No Idol Time for Ballad Singer

Mar 23, 2004
Martin Derbyshire
Markham Economist and Sun

Caleigh Burke doesn't want to be a manufactured pop star who sells her soul and a million records.

That's why the singer songwriter of mainly soft and seductive piano-driven ballads, a lifelong Unionville resident, took a pass on the recent Canadian Idol auditions, even through friends told her she had the talent to make an impression.

"At the end of the day, I came to the conclusion that it's a wonderful opportunity for somebody, just not for me," she said.

"Being who I am, there are a lot of things I value that I won't compromise. If this is something that's really going to happen for me I won't have to sacrifice and I won't have to compromise. It will happen mostly on my terms.

"I'm not Britney Spears. Thank God. And that's important to me. Who I am and what I sing about and what I play is important to me. Otherwise, what else do you have?"

It's not that Ms Burke, 20, doesn't see a place for pop music. She just doesn't necessarily see a place for her own brand of cerebral songwriting inside the massive, money-driven machine pop has become.

She counts Dave Matthews, Sting, Tori Amos (as a fellow redheaded piano player, she apparently does quite an impression), Elton John and Sarah McLachlan among her favourites.

However, the mp3 list on her computer includes everything from country to hip hop and hard rock.

"I really like any kind of music that has some kind of substance to it and is not just manufactured. Something that's artistic and meaningful rather than just a product meant to sell a million copies," she explained.

Ms Burke's mother, Maureen, says her daughter showed signs of a musical future at an early age.

"It's always been there. She was always very verbal and as a very young infant I sang to her all the time," she said.

"When Caleigh was two years old, her grandfather died and she was watching me rehearse songs for his funeral. Well, at the funeral she sang every single one of the words of those songs. People were amazed. She was definitely a natural."

Ms Burke remembers the funeral and she also remembers singing and dancing all around the house as a young child.

At age nine she pushed her parents to get her into piano lessons and started writing songs as young as 13.

"I just loved it right away. It came very naturally to me," she said.

As a student in Unionville High School, she joined the Arts York Program, allowing her to concentrate on singing and playing piano.

But it was a concert she attended five years ago, featuring Winnipeg piano pop performer Chantal Krev-iazuk, that truly drove home her interest in music as a career.

"It really struck a chord with me. There was no band. There was nobody else. Just her and her piano. She just kind of walked out there and did her thing for a couple of hours and I literally cried through the entire thing," she said.

"Afterwards, I couldn't sleep. I remember vividly not being able to sleep and not being able to breathe and knowing I had to do this. It was so clear and it was so scary at the same time."

Since then she has pursued a her dream with great vigor, starting with Arts York shows in school, then writing and recording her first CD and playing nights at the Al Dente restaurant in Markham last summer.

Just this month, she played her biggest show yet, in front of more than 120 people as part of Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

"I was very pleased the Canadian Music Week showcase went over so well because it was my first really big test," she said. "The question is, do I really want to do this and this answer for me was definitely a resounding yes."

However, Ms Burke's drive and passion for her chosen vocation hasn't prevented her from pursuing other interests.

In fact, she is attending the University of Toronto studying criminology, ethics and law.

"I look at university, more than anything else, as life experience. It's about being independent and forging your own pathways in life," she said.

"Ethics, law, criminology, I'm really interested in them. I love learning about them and I really wanted to leave music as something for me to determine, not something I go to school for and have to do. Because then you run the risk of not liking it anymore."

She lives downtown during the week while attending classes, but returns to Unionville every weekend, to the same house she's always called home.

"Unionville is a great place. I love coming home on weekends to a small town and a real sense of community," she said.

"It's nice to still have a small town to call home, but be a part of something a little bigger."

Despite growing older and certainly busier, Ms Burke's family, including her parents and older brother and sister, remain a tightknit group providing that ever-important support system.

"We are a very close family and we get along surprisingly well. The main thing is that we really enjoy spending time together.

"We're all together as a unit so infrequently these days I think everybody treats it as a sacred, special and fabulous thing," she said.

"I think it's so important that the most important people in your life be supportive of your dreams and what you want to do because without that, it would be next to impossible to accomplish anything."

With two more years of university to go, Ms Burke plans to study hard and continue performing.

"I hope I can build a career in the music business organically. I recognize it's not an easy thing to do, but I think it's important it happens in its own time, organically and naturally.

"Right now, I just want to be playing as many shows as I can and writing," she said.

Copies of Caleigh Burke's CD are available through her website, www.caleighburke.com. Upcoming live performances will also be listed there.