Ron Sexsmith Artistfacts

January 8, 1964
Ron Sexsmith is a critically acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter best known for his bittersweet, melody-rich pop-folk songs and meticulous craftsmanship.
Sexsmith grew up poor in the Western Hill neighborhood of St. Catharines, Ontario. His father left when Ron was just 2 years old and was only sporadically present after. Music became both refuge and aspiration. He shared his childhood with his brother Don, who also played music and helped Ron land his first gigs. The area later became immortalized in Sexsmith's song "Galbraith Street."
Fascinated by his mother's record collection, Sexsmith decided by age 5 that he wanted to be a musician. By 14, he'd started his own band. At 17, he began playing professionally at the Lion's Tavern in Port Dalhousie, where his encyclopedic knowledge of songs earned him the nickname "The One-Man Jukebox" for his ability to play almost any request.
After moving to Toronto with his young family in the late 1980s, Sexsmith spent about seven years working as a foot courier, a job that suited both his temperament and his creative process. "I tend to write when I'm walking around," he explained to Amplify, joking that it was one of the few jobs he was truly cut out for.
After years of rejection, he finally signed a publishing deal and released his self-titled major-label debut in 1995, produced by Mitchell Froom. The album drew glowing reviews from fellow musicians but modest sales. A turning point came when Elvis Costello publicly praised the record, calling it the best album he'd heard that year. Costello even held up the CD on the cover of Mojo magazine in December 1995: an endorsement Sexsmith later called a "lifeline" when his label was losing confidence. Following the Mojo cover, Interscope backed away from dropping him, and his international profile surged, especially in the UK.
Sexsmith is known for his self-deprecating humor, including jokes about his distinctive round face. He aspired to resemble a St. Bernard: "kind of funny-looking but strangely beautiful," he told The New Zealand Herald.
He married the musician Colleen Hixenbaugh in 2007, and has two children from his former common-law partner Jocelyne, whom he met while tree-planting in Chapleau, Ontario. His son Christopher (born 1985) and daughter Evelyne (born 1989) were creative catalysts, with Sexsmith crediting his son's birth as the moment he began taking songwriting seriously.
A melody-first writer, Sexsmith often composes while walking: something he's jokingly referred to as the "Winnie the Pooh method." His goal, he told Pure Music, is a "seamless marriage of words and melody," where neither calls attention to itself.
While never a chart-dominating pop star, Sexsmith's songs have found a wide audience through covers by major artists. "Secret Heart" (from his 1995 debut) has been recorded by Rod Stewart, Feist, and Nick Lowe; Michael Bublé covered "Whatever It Takes" on his 2009 album Crazy Love; k.d. lang recorded "Fallen" for 2004's Hymns of the 49th Parallel; and Katie Melua included "Gold in Them Hills" on her 2012 album Secret Symphony.
In 2017, Sexsmith published his first novel, Deer Life, a dark fairy tale involving bullying and witchcraft. He also provided the book's illustrations, reflecting his long-standing love of sketching and visual art.
A self-described fan of old-fashioned things, Sexsmith buys vinyl records and doesn't own a cell phone, intentionally distancing himself from modern digital culture.
Spiritually, he describes himself as "God conscious," but in an "invisible friend" sense rather than a religious one. He believes in angels and frequently explores faith as companionship rather than doctrine in songs like "Gold In Them Hills," "Speaking With the Angel" and "Angel On My Shoulder."

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