56 LGBT musicians from Canada

John Alcorn is a Canadian jazz singer who is active in the Toronto jazz scene.

Maud Allan was a Canadian pianist-turned-actress, dancer and choreographer who is remembered for her "impressionistic mood settings".

Jann Arden is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date.

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.

Norman Joseph Bédard, also known by the former stage names Norman Iceberg and Norman Joseph, is a Canadian singer-songwriter.

Beth Torbert is a Canadian singer-songwriter best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada.

Will Blunderfield is a Canadian singer-songwriter and yoga teacher. He is signed to Nettwerk Records/Sony Music (WMG) with music released through Spirit Voyage Records. Blunderfield's music is influenced by his roots in New York City's musical theater scene and by spiritual hymns & mantras which he first became familiar with as a child in the British Columbia Boys Choir. He is an ambassador for lululemon athletica, Vega, and Manduka Yoga Mats. Xtra identified Blunderfield as an activist for diversity and social equality in schools. In 2012, Blunderfield achieved mainstream fame in Japan where he has toured extensively and where Long Time Sun, the first single off the international version of his album became a radio hit.

Michael John Tumanguil Pestano Bustos is a Filipino Canadian singer and comedian who has appeared on the reality television show Canadian Idol. He is also the owner of AntsCanada, an online shop that specialises in ant-keeping.

Kendall Steven Chinn, known under the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, was a Canadian punk rock lead vocalist and artist born in Edmonton and long residing in Vancouver. He fronted the hardcore punk band SNFU from 1981 until their hiatus in 2018. Other, short-lived groups that he led included The Wongs, Little Joe, and Slaveco.

Annabelle Chvostek is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario.

Béatrice Martin, better known by her stage name Cœur de pirate, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist. A francophone from Montreal, she sings mostly in French and has been credited in Montreal Mirror with "bringing la chanson française to a whole new generation of Quebec youth".

Tanya Davis is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her style is marked primarily by spoken word poetry set to music.

Thomas Donovan (musician)

Thomas Donovan is a Canadian dance-pop singer-songwriter and recording artist born in Vancouver. He was known in the 1990s for his string of radio and club hits. Thomas' most successful electronic music works include "A Calling Around The World", "Total Controller", "High Time", "Colorcode", "All We Need For Christmas", "She'll Do What She Wants", "Trapped", "This Time I Feel It", and "Yesterday's Dream".

Jeremy Dutcher is a classically-trained Canadian Indigenous tenor, composer, musicologist, performer and activist, who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He became widely known for his first album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, which won the 2018 Polaris Music Prize and the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards.

Ferron is a Canadian-born singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of the earliest and most influential lyrical songwriters of the women's music circuit, and an important influence on later musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Mary Gauthier and the Indigo Girls. From the mid-eighties on, Ferron's songwriting talents have been recognized and appreciated by music critics and broader audiences, with comparisons being made to the writing talents of Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen.

Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian-American actor and singer known for his work in television, film, and theatre. He started his career on the stage playing roles such as Jesus in Godspell; Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; and John Wilkes Booth in Assassins. He would later go on to earn four Tony Award nominations for his performances in Deathtrap, Little Me, Lend Me a Tenor, and Damn Yankees.

Michelle Gurevich is a Canadian singer-songwriter, also known by her former stage name Chinawoman. Her music is influenced by her Russian heritage, and has been described as slowcore rock and "lo-fi pop". Her largest fanbase is in Eastern Europe.

Woodpigeon are an indie pop collective founded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is led by and performs the songs of Mark Andrew Hamilton. Woodpigeon have released six studio albums, and a number of EPs to critical acclaim, and Hamilton has worked with over 75 collaborators both on record and in live performance. Live, Woodpigeon is often a solo project incorporating loops and layered vocals.

Jade Elektra is a Black queer and HIV activist, drag queen, singer, recording artist, and stage performer originally from Tampa, Florida, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jade is openly living with HIV and through activism and outreach, has strived to make a positive impact for HIV-positive, queer people of colour, and LGBTQ communities in Toronto and around the world. Jade is a founder of POZPLANET and POZ-TO, which fight HIV/AIDS stigma by hosting social events, partnering with AIDS Service Organizations, and fundraising for community-based HIV/AIDS organizations.

