Shawnee Kish

Shawnee Kish is a Mohawk singer-songwriter from Canada, originally from Welland, Ontario. Her heritage is from Six Nations of The Grand River on her mother's side. She has been based in Edmonton, Alberta as an adult. Named the winner of CBC's 2020 Searchlight talent competition, Shawnee Kish has been celebrated as one of North America's Top Gender Bending Artists (MTV), named by Billboard as an Artist You Need To Know. She is most noted as a Juno Award nominee for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2022, for her self-titled debut EP. In the same year she released the album Revolution, which received Juno Award nominations for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024. She first took the stage at 12 years old as a Shania Twain impersonator. Her musical influences expanded over time to include classical music, powerhouse female vocalists, and icons like Buffy Sainte-Marie. Her new single, Tequila Knows Me, marks the debut of her country era, and it's a return to her roots for the one-time Shania Twain impersonator. She identifies as two-spirit, and married Olympic rugby player Jen Kish in 2021. An outspoken advocate for her Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ communities, she is a proud Two-Spirit Mohawk who has shared the stage with some of the world's biggest names—Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Alicia Keys. Beyond her captivating performances, Shawnee is a dedicated advocate, creating Music Is My Medicine, a symphonic work performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for CBC Gem's Undisrupted, highlighting Indigenous youth voices.

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