Exceptional. Stunning. Powerful. Passionate.

These are words routinely used by anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing Rita Chiarelli sing, or better yet, the privilege of watching her perform. She's gutsy and honest. After one of her shows, you can't help but walk away feeling empowered and inspired. And somehow, you know Chiarelli is backstage feeling much the same way.

Or you can give her latest CD, Breakfast at Midnight, a few spins, and before you know it, you will be enduring the same emotional roller coaster that most certainly inspired many of the songs it offers. The titles alone say it all. Songs like Never Been Loved Before, I Can Change For You, Loving You (Is Killing Me), and If You Were Crying Over Me directly confront issues and emotions we normally choose to avoid.

Breakfast at Midnight has been an unequivocal critical success. One Vancouver-based journalist went so far to say, "After two listenings, I bought five to give to people who mean a great deal to me." The CD earned a JUNO nomination for Best Blues Album.

"I guess as we grow up, we are more confident in being who we are," says Chiarelli explaining the inspiration behind Breakfast at Midnight. "And the great thing is, the more we are who we are, the better things go. It's not like you were trying to be dishonest or anything like that before. It's just that you're prepared to go to a certain level. It takes courage to go a little deeper. It takes experience and a little more craft. Yeah, this one has definitely been a huge step forward for me."

The daughter of Italian immigrants, Chiarelli was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. For those who live, have lived, or even visited the city located at the west end of Lake Ontario, and very much in the shadow of Toronto, that alone explains a great deal. Dominated for decades by the steel industry, Hamilton is arguably the bluest of blue-collar communities. Residents take pride in working hard and playing hard. All that fancy and sophisticated stuff is best left for people in "the big city" a few miles up the QEW, the chronically overused highway that links Hamilton and Toronto.

"We were surrounded by the steel company," recalls Chiarelli. "There's certainly something about that environment that helps you identify with the blues when you're growing up. I really didn't have very much in common with pretty white-collar stuff. The get-down stuff is what would move me the most. I think Hamilton is a bluesy kind of place."

Motivated and moved by the blues and R&B she heard on a radio station based in nearby New York state, Chiarelli knew from an early age that this was music she could identify with. At age 15, she began to make a living as a musician, singing in local venues on weekends for a Hamilton-based band called "The Tempest" After finishing high school, she formed another outfit called "Battleaxe" and toured both Canada and the United States.

  "It was a very exciting time," recalls Chiarelli, "and I was just barely getting through high school so I could go on the road. Battleaxe was my very first band that I took on the road. At one point it was a nine-piece and at another point, an eight-piece band. We were kids and we were excited. We played all the time. This is where you learn to get real good, hopefully. It was a time when you were playing your ass off."

Even though she has nothing tangible to show from those days, Chiarelli says the experience was absolutely essential to her progression as a musician. Her exuberance was undeniable and those early bands gave her the opportunity "to learn how to really wail." It was also a time to learn about the work of the true blues goddesses like Etta James and Big Mama Thornton, artists who would serve as profound influences in all her future work.

"That experience of traveling around and playing every night - and you play for long hours - there's a whole sense of endurance that comes from that," she says. "You really learn your craft and develop your style. My music was always the saving grace for me. It was where I put all my passion and where I put all of my anger, it was where I put all of my frustration. It was very, very necessary, at least for me."

Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough. Trying to cope with what she now categorizes as "a horrible time," in which very little was going right, Chiarelli escaped to her roots and moved to Italy. It was an opportunity to clear the slate, and regroup through some serious soul searching.

Whether her decision was calculated or based more on instinct, it was just what Chiarelli needed. She enjoyed the country and the culture immensely, everything from the people to the food. And music remained an integral part of her life. While performing in Canada with The Tempest and Battleaxe served as invaluable training, Chiarelli's experience in Italy would prove to be a true springboard for future success. It served as a voyage of self-discovery, especially once she acknowledged how impressive her vocal talent truly was.

"They really liked my voice a lot so I started doing studio work which was something I had never done," says Chiarelli. "I'm a live performer kind of gal. That's where my experience and my passion was and I think up until that time, it was hard for me to translate what I did live to tape. Just being in that zone where I could be in a studio and be comfortable with it was the beginning of the transformation. All the studio work that I did in Italy prepared me for that."

It was also during her time in Italy that Chiarelli seriously began to focus on her songwriting.

During a visit with her parents back in Canada around a dozen years ago, Chiarelli decided the time might be right for a move back from Europe. She was encouraged by what she saw in the Canadian music scene and how it had evolved, especially the blues, jazz, R&B, country and reggae performed nightly in areas such as Toronto's Queen Street strip. The nightlife and the club scene in Italy didn't compare.