Louis Kevin Celestin, known by his stage name Kaytranada,, is a Haitian-Canadian DJ and record producer. Celestin came to prominence overtime, releasing a series of mixtape, remix, and original music projects beginning in 2010 under the alias Kaytradamus. By 2013, and under the moniker Kaytranada, he began gaining wider recognition and, the following year, signed a deal with XL Recordings, with whom he would release his critically acclaimed debut studio album 99.9% in 2016. In 2019, he released its follow-up, Bubba, for which he was nominated for three Grammy Awards. Celestin is one half of the hip hop duo The Celestics, along with his brother Lou Phelps.

Kathryn Dawn Lang, known by her stylized stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress.

Sook-Yin Lee is a Canadian broadcaster, musician, film director, and actress, best known as a former MuchMusic VJ and a former radio host on CBC Radio.

Lesbians on Ecstasy is a Canadian electronic band formed in 2003 in Montreal, Quebec.

Lights Poxleitner-Bokan is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter from Timmins, Ontario. She is known for singles "Drive My Soul", "February Air", "Ice", "Second Go", "Toes", "Lions" and "Up We Go". She was awarded the 2009 Juno Award for New Artist of the Year and two 2009 Astral Media Radio awards during Canadian Music Week. As a recording artist, she stylizes herself mononymously as Lights.

Ellen Joyce Loo Hoi Tung was a Canadian-Hong Kong musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. She was the guitarist, backing vocalist and a co-founder of the folk-pop rock group at17.

Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian fiddler, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno Awards of 1996, and for Best Instrumental Artist at the Juno Awards of 1997. His 1995 album Hi™ How Are You Today? was a double-platinum selling Canadian record. MacIsaac published an autobiography, Fiddling with Disaster in 2003.

Emma Jane McKenna is a multi-disciplinary writer. She is currently a PhD Candidate in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. Emma's first book of poetry, Chenille or Silk, was published on March 8, 2019, with Caitlin Press. Her first full-length album as a singer-songwriter, Run With It, was released on June 8, 2010. She was also a founding member of riot grrrl band Galaxy, with Katie Stelmanis and Maya Postepski.

Colin Carhart McPhee was a Canadian composer and musicologist. He is best known for being the first Western composer to make an ethnomusicological study of Bali, and for the quality of that work. He also composed music influenced by that of Bali and Java decades before such compositions that were based on world music became widespread.

Glen Meadmore is a Canadian musician, actor, and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles, United States. His music is often described as Cowpunk, though in a 2017 interview with the San Diego Reader Meadmore described it as "a blend of loud, raucous, distorted guitar and Appalachian melodies far removed from what most people think of alt-country or psychobilly. Think Carter Family meets Motörhead."

Ariane Moffatt is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Known for working across multiple musical genres, Moffatt's music combines elements of electronica, jazz, folk, and pop. A francophone, she is bilingual and has recorded tracks in both French and English. Her 2002 debut album Aquanaute went platinum in Quebec, earning 11 nominations at the 2003 ADISQ Awards and winning three Félix awards. She is known in Quebec for two well-received singles from Aquanaute: "La barricade" and "Dans un océan".

James Jeffrey "Jeff" Plewman, better known by his stage name Nash the Slash, was a Canadian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he was known primarily for playing the electric violin and mandolin, as well as the harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian (Québécois) conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.

Faith Nolan is a Canadian social activist, folk and jazz singer-songwriter and guitarist of mixed African, Mi'kmaq, and Irish heritage. She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Safia Nolin is a French Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from Quebec City, Quebec.

Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist, who performs solo as Owen Pallett or, before 2010, under the name Final Fantasy. As Final Fantasy, he won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds.

Evalyn Parry is a Canadian theatre maker and singer-songwriter. She grew up in Toronto, Ontario in the Kensington Market neighborhood. Her music combines elements of spoken word and folk.

