Article

Liona Boyd

Published Online January 29, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

She has a rare ability to play both the Segovia and Lagoya methods of fingering and is noted for the clarity of her guitar interpretations. She began to write her own compositions in 1986 and wrote the music for the film version of Margaret Laurence's The Olden Days Coat.
Boyd, Liona
Liona Boyd has performed and recorded a wide range of guitar music from baroque to pop to her own writing

Boyd, Liona

 Liona Boyd, classical guitarist (b at London, Eng 11 July 1949). After moving to Toronto with her parents in 1958, Boyd began years of study with Eli Kassner, followed by 2 years with Alexandre Lagoya. Her first Canadian album, The Guitar - Liona Boyd (1974), sold more than 30 000 copies.

She has a rare ability to play both the Segovia and Lagoya methods of fingering and is noted for the clarity of her guitar interpretations. She began to write her own compositions in 1986 and wrote the music for the film version of Margaret Laurence's The Olden Days Coat. A highly successful recording career for CBS/Sony and A&M Records brought her guitar music to a large international audience and her virtuoso talents are suggested by many gold and platinum records, five Juno Awards (as of 1996), three honorary degrees, and The Order of Canada. She is a five-time winner of the Guitar Player Magazine poll for top classical guitarist and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame Gallery of Greats. Still a Canadian, she now lives in Beverly Hills, California. A memoir, In My Own Key: My Life in Love and Music, was released in 1998.