Leslie Feist (born February 13, 1976) is a singer/songwriter from Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada. She performs as a solo artist under the name Feist and also as a member of Broken Social Scene.
Raised in Regina and Calgary, Feist got her start in music as the lead vocalist for a punk band called Placebo (not the more famous British band Placebo), who won a local Battle of the Bands competition and were awarded the opening slot at a Ramones concert. After five years of touring, Feist was forced to take time off from music to recover from voice damage. She moved from Calgary to Toronto in 1998 and took up guitar; by 1999, she was the guitarist for By Divine Right. She also released her debut solo album, Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down), that year. The album was financed by a grant from the Canadian government.
In 2000, Feist moved in as a roommate with Peaches and Gonzales, and appeared as a guest vocalist on The Teaches of Peaches and Presidential Suite. She then joined the recording sessions for Broken Social Scene’s albums Feel Good Lost and You Forgot It In People.
Feist then moved to Paris, and while in Europe, she collaborated with Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience as a guest vocalist on their album Riot on an Empty Street. Feist recorded her second solo album, Let It Die, in Paris in 2002 and 2003. That album, a combination of jazz and bossa nova was hailed as one of the best Canadian pop albums of 2004 and got her two Juno Awards (The Canadian equivalent of the Grammys). This album also helped her to gain a significant international audience.
