Biography
Born in Timmins, Ontario, Lights lived in the Philippines and Jamaica during her elementary school years. Lights' mother home schooled the kids; but, one day a week the singer's father would take over.
In 1997, the family moved back to Canada and almost immediately, nine year old Lights got her hands on a guitar. By 11 years old, she had learned a handful of chords, which she used to write her first song. Then, at 13 years old she turned her attention to production.
As a teenager Lights spent much of her time writing songs up in her attic bedroom, which she dubbed Starry Night studios after her favorite Van Gogh painting. By 18 years old, Lights had moved out of her parents' house and was living in Toronto with only her pet tarantula Lance to keep her company. In this state of near-isolation Lights finally found her signature sound- a merging of classic pop songwriting with deeply intimate yet universally appealing lyrics. She wrote "February Air," a poignant ode to the chill of winter love, which became the first of four Lights songs used by Old Navy in the company's 2008 spring ad campaign.
Though her star was clearly on the rise, it was Lights' online profile that really solidified her fan base. Between the singer's MySpace page (which to date has over eight million visits and fifteen million plays) her personal web site iamLights and her passion for web-based fantasy games like World of Warcraft, the artist's online identity is as evolved as your nerdiest teenage boy's and this is something she's very proud of. On April 22, 2008, Lights released her self-titled EP. It contained six songs including "February Air," which reached No.3 on the MuchMusic countdown in Canada, as well as the epic "Drive My Soul," which was an even bigger hit; the song was added to radio without being serviced, climbed all the way to No.1 on Much Music, and spent over three months in the Top 20 on Hot AC radio. On the strength of her EP alone, Lights won the 2009 Juno (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award) for New Artist of the Year, joining the ranks of Feist and Nelly Furtado.
The singer's rapidly growing fan base was clamoring for live Lights shows so she hit the road, playing countless sold out gigs in her home country, as well as numerous festival dates in the UK. In addition to touring extensively through the United States, Lights spent five weeks on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour and joined Keane on their 2009 Canadian tour.
Lights' first full-length studio debut, The Listening, was released on September 22, 2009. It included a few songs already familiar to die-hard Lights fans, as well as plenty of new material including the tracks, keyboard-driven new wave ballad "Saviour" (peaked at No.38 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Chart) and yearning '90s R&B-infused "Second Go" (Peaked at No.54 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Chart). The Listening reached No.7 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart.
Around this time, Lights sang on Ten Second Epic's song "Everyday" and appeared in their music video. The song was featured on the Big Shiny Tunes 14 and was even nominated for Best Independent Music Video at the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards. She also sang guest vocals on final track "The End" for Silverstein's 2009 album A Shipwreck in the Sand. She was even featured on the soundtrack (tracks "Ben" and "Climbing") for the Canadian film One Week (starring Joshua Jackson).
From January to May 2010, she toured with Owl City in Canada, the United States and Europe. She was a guest vocalist on "The Yacht Club" on their 2011 album All Things Bright and Beautiful and appeared in their music video for "Deer In The Headlights".
In July 2010, Lights released her an acoustic EP, Acoustic, and performed the track list at the University of Waterloo. Where she gained most of her inspiration for the album. The tracklist included three songs from the Listening: "Saviour", "River", and "February Air", an unreleased song "Romance Is...", and a cover of Rancid's "Fall Back Down". In September of that year, she joined Hedley for the leg of the eight-show Ontario leg of their Canadian tour The Show Must Go... On The Road, along with These Kids Wear Crowns. Later on, she appeared as a guest vocalist on tracks "Crucify Me" and "Don't Go" for Bring Me The Horizon's 2010 album There Is A Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven Let's Keep It A Secret.
In October 2010, she released a digital single "My Boots", which is about her love for winter. The song was supposed to be included in the track list for her second studio album but was later cut. Around that same time, she began a tour with Jeremy Fischer. In November, she was awarded a trophy by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for, The Listening, gaining a gold certification from achieving 40,000 units in sales.
At the Utopia Music Festival in June 2011, Lights premiered three new songs: "Toes", "Where The Fence Is Low", and "Everybody Breaks A Glass". "Toes" was released as a single in August to promote her second studio album, Siberia. Around that time, she signed with Last Gang Records. Label executives showed concerns regarding her transitioning in style to a more gritty sound delayed the album's release until October 4, 2011 in Canada and the United States, and a month later in Australia. Siberia debuted at No.3 on the Canadian Albums Chart and sold 10,000 units in one week. It received positive reviews and a nomination for a 2012 Juno Award for Best Pop Album of The Year. The album sales surpassed 40,000 units and gained a gold certification on April 27, 2012.
