Felicia Lily Dobson was born on 28 February 1985, in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, and attended high school at Wexford Collegiate Institute, during which time she took singing lessons at the New Conservatory of Music in Agincourt, Scarborough to improve her singing. She began sending demo tapes – recorded on a home karaoke machine – to many recording companies in North America when she was 11 years old, and two years later she started playing the piano, which then evolved into her starting writing music, and Jive Records attempted to develop her as a popular musician, which she eventually refused, seeing herself more in the rock mould. After that experience, Dobson met Jay Levine and contracted with Nelly Furtado's manager Chris Smith, who arranged showcases with several recording companies. Universal Music Canada president Randy Lennox showed interest in her, and persuaded Island Def Jam CEO Lyor Cohen and his manager of A&R, Jeff Fenster, to fly to Toronto for another showcase, and about 30 seconds into the first punk thrash song 'Stupid Little Love Song' the executives gave her a contract. Dobson's self-titled debut album was released in December 2003 by Island Records, and sold 307,000 copies in the United States, debuting at number one on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart. Four singles were released from the album, and two album tracks were used in the 2004 film 'The Perfect Score'. During much of 2004 she promoted her debut album, performing live on the program 'Total Request Live' and featuring on numerous magazine covers and articles. In July she released a new single, 'Don't Go (Girls and Boys)', which was also featured in a Tommy Hilfiger commercial, and the album was later reissued with that single added. She collaborated with a number of other artists during the recording process, including Holly Knight, Nina Gordon, Matthew Wilder, Cyndi Lauper, Courtney Love, Joan Jett, and Rancid's Tim Armstrong, and sessions commenced for her second album 'Sunday Love' in the summer of 2004. The album's fourteen tracks (thirteen on the eventual album) were recorded over an eight-month period in California, and Island Records set an initial US release date of 20 September 2005, but this was pushed back a number of times before the album was eventually cancelled, and Dobson's contact with Island Records was terminated just days before the album was scheduled for release. Promo copies gained favourable reviews in both Spin and Vibe magazine, but neither of the two single released from the album, 'Don't Let It Go to Your Head' or 'This Is My Life', charted, although 'Be Strong' did feature on the soundtrack for the 2006 film 'It's a Boy Girl Thing'. In April 2005 Dobson was nominated for two Juno Awards, Pop Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year, although missed out on both, but her songs started to be covered by other artists, with 'Don't Let It Go to Your Head' being released as a single by Norwegian girl group Lilyjets, and the music of 'This Is My Life' was used by the Taiwanese girl-group S.H.E in their song 'I Love Trouble', while 'Start All Over' was recorded by Miley Cyrus for her album 'Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus'. 'Sunday Love' is actually a really good indie-rock album and didn't deserve to be cancelled, so it was fitting that it eventually received a digital only release in 2012, but with no physical copies around it's still talked about as Dobson's "lost" album, and so for fans who might have missed it here is your chance to hear what should have been the official follow-up to that Juno-nominated debut.
Track listing
01 As A Blonde
02 If I Was A Guy
03 Don't Let It Go To Your Head
04 Get You Off
05 This Is My Life
06 Scar
07 Miss Vicious
08 Man Meets Boy
09 Get Over Me
10 Hole
11 The Initiator
12 Yeah Yeah Yeah
13 Be Strong
