A native of Prince Edward Island, Lennie Gallant received his first guitar for Christmas when he was 13. After performing in a variety of rock and Celtic folk bands in his teenage years, Gallant formed Speed the Plough, a band that mixed folk and rock in the vein of Neil Young and Bob Dylan. He also performed at a variety of folk festivals and wrote music for film and theater. In 1988 he released his debut album, Breakwater, which received an East Coast Music Award nomination, and in 1991 he released Believing in Better. Gallant would go on to receive numerous East Coast Music Awards in the following years, and he has received several Juno Award nominations as well. In 1994 he released Open Window, a mix of folk, pop, Celtic, and rock music. Gallant also performed throughout North America, the Middle East, and Latin America. In 1997 the singer/songwriter released Lifeline. Describing his sound as "neo-Canuck," he performed at the Millennium New Year's Eve concert, which was broadcast globally. In 2000 he released Lennie Gallant Live, his first live album. A recipient of the Order of Canada, Gallant has said, "Like many Canadian songwriters, my music crosses boundaries and encompasses my musical history, which includes folk, rock, Celtic, and a touch of Cajun and country." In 2002 he returned to the studio to record his first Francophone album, La Vent Bohème (The Gypsy Wind). When We Get There was released in 2005, followed by If We Had a Fire in 2009, a year that also saw Gallant release his second French-language album, Le Coeur Hanté (winner of Francophone Album of the Year at the 2010 East Coast Music Awards). Recorded at a club date in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Live Acoustic at the Carleton was issued in 2014; the album garnered him a Canadian Folk Music Award for Artist of the Year. The preceding year, Gallant received a 25th Anniversary Award at the East Coast Music Awards, and he was named Entertainer of the Year at the 2017 awards ceremony, where he also received the Folk Recording of the Year prize for Searching for Abegweit: The Island Songs & Stories of Lennie Gallant, an album featuring the music of Gallant's hit musical theater show about Prince Edward Island. During his career, Gallant has shared the stage with Ry Cooder, Ron Sexsmith, and Roger Hodgson, among others. ~ Jason MacNeil