Patrick Watson (musician and band)

Patrick Watson, singer, songwriter, musician, composer (born 8 October 1979 in Lancaster, California). A well-respected member of Montreal’s indie music scene, Patrick Watson is both a solo artist and the leader of a band called Patrick Watson. His music has been described as baroque pop, orchestral pop, cinematic pop or chamber pop. Watson is noted for his falsetto voice and his experimental approach to music. He sings in both French and English, and his music has amassed over 1 billion streams online. He has also composed scores for film and television. He has been nominated for Juno Awards, Félix Awards and the Polaris Music Prize multiple times. His band won the latter in 2007 for the album Close to Paradise (2006).

Early Life and Education

Patrick Watson was born in California. He has said that he was born on an air force base in the Mojave Desert of California. He has said his father “rode around in planes carrying bombs, waiting for a command to drop them that never came.”

Watson lived in California until the age of four. His family then moved to the Montreal suburb of Hudson, where he grew up. Watson was the youngest sibling of five and is seven years younger than his next oldest sibling. His siblings include a figure skater, an engineer and an air force pilot.

Watson began singing in churches at the age of seven. As a child, he studied jazz and classical piano. The director of a church choir noticed his voice at a young age and was struck by the fact that it was both sweet and melancholic. Watson recalls that his parents never interrupted his piano playing, even if it was in the early hours of the morning.

Early Career

Patrick Watson’s career began shortly after graduating from the Vanier College music program. His first solo album, Waterproof9 (2001), was created as a soundtrack of sorts to accompany an exhibition of photography by Brigitte Henry, who had created a photo book titled Waterproof: Portrait sous l’eau. In the early 2000s, Watson also collaborated with Cinematic Orchestra, a British nujazz and downtempo band. In addition, Watson and future bandmate Simon Angell were in a ska band called Gangster Politics.

Patrick Watson (band)

After the creation of Patrick Watson’s first solo album (Waterproof9), the Patrick Watson band’s original lineup was formalized with Watson and three other Vanier College music program alums: Simon Angell, Robbie Kuster and Mishka Stein. The Patrick Watson band emerged from Montreal’s late-1990s, early-2000s avant-jazz and modern-classical scene, as did some members of Arcade Fire.

Patrick Watson wins 2007 Polaris Music Prize

The band released their debut album, Just Another Ordinary Day, in 2003. They toured with James Brown, The Stills, The Dears and Phillip Glass in 2004 and 2005. The band released their second album, Close to Paradise, in 2006. The album quickly jumped to No. 4 on the Billboard Canadian albums chart. Close to Paradise won the Polaris Music Prize in 2007 and was certified gold in Canada in November of that year. The band was nominated for the Juno Award for New Artist of the Year Award and were invited to perform at the awards gala. Their performance was considered a highlight of the night.

The band was also nominated for a 2007 Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music – Original Song for the song “Trace-Moi” from the movie La belle bête. In addition, the band won three GAMIQ (Quebec Indie) awards in 2007: Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Indie-Pop Album. In 2008, the band was nominated for a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year.

In 2009, Patrick Watson released Wooden Arms, which was also certified gold and nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. Adventures in Your Own Backyard (2012) was the band’s fourth studio album. It debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian albums chart and was quickly certified gold. It was also longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. The band toured with John Cale, The Cinematic Orchestra, Amon Tobin and Feist, among others. At one point, Watson and his bandmates lived in an abandoned church.

The band’s fifth studio album, Love Songs for Robots (2015), was also longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Their sixth album, Wave (2019), reached No. 2 on the Canadian Albums chart. Wave was recognized as a particularly emotional album as Watson tried to deal with his feelings concerning a breakup as well as the death of his mother. In 2020, Patrick Watson was nominated for Junos in both the Songwriter of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year categories. Wave also won 2020 Félix Awards for Anglophone Album of the Year and Anglophone Concert Tour of the Year.

Watson collaborated with Leonard Cohen shortly before the latter’s death in 2016. Watson says that this has had a profound impact on how he writes lyrics as much as his vocal delivery.

Patrick Watson’s seventh studio album, Better in the Shade (2022), has been described as taking its cues from literature, with the assembled songs likened to a collection of short stories. Patrick Watson was nominated for four Félix Awards in 2022, including Anglophone Album of the Year and Most Successful Artist Outside Quebec. In 2024, Watson was awarded the inaugural Impact Award at the Canadian Sync Awards.