"So all of a sudden, there was all this live music in Toronto and Queen Street was just jumpin'," recalls Chiarelli. "I thought if I was ever going to come back to Canada, this would be a good time to do my stuff. It was a tough decision. I had certainly put down some roots (in Italy) but I decided that it was time to come back and start again here and I'm grateful that I did."

Though Chiarelli did have some of her work represented on various compilations issued in 1990 and 1991 (a song entitled Have You Seen My Shoes in the movie "Roadkill" as well as the tune Love You Too Much on Stony Plain Records' "Saturday Night Blues Compilation"), her first official release was 1992's Road Rockets, also released on Stony Plain (and including the two aforementioned songs). That was followed by Just Gettin' Started in 1994 and What a Night Live! issued in 1997. Breakfast at Midnight would follow four years later.

Chiarelli claims it is easy for her to see her progress and growth across all four recordings during those 10 years. While proud of her body of work, she is grateful for her continued development as a musician and as a person.

"I think that my other CDs, especially my studio ones, are really good CDs," she says. "I hear them, and I remember what I was feeling and what I was going for, where I succeeded, and where I wish I had done something different.

"I use a lot of emotion and inspiration, I really do, and there is always a little bit of craft involved in making your point. Having waited this long and getting to this point is well worth it. I see the progression. I feel like I'm better at expressing myself. (Before) I was doing the best I could, I was being honest, and it was as deep as I could go at the time. I think as you go on, it just gets deeper and you go to another level."

Chiarelli says there are times when she has reservations about her candor in her songwriting, that fans and/or critics may think less of her. For example, in the song I Can Change For You,Chiarelli essentially confesses the measures she was willing to take in order to preserve a relationship. It's one thing to tell a confidante about a personal moment of weakness. It's another to bare your soul to the entire world.

The payoff, however, comes with the feelings of empowerment such honesty will create. Chiarelli recalls doing an interview with a music journalist several months ago, a woman who referred specifically to that song and admitted she was coping with similar feelings. "It makes me feel good," says Chiarelli. "We have these same emotions and it gives people courage. If you have the courage to say 'I said this and I meant it, and look, now I'm fine,' that gives people courage and they'll say 'I'm going to be OK too'."

That's not to say that Chiarelli has a mandate to reach out specifically to women, or to try and market her work as some form of "feminist blues." Every performer has a cause, or essential belief that keeps them motivated and eventually influences their work. In Chiarelli's case, it's not so much the plight of females as it is the human condition.

"I sing what I feel and talk about what I feel," she says with candor. "I think that touches women's issues and it touches men's issues too. I've just tried to be as clear as I can be. I've never said specifically that this is from a woman's point of view. I just look at it as what I am going through. This is how I feel. Whoever it touches, it touches."

As for where the inspiration for songwriting comes from, when it arrives, and whether it is best channeled into lyrics or writing melodies, Chiarelli notes those moments remain unpredictable. However, once acknowledged, she is more confident about her interpretations than ever before, something she says is simply a sign of maturity.

"They sort of play tag," says Chiarelli, referring to the relationship between lyrics and melodies. "Sometimes the lyrics will just come. On Breakfast at Midnight, the song If You Were Crying Over Me started out as a poem. Just the lyrics came. It wasn't until literally months later - I never thought it was going to be a song - all of a sudden the melody just came, and it was like 'Holy shit!'

"The process is a really different one each time. No one has a set way that it works. It just comes the way it wants to. For the next CD, I had what I thought was a great melody. I worked on these lyrics, and I worked on them, and I just chucked them out and I thought this isn't it. Then one day, boom! And I thought, 'Oh my God, these are the perfect lyrics.' You don't know how it's going to happen. You're just grateful it happens."

Then there are the rare occasions when both the lyrics and the melody hit simultaneously. As an example, Chiarelli again refers back to the song I Can Change For You.

"I was in a car and I was thinking about a relationship," recalls Chiarelli, "thinking about how I wasn't even given a chance, that 'You don't even know me.' And it came to me! What you hear on the record is exactly the song that came to me, and I thought I better hurry up or I'm going to forget this. I felt like I was giving birth and I better get home. When that happens, and you get everything at once, that's a beautiful thing."

Fans will be happy knowing that Chiarelli is already working on her next CD. She has sustained the songwriting momentum created for Breakfast at Midnight, her first studio release since 1994. As for what we can all expect, Chiarelli indicates she will continue to follow her instincts and influences, and is not overly concerned about remaining within the boundaries of traditional blues.

