Bekende Canadezen

Je staat er vaak niet bij stil als je naar -wat je denkt Amerikaanse- muziek luistert, dat heel wat van die artiesten geen Amerikanen zijn, maar Canadezen. Zo stond er vandaag in de krant:

First time ever: Four of Top 5 albums in U.S. are Canadian acts

Momenteel zijn dus 4 van de top 5 albums in de Billboard Chart van Canadese artiesten:
Op 1 staat Michael Bublé’s album Christmas,
op 2 staat Nickelback’s Here and Now
op 3  staat een Amerikaan album
op 4 staat Drake’s Take Care
en op 5 staat Justin Bieber’s Under the Mistletoe

Ook volgende artiesten zijn Canadezen: Arcade Fire, Alanis Morisette, Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, Paul Anka, Shania Twain, Natalie Appleton (van All Saints), de Crash Test Dummies, Celine Dion, Oscar Peterson, Roch Voisine, Diana Krall, Rufus Wainwright, k.d. Lang, Neil Young, Avril Lavigne, Leonard Cohen, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, Men Without Hats, Daniel Lanois (producer van o.a. Bob Dylan en U2),…

Ik heb me beperkt tot de meest bekende namen in mainstream muziek, alhoewel er ook een aantal bekende jazz muzikanten hier zitten. We hebben hier eigenlijk, buiten U2, enkel nog maar Jazz concerten bezocht en er erg van genoten.
En de hiphop scene zou hier ook een aantal bekende artiesten hebben, maar daar ben ik helemaal niet in thuis.

En als we dan toch bezig zijn, je kent vast ook wel deze Canadezen:

• Scott Abbott and Chris Haney (inventors of game “Trivial Pursuit”)
• Dan Aykroyd (movie actor; Elwood of “The Blues Brothers”)
• Pamela Anderson (actress on “Baywatch”)
• Louise Arbour (Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal, The Hague)
• Margaret Atwood (writer; author of “The Handmaid’s Tale”)
• Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) (rock group; writers of songs “You Ain’t Seen Nuthin’ Yet” and “Takin’ Care of Business”)
• Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (co-founders of RIM, developer of Blackberry smartphone)
• Frederick Banting and Charles Best (discoverers of diabetes drug insulin, 1921)
• Roberta Bondar (space shuttle astronaut)
• James Cameron (director of movie “The Titanic”)
• Jim Carrey (actor; star of such movies as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”)
• Hayden Christensen (actor; Anakin Skywalker in the later “Star Wars” movies)
• Cirque de Soleil (acrobatic circus performers)
• Douglas Coupland (writer; author of “Generation X”)
• Romeo Dallaire (general; commander of Rwanda international peacekeeping mission)
• Dennis Doherty (musician; founding member of “The Mamas & The Papas”)
• James Doohan (actor; Scotty of “Star Trek”)
• Michael J. Fox (television and movie actor; star of “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future”)
• John Kenneth Galbraith (economist; advisor to many U.S. presidents)
• Marc Garneau (space shuttle astronaut)
• Frank Gehry (architect; designed e.g. the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao)
• William Gibson (science fiction author; inventor of “cyberpunk” genre)
• James Gosling (author of Java computer language)
• Ryan Gosling (Hollywood actor; star of “Crazy Stupid Love”)
• Glenn Gould (classical piano player)
• Lorne Greene (actor; star of television show “Bonanza”)
• The Guess Who (rock band; writers of song “American Woman”)
• IMAX Corporation (group of Canadians that invented the IMAX movie format, 1970)
• Kenneth Iverson (author of APL computer language)
• Ben Johnson (former world-class sprinter)
• Brian Kernighan (co-author of C computer language)
• Margot Kidder (actress; Lois Lane of “Superman” movies)
• W.P. Kinsella (author of novel “Shoeless Joe”, later made into movie “Field of Dreams”)
• Rachel McAdams (movie actor; Regina of “Mean Girls”)
• David McTaggart (co-founder of Greenpeace)
• Mike Myers (comedic actor; writer and star of “Wayne’s World” and “Austin Powers”)
• Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of “Anne of Green Gables”)
• Carrie-Anne Moss (actress; Trinity in “The Matrix” movies)
• Farley Mowat (author and conservationist; writer of “Never Cry Wolf”) (woonde in Oakville, denk ik)
• Leslie Nielsen (comedic movie actor; starred in “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” series)
• Sandra Oh (actress; Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy”)
• Michael Ondaatje (author of “The English Patient”, later made into a movie)
• Matthew Perry (actor; Chandler of T.V. show “Friends”)
• Russell Peters (stand-up comedian)
• Jason Priestly (television actor on “90210”)
• Keanu Reeves (movie actor; star of “The Matrix”)
• Ryan Reynolds (movie actor; star of “The Proposal” and “Green Lantern”)
• Mordecai Richler (author; writer of “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz”)
• William Shatner (actor; Captain Kirk of “Star Trek”)
• Donald and Kiefer Sutherland (father & son acting stars)
• Pierre Trudeau (politician and statesman)
• Nia Vardalos (writer and star of movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”)
• Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve (father & son champion racecar drivers)
• Mortimer Zuckerman (publisher/owner of New York Daily News)

Ja, ik zal er vast nog veel vergeten zijn. Maar dit is al een beginnetje.