This is the 5th post in our Musician of the Day series.
Born Justin Tokimitsu Nozuka in 1988, this half Japanese, half American singer is the sixth of seven children. Though he was born in New York, he moved to Canada and was sent to boarding school at the age of 8. It was at boarding school that Justin learned to play guitar from his Mexican friends and was only 12 when he began writing his own songs.
In 2005 he attended a four-day songwriting workshop and it was here that he met a number of Canadian artists that would help him get his start. While there were many influences that helped him at the workshop, the mist influential was Damhnait Doyle of Shaye who told Allan Reid, senior vice-president of A&R at Universal Music Canada, about him. After going to see Justin play, Allan offered him to fund some demos with producer Bill Bell.
The pair worked so well together that they ended up creating an entire album. The album Holly, is named after his mother and a song on the album that he wrote for her, and was released in 2007. The album rose to number 6 on Top Heatseekers. The sound of the album is a mix of neo-soul, folk, old-time blues and pop. From 2008 until summer of 2009, Justin was touring all over the US, Canada and Europe with different bands. But as of this summer he has begun work on his second studio album.
To find out more about Justin Nozuka visit Maple Music and last.fm.
