Liberty Silver is a trailblazer in the Canadian music industry, the first Black woman to receive a Juno Award. Her contribution to the industry paved the way for future generations of Black female artists to reach great heights. Silver won two Juno Awards in 1985, one for Best R&B/Soul Recording of the Year with “Lost Somewhere Inside Your Love” and the other for Best Reggae/Calypso Recording with Otis Gayle’s “Heaven Must Have Sent You.” From 1985 to 1989, she was nominated for the Juno Award five times. She also appeared on the Super Dave Osborne show. She won a Grammy award for the collaboration on “Tears Are Not Enough,” which raised funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
Silver was 12 years old when she performed with a reggae band as an opening act for Bob Marley at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 2000, Silver also had the opportunity to host a TV series called “Centre Stage Chronicles,” directed by Sylvia Sweeney and Aeyliya Husain, and the show’s first season consisted of 13 episodes with guests like Martha Chaves and Carol Welsman.
She became a member of a supergroup called Northern Lights in 1985. She also participated in the platinum-selling African charity ensemble single “Tears Are Not Enough,” where she sang a duet with Mike Reno from Loverboy. Other notable artists on the track include Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, and Joni Mitchell.
Silver participated in Star Search as a singer and continuously won the competition for several weeks. In 2016, she performed Amazing Grace at the funeral of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. She has also performed for numerous distinguished personalities, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, Celine Dion, Desmond Tutu, and former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.
Throughout her career, Silver has performed at numerous distinguished music festivals. Some of these festivals include the Niagara Jazz Festival, The Beaches International Jazz Festival, the Antigua Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, the Jamaican Air Canada Jazz Festival, the Barbados Jazz Festival, and the Toronto Funk + Soul Festival, among others.
Liberty Silver was honoured to co-host the televised World Basketball Championship ceremony alongside TV star Alan Thicke. Additionally, she co-wrote the theme song for the event. Liberty contributed to the official theme songs for the 1996 Atlanta, Georgia and 2004 Athens, Greece Olympic Games as a co-writer and performer.
