Kelly Fraser

Indigenous Singer #1

Kelly Fraser was born in Igloolik, and moved shortly after to Sanikiluaq, Nunavut. She first received attention for her Inuktitut cover of "Diamonds" by Rihanna, in 2013. She released a total of two albums, and was educated in Ottawa and BC.


CBC. (2014). Kelly Fraser of Sanikiluaq, Nunavut has released her first album. [Album Cover]. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-s-kelly-fraser-releases-first-cd-isuma-1.2670639

Music:

Kelly's first album, Isuna, which means think, was released in 2014 and was composed of three cover songs and seven originals. Her second album, Sedna, came out in 2017. Sedna is the Inuit goddess of the sea, and Kelly brought this theme into the album, along with an aspect of healing, including recovery from colonization, residential schools and relocation. This album was nominated for "Indigenous Music Album of the Year" at the Juno Awards of 2018.

Goals:

Kelly had the overall goal of sharing Inuit culture and raising awareness for the various issues, such as racism and bullying, that are present in most of Canada's Indigenous populations' everyday life. She was modernizing Inuit stories as well as bringing the Inuktitut language into popular songs,


CBC. (2018). Kelly Fraser arrives on the red carpet at the Juno Awards on March 25, 2018. The 25-year-old from Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, is one of 12 winners of the 2019 Inspire Awards. (CARAS/iPhoto). [Photo]. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kelly-fraser-indspire-award-1.4843009

Kelly, regretfully, died by suicide in 2019. It was her death that brought much more recognition to her music and motivation. It is awful to say, but she was almost a martyr of sorts, and her family states that she was struggling with PTSD from trauma, cyber-bullying and racism. She was age 26 at time of death, and it came to public attention that she had a third album, Decolonize, in the making. It was never released, and it is a shame that more of this acclaimed singer and songwriter's words will go unheard.