Around the time Siberia was released, Lights announced her engagement to Beau Bokan, lead vocalist of metalcore band blessthefall, in September 2011. They got married on May 12, 2012 and got matching tattoos to commemorate their wedding date.
In March of 2013, she released an acoustic version of "Cactus In The Valley" featuring Owl City, as a single in the UK. A month later, Siberia Acoustic, was released and topped at No.7 in Canada. The acoustic also included collaborations from Max Kerman (vocalist of Arkells) and Coeur de Pirate. Lights toured North America to promote the album, with (alternating dates) opening acts Dear Rouge and Lianne La Havas.
Later that year in November 2013, Lights and her husband Beau Bokan announced they were expecting their first child. Their daughter Rocket Wild Bokan was born on February 15, 2014.
In July of 2014, "Up We Go", the lead single from her third studio album became available for download. The song peaked at No.31 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Chart and became her second-highest charting single (behind "Drive My Soul" which peaked at No.18). Little Machines, her third studio album, was released on September 23, 2014 in the United States and Canada. It debuted at No.5 in Canada. In early 2015, "Running With The Boys" received radio play as the second single, while "Portal" and "Same Sea" received promotional releases. Little Machines won a 2015 Juno Award for Best Pop Album of The Year.
In October of 2014, she parted ways with long-time manager Jian Ghomeshi after accusations of which he abused and sexually assaulted multiple women.
She toured extensively in 2015 to promote Little Machines. Lights released an acoustic EP, Midnight Machines, on April 8, 2016. The album included six acoustic versions of songs from Little Machines and two new songs: "Follow You Down" and "Head Cold".
In April of 2017, she announced her upcoming fourth studio album, Skin&Earth. Alongside the album, a comic series drawn and written by Lights was released, one song per issue. New music was released on a monthly base until the album was entirely released. Josh Dun, drummer of Twenty One Pilots, collaborated on tracks "Savage" and "Almost Had Me". One of the lead tracks "Giants" and its accompanying music video was released on June 23, 2017. The song topped at No.18 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart. Lights later released versions of the song in French, Japanese, Tagalog and Spanish. The album was officially released on September 22, 2017. It topped at No.3 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart and won a 2018 Juno Award for Best Pop Album of The Year.
In January of 2018, she kicked the start of the We Were Here Tour with supporting acts Chase Atlantic and DCF. 46 shows were played across North America in promotion of Skin&Earth. Later in October of that year, she joined Young The Giant's fall tour as the supporting act.
Lights collaborated with DeadMau5 on his track "Drama Free", later the song was released on Mau5ville: Level 2 EP. She also sang on Felix Cartal's "Love Me" and Sleepy Tom's "Amateurs" in early 2019.
Lights announced she signed to Fueled By Ramen on May 12, 2019. Later, she released the acoustic version of Skin & Earth and promoted the album with a North American tour. The album was released on July 12, 2019, which included three new songs.
In June 2020, she self-released on Bandcamp a seven-track synthwave album How To Sleep When You're On Fire. All the proceeds made from this album were donated to Black Lives Matter Vancouver. Lights stated about the album: "I made a night-time instrumental synthwave album over the last few weeks of sleeplessness. Loads of chill vibes. Kind of like an island cave, but with an arcade in it."
Lights released the song "Dead End" and its music video on July 9, 2020. This track is included in a remix album, titled the same name which was released the next month, on August 7, 2020.
In April of 2021, Lights began releasing music under the alias Lun (A character who came from her 2017 comic Skin&Earth). She stated "Lun is a musician in the Skin&Earth universe. Though she is never actually mentioned, she appears all through the comic." The Lun EP titled haha i like it was released. She released the track "Beside Myself" in the same month.
In October of 2021, she released "Prodigal Daughter", the lead track of her upcoming fifth studio album. Later, Lights released comics based off her album giving hints to songs included. PEP, her fifth studio album, was released on April 1, 2022. The album included collaborations from Kiesza, Josh Dun (who previously was featured on Skin&Earth (2017)) and Elohim. PEP peaked at No.32 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.
Lights began touring in the United States and Toronto for the Baby I'm Back Tour in April and May 2022. Later, opening for the Arkells during their UK and Germany Tour in September of that same year. Concluding with the Canadian Leg of the tour in February 2023.
Lights released dEd, a chill remix album of PEP, on April 7, 2023. The dEd version of "Voices Carry", was performed at certain shows during PEP Tour Canada.
