JJ Wilde
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JJ Wilde was born Jillian Dowding in 1992 in Kitchener, Ontario. She grew up on her parents' Bruce Springsteen and classic rock albums, which would profoundly influence her musical direction. Wilde began writing and playing guitar in her teens, showing early promise as a songwriter. She is a graduate of Sheridan College. She spent much of her early twenties trying to make a go of it as a professional musician with little success, and in 2018 she was working three jobs and gigging in between while questioning whether to shelve her musical ambitions. She decided to stick with it a little longer and almost immediately landed management and a label deal with Black Box Recordings—a pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of her career.
She released her debut EP "Wilde Eyes, Steady Hands" in 2019, introducing her powerful rock sound to the world. Her debut single "The Rush" simultaneously reached number one on Canada's modern rock, active rock, and mainstream rock charts in May 2020, only one of eleven songs to accomplish the feat. This remarkable achievement established her as a formidable presence in Canadian rock music.
She followed up with her debut album "Ruthless" in 2020, which won Rock Album of the Year at the 2021 Juno Awards, making Wilde the first woman to win the award in 25 years, since Alanis Morissette won in 1996. This historic win cemented her place in Canadian rock history as a trailblazer for women in the genre.