41 20th century Canadian musicians

Harry Adaskin, was a Canadian violinist, academic, and radio broadcaster.

Maud Allan was a Canadian dancer, chiefly noted for her Dance of the Seven Veils. In World War I she faced accusations of being a lesbian spy, for which she sued unsuccessfully for libel.

Alfred (Chico) Alvarez was a jazz trumpeter with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and other bands.

Françoise Aubut (Aubut-Pratte) was a Canadian organist, concertist, and music teacher.

Georgie Auld was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.

John William "Long John" Baldry was an English-Canadian blues singer and voice actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Before achieving stardom, Rod Stewart and Elton John were members of bands led by Baldry. He enjoyed pop success in 1967 when "Let the Heartaches Begin" reached No. 1 in the UK, and in Australia where his duet with Kathi McDonald "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" reached No. 2 in 1980.

Lawrence Michael "Larry" Beauregard was a Canadian flautist. He is best known for his work as first flute in the Ensemble InterContemporain, and for his work at IRCAM in the early 1980s, especially his collaboration with Barry Vercoe on the Synthetic Performer project.

Dina Bélanger, also known by her religious name Marie of Saint Cecilia of Rome, was a Canadian professed religious and a professed member from the Religieuses de Jésus-Marie. Bélanger was a noted musician and learnt the piano from her late childhood while teaching this later in her life though a period of ill health ceased this; successive bouts of poor health never hindered her spiritual or musical aspirations though weakened her due to contracting tuberculosis. Her biographical account - spanning from 1924 until just a couple of months prior to her death - details her spiritual encounters with Jesus Christ in a series of visions.

George Bornoff was a Canadian violinist and string teacher. He notably developed the method of string teaching bearing his name, the Bornoff Method, which emphasizes an early focus on five patterns of half- and whole-steps formed by the fingers of the left hand. His book on violin instruction, Bornoff's Finger Patterns for Violin, was published by Thompson, C. Fischer in 1948. In 1974 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the American String Teachers Association.

Paul Frappier, better known by his stage name Bad News Brown, was a Montreal-based Canadian entertainer, musician, and hip hop MC of Haitian origin. He was well known for pairing the sound of his chief instrument, the harmonica, with hip-hop beats and rhymes. Frappier started out busking in Montreal, taking his signature sound as a teenager to the streets and subway stations. He later toured and opened for many well-known hip hop acts or as background musician. He also appeared as an impromptu host in Music for a Blue Train, the 2003 documentary about busker musicians in the Montreal Metro subway train system. In 2004, he signed a management deal with E-Stunt Entertainment Group. In 2009, he established his own record label Trilateral Entertainment Inc and released his debut studio album Born 2 Sin. Brown was found murdered in an alley near the Lachine Canal in Montreal on February 11, 2011. Police said "there was evidence of violence at the scene". The long feature film BumRush featuring him in a leading role premiered posthumously on April 1, 2011.

Jean Carignan, was a Canadian fiddler from Quebec.

Art Christmas was a Canadian dance band and jazz musician. For many years during the exciting dance band and jazz era of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Art Christmas was often said to be Britain's leading saxophone player and multi-instrumentalist. In the 1930s and 1940s, young musicians in their teens and early twenties would follow Art all over Britain listening to him play and trying to copy his style, especially on alto saxophone.

Nora Clench, Lady Streeton was a Canadian violinist.

Conrad Charles Daellenbach C.M. is an American and Canadian tubist. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Canadian Brass, in which he remains the quintet's tuba player, publisher, business administrator and professional relationships manager. Daellenbach is the most recorded tuba performer in history.

Margo Isabella Davidson was a founding member of the Parachute Club, for which she was saxophonist, percussionist and vocalist. and an advocate for the homeless.

Joel Thomas Zimmerman, known professionally as Deadmau5, is a Canadian electronic music producer, DJ, and musician. Zimmerman mainly produces progressive house music, though he also produces and DJs other genres of electronic music, including techno under the alias Testpilot. Zimmerman has received six Grammy Award nominations for his work.

Patrick Esposito Di Napoli was a musician and member of the Quebec musical band Les Colocs, for which he played harmonica.

Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans was a Canadian-American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz, and jazz fusion. He is best known for his acclaimed collaborations with Miles Davis.

Walter Maynard Ferguson CM was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent, his versatility on several instruments, and his ability to play in a high register.

