Shirtlifter

Shirtlifter is a Canadian electronic musician. Shirtlifter's real name is Jeffrey Leclair, who was (born July 27, 1959 in Ottawa, the capital).

Music career

Higgs' earliest musical memories are in Ottawa, his parents garage. He would frequently set up a make shift drum set consisting of four inverted metal garbage cans, using their lids for cymbals. He used found wood dowels for drum sticks, banging away for hours at a time. He begged his parents for a pair of sticks like those he had seen the drummers use on television. He felt like a rock star the day his mother surprised him with the real McCoy sporting those gleaming white nylon ends.

By eight he had truly caught the musical bug, and began taking piano and guitar lessons. He was spending every bit of his pocket money on Rock and Funk records. The first record Leclair ever purchased was a copy of "Magical Mystery Tour". Every single week he would add another album to his collection with the allowance money he received from numerous chores around the house.

Leclair purchased his first pair of decks at a garage sale right around the time of disco. It was a $100 hand made DJ unit in a wood box with two dual turntables, home made mixer, and amplifier. His best friend and he would carry around this box like coffin, accompanied by three crates of records playing weddings, or special events they could talk people into hiring them for.

As the 1970s faded, Leclair followed the 1980s musical trend from Rock and Disco to Electro-pop and New Wave, but it wasn't really until he moved to Toronto in 1979 to study Fine Art at the Ontario College of Art that he discovered the thrill of playing his very first nightclub.

The mid 1980s brought about the advent of the all-in-one synthesizer complete with on board sequencing and included many sampled instruments like basses, strings, brass, and drum sounds. Leclair was in his glory by the fact he could have virtually a band in a box to express his musical ideas. He thought at the time this would be the only synth he would ever need, but over the course of several years, all the money he made from each gig was spent on the latest piece of high tech electronics he could afford. Eventually, Leclair found himself in a small room surrounded by gear, this became his first studio. Leclair began working diligently on experimental music, infused with rock, disco, electro-pop and punk. The next five years gave way to a Chicago-type sound. He worked with as many musicians as he could get into the studio, learning the foundation of composing, arranging and mixing. He spent all of his spare time reading manuals, and being in music stores asking sales people technical questions . By the end of the 80’s Leclair had recorded some fairly serious sounding Techno / House music tracks.

Into the 1990s Leclair continued to DJ and experiment in the studio. He wrote prolifically with a House project duo, Boy's Life, as well as continuing to compose his own personal material. Around the mid 1990s he constructed his professional studio in a funky Toronto downtown loft. He finally had a control room with proper acoustics, and a good size vocal booth, both fully equipped to do some serious song writing and recording. In the late 1990s he teamed up with DJ Paul Walker to explore a harder, more underground techno-type sound in the guise of Monogamy. Leclair has released singles under the names Black vs White, Brand New Day, E~KO project, and Toronto. In 1999 he decided to go solo and start a new House music project. The sound of Shirtlifter took on a driving beat, speaker-busting basslines and a cool, funky feel. The sound Leclair had been looking for. It felt right and people were beginning to respond. After three records, "Dirty Funky House", "Fuel (album)", "Fans In The City" and several singles, Leclair now hears daily from people all over the world. "Gid Up (a gogga maha)", from the first record, "Dirty Funky House" was selected for inclusion on Locked In which was distributed by Klublife magazine with the participation of Smirnoff. The determination and hard work was finally paying off.

Leclair’s aspirations have shifted since the original inception. The decision to go solo was a hard call to make. What had begun, alone with four garbage cans in a neighbourhood garage in Ottawa, had blossomed into a seasoned, music artist working in Toronto. The various collaborations with others had brought a welcomed variety of musical instruments to the music and lyrics of the music composer. However, from the point of view of biography, it would be lyrics, which would most confidently inform the thrust behind the developing style surfacing within Leclair’s solo music releases.

To the singer, both as an indie recording artist and as an independent person, the rediscovery of notebooks stashed away from the early days in Ottawa almost bordered on a ‘deus ex machina’ for the wealth of words and images provided towards the building of the vocal tracks in the new music. Being an indie recording artist is characterized by more than one edge. Privacy versus solitude and the resulting tradeoffs among freedoms and restrictions are familiar themes to many.

In the case of Leclair, the inherently risky decision in going solo has proven to be a wise one. While taking on the ultimate responsibility for everything, one secure footing came courtesy of the stash of newfound notebooks. The facility to freely alternate between the creation of original instrumental parts, and the laying out of secure lyrics, led to the opportunity to simultaneously focus on completing and recording several arrangements at one time. The result is not only an impressive crop of material which displays consistently fresh approaches toward a variety of themes, each track embraces more than enough depth to encourage repeat listenings.

Discography

Albums

*"Fans in the City" (2005)
*"E.P 2003" (2003)
*"Fuel (album)" (2002)
*"Dirty Funky House" (2001)

Hit singles

* 2005 "On My Mind" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Electronic
* 2003 "Dance Psycho" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Electronic
* 2003 "Growler (Promo Mix)" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Electronic
* 2003 "Sweet Sweet Energy" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Electronic
* 2003 "Turn My World feat. Nandy" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Dance
* 2002 "For Your Mind (body & soul)" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Dance
* 2001 "Gid Up (A Googa Maha)" Top 40, CBC Galaxie Dance

External links

* [http://www.shirtlifter.ca/ Shirtlifter.ca]