Patrick Watson and Yoann Bourgeois

Born in Lancaster, California, U.S. until the tender age of three, Watson and family then moved to Hudson, Quebec where the singer attended school and sung in the local church choir. Watson moved on to studying jazz and classical piano before joining the ska band Gangster Politics during high school.

After graduating Watson departed from the group and began experimenting with a new range of sounds and genres, and in 2002 formed a four-piece chamber pop group. The band performed under the moniker Patrick Watson and essentially became a solo project with a backing band consisting of Watson, bassist Mishka Stein, drummer Robbie Kuster, and former Gangster Politics guitarist Simon Angell.

The band independently released their debut album “Just Another Ordinary Day” in 2003 and soon found themselves playing shows all over Canada. By 2005 Patrick Watson became a revered name in alternative, chamber pop, enough so they were invited to play 2005’s Pop Montreal Festival, which subsequently led to the formation of Secret City Records.

The band’s sophomore release “Close to Paradise” arrived in 2006 through Secret City Records and became a highly esteemed record. The album subsequently won the 2007 Polaris Music Prize and led to the band being nominated for New Artist of the Year at the 2007 Juno Awards.

The band’s third full-length album “Wooden Arms” was issued in 2009 and was nominated for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize. The album is noted for its peculiar percussive instruments including a bicycle and a pair of spoons, however such instruments were dropped for the band’s fourth full length “Adventures In Your Own Backyard”. The album was released to positive reviews and led to the band being named as a ‘can’t-miss-act’ at the year’s South By Southwest Festival in Texas, U.S.