Nov. 16: Canadian singer, songwriter and pianist Allison Crowe is 29 today.

Allison Louise Crowe, was born Nanaimo, British Columbia and now also lives in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. Crowe grew up surrounded by jazz, classical and rock music, and discovered additional influences on her own such as Ani DiFranco, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos and Counting Crows. She plays music of all these genres.

Allison began performing professionally in 1996, at age 15, doing regular sets in the coffee-houses and bars of Vancouver Island. Crowe's recording debut came in 2001, with an EP Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs.

Her first full-length albums, Secrets and Tidings, were released in 2004, when Crowe was 22. Allison Crowe: Live at Wood Hall, a double concert album, was released in July 2005. A DVD featuring live-in-the-studio performances of Tidings songs was created for her fan club in November 2005.

Crowe mostly performs her own songs, which she has been quoted as saying vary among rock, jazz and folk, with lyrics and an intensity that has been compared to that of Laura Nyro, Eddie Vedder, Tori Amos and Patti Smith.

"Whether I'm Wrong," an original song of social conscience penned in early 2003, has been featured by the UNESCO-endorsed New Songs for Peace initiative.

Allison is also lauded for her interpretations of songs by a wide variety of composers, from Jerome Kern to Pearl Jam, including Lennon/McCartney and fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her cover of Cohen’s "Hallelujah" was named "Record of the Week" by Record of the Day (UK) in August 2004 and again in November 2005.

After learning how the mainstream recording industry operates, in 2003, inspired by the examples of Ani DiFranco and Loreena McKennitt, and Creative Commons licensing opening new avenues for musicians, Allison Crowe launched her own record label, Rubenesque Records Ltd.

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Following a string of successful concert performances in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria, Allison Crowe returned home to Canada and during the Summer of 2009 selected songs for a new album to be titled Spiral.

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