto, her Mom from Trinidad). “Heavy Lifting” marks the first record she wrote and produced totally by herself (with the exception of the single).

“It’s funny. When I made (my second record) “Tuesday’s Child” in 1997-’98, we were working with (noted American producer) Don Was and at one point he turned to me and said, ‘You’re going to produce your own record,’” she says.

It was a fun exercise in which she, “pounded on the piano in the middle of the night, turned my closet into a vocal booth, sang every part and grooved in my pajamas, and hummed harmonies into my phone on the subway like a maniac.”

And while there are no guarantees in the music business, she can’t wait to get out there across Canada – and hopefully further afield – with her 8-piece band.

“I’m someone who’s really fortunate, because I really like (touring). Some artists don’t,” she adds.

“An older musician once told me, ‘Doesn’t matter how many gold records you got – records is business. Stage is soul.’ Live music is alive. Risk is what makes it great…I love it. It’s heavy lifting because it’s supposed to be.”