"I still go very much on inspiration, whether it's based on relationships, or life, my travels, my experiences, my feelings. I try not to censor myself. My number-one influence has always been the blues. Obviously, through growing up and loving music, there are other influences. My stuff is a hybrid of bluesy, country, jazzy, rockin' rhythm thing.

"I don't have to do 12 songs of 12-bar blues to say I'm a blues artist. I know who I am and this is what I do. I like it when blues meets country. I love that where there is that hybrid and mixture and you push the boundaries a little bit. Personally, that's what I'd like to do. If I want to hear 12-bar, I'd rather hear Koko Taylor do it."

  Which brings us to Chiarelli's musical inspirations. We know Koko Taylor is one but then again, Koko Taylor has been such a force, and continues to be so influential for such a wide variety of performers, it's hardly surprising. One name does jump to the forefront for Chiarelli and that is someone she has worked with for many years, namely Colin Linden. Linden has appeared on nearly all of Chiarelli's CDs and she can't say enough about his contributions.

"He's done some incredible performances on my records," she says. "The thing I really enjoy about Colin is that he really plays what is best for the song and the singer. He doesn't showboat and he is very sensitive to what the lyrics are saying. He doesn't play 20 notes where two will do. He's very sensitive that way, and he's really brought a lot to this table. He certainly has been an inspiration."

Chiarelli also refers to a pair of veteran musicians who have ventured well beyond traditional blues boundaries and achieved a degree of popular success in the music industry across Canada. Yet they continue to be categorized as blues artists, though they are revered within those circles.

"I love Colin James," she says. "I don't understand why this guy isn't huge. I don't get it. He's a really talented guy. He plays guitar incredibly, both acoustic and electric and he's an incredible singer so I'm a big fan of his. I dig Jeff Healey too. I've had a chance to do a couple of things with Jeff and he has a lot of stuff going on."

Chiarelli has begun 2003 in a familiar place… on the road. Late January and early February found her touring a series of theatres in Quebec followed by another string of theatres in British Columbia. Then in April, it's back to Europe for a series of shows in Germany and Switzerland - a follow up to a very successful tour last spring.

For some musicians, touring quickly becomes tiresome. Many accept it as a necessary evil while others cite life on the road as sufficient reason to halt their careers. Chiarelli, on the other hand, is a true road warrior. She embraces the lifestyle and admits performing live remains the most exciting aspect of her career, almost like a payoff for all the years of dedication and hard work.

"I love it," she says. "The more territory we cover, the better I feel. I don't know how you would do it if you didn't love it. This is what you do. This is what you've been working a lifetime for. The best is yet to come, that's how I feel. I'm still very, very cool about being on the road and I have musicians around me who feel the same way. This is where I'm lucky. The guys around me have to be road warriors too. They have to have experience but still be excited about playing.

"We went to Switzerland and Germany for the first time in three or four years just this past April. God, it was so exciting! We were in these small concert halls and they were sold out. We started booking the next tour before we even got back to Canada. That's how excited they are. It was great."

When she's not touring, or recording, or writing music, Chiarelli has one other passion, something that is diametrically opposed to the very public life she normally revels in, something that allows her to recharge her batteries. She retreats. Through friends across the country, she has a number of hideouts - a place on the east coast near the Atlantic Ocean, a "shack" on the opposite coast on the Pacific Ocean. For Chiarelli, it seems to be all or nothing, either baring her soul to the world through music, or pulling away from people all together.

"I guess what I do most outside of music, when I can, is become introspective," she says. "I love being around nature. I don't have other hobbies. I think that's what gives me the strength to go back out on the road."

After a lifetime of singing, traveling, writing, the good times and not-so-good times, the disappointment and the success that is so typical of life in the music business, Chiarelli's convictions and dedication are now paying off. Her stature within the industry, her creativity as an artist, and her popularity with fans in North America and overseas is undisputed. This is a satisfying point in her career, and a validation of her dreams.

Chiarelli is not about to go out of her way to confront those who doubted her or failed to show support when times were tough, even though she has every right to say, "I told you so!" There is one person, however, who she wishes she could share some of her success with - her late father Salvatore.

"I know that he thought this was such a difficult, difficult road and that maybe I had lost my senses or something," says Chiarelli recalling her decision to channel all her energy into music. "I think it's because he was afraid for me because of the 'horrible evils of the music business'. He didn't think it was a very fair business.

"But he really believed that I deserved success, from the bottom of his heart. And not just like a proud dad sort of thing. We had a real tempestuous relationship, but he really believed that I deserved it."

And not unlike so many others who have enjoyed her work, he would know she has earned it.


Feature by Baron Bedesky
© Copyright CanadianBlues.ca 2003

Photos used with permission from Live Tour Artists