Merrill Nisker, better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian musician, producer, director, visual artist, and performance artist.

Adrianne Pieczonka, OC is a Canadian operatic soprano singer.

Anca Pop was a Romanian Canadian singer-songwriter. On July 12, 2017 she released her self-titled debut studio album exclusively in Japan which spawned four singles including: "Free Love", "Super Cool", "Ring Around", and "Loco Poco".

Carole Ann Pope is a British-born Canadian rock singer-songwriter, whose provocative blend of hard-edged new wave rock with explicit homoerotic and BDSM-themed lyrics made her one of the first openly lesbian entertainers to achieve mainstream fame. She is the sister of Emmy Award-winning television producer and screenwriter Elaine Pope.

Eric Radford is a Canadian pair skater. With partner Meagan Duhamel, he is a two-time world champion, a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, a 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medallist in the pairs event, a two-time Four Continents champion, the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final champion, and a seven-time Canadian national champion (2012–18). He is the first openly gay man to have won a gold medal at any Winter Olympics.

Random Recipe is a Canadian musical group based in Montreal, Quebec. The band members are members Frannie Holder, Fab, Vincent Legault, and Liu-Kong Ha. Although the band performs and records primarily in English, many of their songs contain Spanish and Italian lyrics. The band has toured in North and South America and Europe, and has released four albums of pop/folk/rap music.

Isabelle Rezazadeh, known by her stage name Rezz, is a Canadian DJ and record producer from Niagara Falls, Ontario. She released her debut EP, Insurrection in 2015 through OWSLA's sub-label Nest HQ. In 2016, she signed with Deadmau5's record label Mau5trap, and released follow-ups The Silence is Deafening and Something Wrong Here. On August 4, 2017, Rezazadeh released her debut studio album, Mass Manipulation, with its follow up, Certain Kind of Magic, released in 2018.

Rita Baga is the stage name of Jean-François Guèvremont, a Canadian drag queen from Montreal, Quebec, who is most noted as a Top 3 finalist in the first season of Canada's Drag Race.

Lorraine Christine Segato is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to perform.

Lucas Silveira is a Canadian vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. He has composed and performed folk music and rock music, and formed and played in the band The Cliks. Silveira is credited as the first openly transgender man to have signed with a major record label. He also writes about LGBTQ issues.

Joshua Dolgin, better known by his stage name Socalled, is a Canadian rapper and record producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer, and other styles such as drum & bass and folk music. A pianist and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in "hiphopkele". He has played with clarinetist David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!, and has also worked with artists such as rappers C-Rayz Walz, Chilly Gonzales, funk trombonist Fred Wesley, and Sophie Solomon. Dolgin has Ukrainian, Romanian and Russian roots.

Rae Spoon is a Canadian musician and writer. Their musical style has varied from country to electronic-influenced indie rock and folk punk.

Alida Kinnie Starr is a Canadian multidisciplinary recording artist.

Kaitlin "Katie" Austra Stelmanis is a Toronto-based Latvian Canadian musician, who has performed and recorded both as a solo artist and with the bands Galaxy and Austra. Stelmanis identifies herself as a lesbian.

Richard C. Summerbell is a Canadian mycologist, author and award-winning songwriter. He was editor in chief of an international scientific journal in mycology from 2000 to 2004. In the 1970s and 80s, he was a gay activist and an early commentator on (then) controversial topics such as AIDS and promiscuity and attitudes to homosexuality in organized religion.

Theo Tams is a Canadian singer and the winner of the sixth season of the CTV reality show Canadian Idol. His debut album, Give It All Away, was released on 19 May 2009 by Sony Music Canada.

Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie pop band formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta, composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin. Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumentalists.

Reg Vermue is a Canadian indie rock singer from Guelph, Ontario. Born in Trenton, Ontario, he has recorded music under the stage names Gentleman Reg and Regina Gently. His musical style has been compared to Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, The Smiths and Cat Power. He had a cameo role in the 2006 film Shortbus.

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded nine albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.

d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian feminist dub poet and activist. Her work includes theatrical performances, four published collections of poetry, twelve plays, and seven albums.