James Braidie Galloway was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player. He based his career in Canada after emigrating from Scotland in the mid-1960s.

Jian Ghomeshi is a Canadian musician, writer, and former CBC Radio broadcaster. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In the 2000s, he became a television and radio broadcaster. He has hosted, among others, the CBC Newsworld TV show >play (2002–2005), the CBC Radio One radio show The National Playlist (2005–2006), and the CBC Radio One show Q, which he co-created and hosted from 2007 to 2014, until fired by the CBC. Q, which features interviews with prominent cultural and entertainment figures, became the highest rated show in its timeslot in CBC history.

Bobby Gimby, was a Canadian orchestra leader, trumpeter, and singer-songwriter.

Goh Poh Seng, Singaporean dramatist, novelist, doctor and poet, was born in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya in 1936. He was educated at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, received his medical degree from University College Dublin, and practised medicine in Singapore for twenty-five years.

Malcolm Goldstein is an American-Canadian composer, violinist and improviser who has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s. He received an M.A. in music composition from Columbia University in 1960, having studied with Otto Luening. In the 1960s in New York City, he was a co-founder with James Tenney and Philip Corner of the Tone Roads Ensemble and was a participant in the Judson Dance Theater, the New York Festival of the Avant-Garde and the Experimental Intermedia Foundation. Since then, he has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, with solo concerts as well as with new music and dance ensembles.

William Alfred Hawkins was a Canadian songwriter, poet, musician and journalist, most notable for his contributions in the 1960s to Canadian folk rock music and to Canadian poetry. His best known song is "Gnostic Serenade", originally recorded by 3's a Crowd.

Norman Jeffrey Healey was a Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Angel Eyes" and reached the Top 10 in Canada with the songs "I Think I Love You Too Much" and "How Long Can a Man Be Strong".

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm was an American musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the vocalists for The Band. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of The Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

Donald William 'Bob' Johnston was an American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Simon & Garfunkel.

Caroline Léonardelli is a French-Canadian concert harpist. Born in France, she graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris at age of 18 and came to Canada to study at McGill University where she completed an Artist Diploma. Based in Canada's National Capital Region, she performs for CBC national broadcasts and for Radio Canada. Her recordings are featured by Apple Music in the top ten playlist of master harp recordings and her recording label is distributed worldwide by NAXOS. She is the Principal Harpist with the Ottawa Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau.

Victor Lombardo was the youngest brother of Royal Canadians bandleader Guy Lombardo.

John Stewart Wright MacMurray was a Canadian musician from Saint John, New Brunswick, who held the position of principal trumpet with the Hallé Orchestra of Great Britain from 1986 to 2006. He died at the age of 47 after being diagnosed with cancer.

John Fraser MacPherson CM was a Canadian jazz musician from Saint Boniface, Manitoba.

William Millin, commonly known as Piper Bill, was personal piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, commander of 1 Special Service Brigade at D-Day.

Lorne Munroe was an American cellist. He was principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1951 to 1964 and principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic from 1964 to 1996. He was a featured soloist more than 150 times during the 32 seasons he played for the New York Philharmonic. His last performance with the orchestra as a member of the ensemble was on February 27, 1996; although he later returned as a guest artist.

Dermot Anthony O'Reilly was an Irish-born Canadian musician, producer and songwriter.

Kathleen Parlow was a child prodigy with her outstanding technique with a violin, which earned her the nickname "The lady of the golden bow". Although she left Canada at the age of four and did not permanently return until 1940, Parlow was sometimes billed as "The Canadian Violinist".

Paul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.

Douglas Graham Shearer was a Canadian American pioneering sound designer and recording director who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures. He won seven Academy Awards for his work. In 2008, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Vann "Piano Man" Walls was an American rhythm and blues piano player, songwriter, studio musician, and professional recording artist. He was a long-standing session player for Atlantic Records, appearing on hits by artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and The Clovers. Walls performed under a number of different names, and is variously credited as Van Walls, Harry Van Walls, and Captain Van. He led the Harry Van Walls Orchestra, and also performed with Doc Starkes and His Nite Riders, and as Le Capitaine Van.

William Andrew White, III, was a Canadian composer and social justice activist, who was the first Black Canadian to run for federal office in Canada.

Moshe Aaron Yess was an Orthodox Jewish musician, composer and entertainer from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A member of the Chabad community in Montreal, Yess was a regular performer at Chabad House events and shows, together with general music festivals and the annual A Time for Music concert.