Maiko Watson

Maiko has been singing for as long as she can remember. She began writing songs over instrumental music at age twelve. Her songs are everyday stories of love, heartbreak, optimism and strength. Her sound is a melting pot of earthy, vintage tones, where classic soul meets the twenty first century, layered with reggae and rock, and topped by jazzy vocal stylings. She lists some of her influences as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Betty Davis.

In 2001 Maiko Watson beat out four thousand young women to become a member of Sugar Jones, a girl group spawned from reality TV show "Popstars". Sugar Jones debut album went platinum and had two top ten singles on the Canadian Charts.

Since Sugar Jones, Maiko has learned how to play guitar, bass, and keyboards, as well as drum programming and multitracking. In 2006 she starred in the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe, and in 2007 she won an award from the Winnipeg Jazz Radio Station, COOL 99.1 that was used to fund the making of this album. Maiko wrote, arranged and produced all the songs on her upcoming release and is very happy with the outcome. "I learned so much about recording and arranging in the making of this album. It's not an easy process, doing everything yourself because it's very easy to lose perspective at times." The album was recorded in Winnipeg with engineer/guitarist(Moses Mayes) Mark Penner. Other highlights of 2008 included a collaboration on Grand Analog's Metropolis Is Burning and performing alongside nationally acclaimed funk band Moses Mayes.

Sweet Vibration is available in stores and online now. "This is very personal album for me and I've enjoyed every minute of making it. Now I'm ready to let go and put myself out there."