Pauline Edwards was born in Victoria, BC to a Canadian mother and Trinidadian father, and grew up listening to the great calypso, soca, classical, and jazz standards that her parents would play. She absorbed a unique sense of tonal mix and improvisation by sitting under and singing along with her dad’s steel drums, and by falling asleep to these sounds every night for over fifteen years. At the age of nine, Pauline began her training as a classical violinist; seventeen years, one 5-string electric violin, 4 acoustic violins, 3 guitars, 2 microphones, countless hours of practice, and hundreds of performances later she stands tall with deep roots, arms up, eyes on the sky.
Emerging onto the scene in 2002 with Victoria's politically-minded jammers’ collective
Kingbong, Pauline established herself as an energetic and versatile performer. She contributed backup vocals and violin to the 10-piece ska/funk/metal ensemble for three years, playing to full houses up and down the West Coast. Brought together in 2004 by social conscious and spiritual awareness, Pauline met up with two stand-outs in Toronto’s soul/groove music community:
Greenlaw (Formation Records Group) and
Lal (Public Transit Recordings), and has enjoyed sharing the stage and recording with both groups on and off since then. Between 2005 and 2008 Pauline toured Canada with indie folk-rock diva Caroline Spence, singing backups and playing violin in her band at festivals and venues across the country. In 2007, Pauline introduced her solo material to Canadians, as the opening act for the Wild Lily Gypsy Caravan tour. This traveling showcase brought seven up-and-coming Canadian artists together for a performance packed, five week cross-Canada tour.
Gaining momentum and fans across the country, Pauline returned home to work on new material for her debut studio album. After recruiting dedicated and skilled musicians Odin Lake (drums) and Trevor Lamphier (bass), Pauline began recording in the fall of 2008, with the help of producer
Eric Hogg. The 7-song album,‘
There comes a time,’ was officially released in April 2009. The album features guitars, bass, violin, cello and drums.