Juno winning singer Lhasa dies of breast cancer at 37 - canada.com

Juno-winning singer Lhasa dies of breast cancer at 37 - canada.com

When my lifetime had just ended

And my death had just begun

I told you I'd never leave you

But I knew this day would come

– I Come In, Lhasa

MONTREAL - Lhasa de Sela was well aware of her own mortality on her self-titled third album, Lhasa, released in the spring of 2009. The acclaimed Montreal singer-songwriter died just before midnight on Jan. 1, in her Montreal apartment.

She had been battling breast cancer for 21 months, finally succumbing to her illness at the age of 37. Rumours of her death spread through the city over the weekend; the news was confirmed by her manager in a press release Sunday evening.

Born on Sept. 27, 1972 in Big Indian, New York, to a Mexican father and American mother, she spent her childhood traveling across the U.S. and Mexico in a schoolbus with her family.

She moved to Montreal at age 19. Her albums - 1997's Spanish language, Mexican- and Gypsy-influenced debut La Llorona, 2003's The Living Road (sung in French, English and Spanish) and her latest (her first all-English release) - have collectively sold over a million copies worldwide.

She won an ADISQ award for best world music album in 1997, and a Juno in the same category in 1998. In 2005, she won the BBC World Music Award for best artist of the Americas. In December, the London Times declared placed The Living Road at No. 3 on its list of the best world music albums of the decade. She collaborated with artists including Patrick Watson (on his latest album, Wooden Arms) and Arthur H.

"It is difficult to describe her unique voice and stage presence, which earned her an iconic status in many countries throughout the world," said her manager David-Étienne Savoie, in the press release.

Lhasa's evocative music never failed to make an impression, her earthy singing voice and evocative world-folk compositions striking a deep emotional chord. Her recent album found her foregoing the dramatic stylings of her previous efforts in favour of a more direct, intimate approach.

"There's nothing strange or jarring or weird or odd about this album," she told The Gazette in an interview last April. "It just feels super comfortable. It's got a kind of feminine feeling to it, a luminous quality. It felt really good physically to sing."

After performing at record launches for the album in Montreal and Paris last spring, she played two concerts in Iceland in May; her health forced her to cancel an extensive international tour scheduled for the fall.

Although Lhasa is gone, her music continues to move people in her wake.

More than 2,000 people had joined a Facebook group called En hommage à Lhasa by yesterday afternoon, and the number was rising rapidly. Among the "wall" comments: "Dès les premières notes, sa voix et son âme nous habitent." (From the first notes, her voice and her soul inhabit us.)

This statement was posted in response to a story on the Gazette's Words and Music blog: "Desde Madrid lloramos desconsoladamente su muerte." (From Madrid, we cry disconsolately over her death.)

"We have always heard something ancestral coming through her," said longtime friend Jules Beckman, in the press release. "She has always spoken from the threshold between the worlds, outside of time. She has always sung of human tragedy and triumph, estrangement and seeking, with a witness's wisdom. She has placed her life at the feet of the unseen."