Raine Maida
Maida performing with Our Lady Peace in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Michael Anthony Maida
Born	(1970-02-18) February 18, 1970 (age 42) Weston, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Rock, post-grunge, alternative, spoken word
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, drums, congas
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Kingnoise Records, Columbia, Sony BMG
Associated acts	Our Lady Peace
Website	www.rainemaida.net

Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida on February 18, 1970),^[1][2] is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics. He occasionally plays certain instruments, such as the acoustic guitar, while performing with Our Lady Peace.

Maida began a solo career in 2006, releasing his first solo album The Hunters Lullaby in 2007. He also self-produced Our Lady Peace's seventh studio album, Burn Burn, in 2009.^[3] Maida has been married to Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk since 1999, and together they have three sons. Maida has been intimately involved with War Child and other charities since 2003, and was an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and former U.S. president George W. Bush.

Early life[link]

Maida was born Michael Anthony Maida in Weston, Ontario, Canada in 1970. His parents split up when he was very young. Prior to pursuing a musical career, Maida studied criminology at the University of Toronto, and prior to that attended Ridley College in St. Catharines. Around late 1991, Maida changed his given name from "Michael" to "Raine".^[1] This was done to avoid confusion over having two Mikes in Our Lady Peace, the other having been former member Mike Turner.

Career[link]

Our Lady Peace[link]

Raine Maida is the vocalist and a founding member of the Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. Maida started the band with guitarist Mike Turner in 1992. Especially on the albums prior to Gravity, he often sung in a high, nasal voice. This singing style, along with Maida's cryptic lyrics, became one of the features of Our Lady Peace's music. After working with producer Bob Rock on the album Gravity, his voice became less nasal, and his tone became slightly deeper. His lyrics were also less Delphic, although these attributes have been abandoned and his older singing style and lyrical work has returned to a certain degree on the band's most recent album, "Curve" in 2012. Maida has released seven albums with Our Lady Peace, plus a live album and two greatest hits collections, namely A Decade and The Very Best of Our Lady Peace.

Maida performing solo in 2007

Solo work[link]

Maida released a four song EP called Love Hope Hero on November 14, 2006. The EP contains the songs "One Second Chance", "Earthless", "Sex Love and Honey", and "Careful What You Wish For". The EP was sold on tours with Chantal Kreviazuk, on his website, and on iTunes.

His full-length solo album, The Hunters Lullaby, was released on November 13, 2007 by independent label Kingnoise Records. The album was recorded in Maida's own studio using mostly acoustic instruments, and is described by Maida as "a collection of poems put to music". Maida's wife is featured on several tracks, singing and playing piano.^[4]

Maida is currently working on not only a new Our Lady Peace record, but also on his second solo album We All Get Lighter. It was stated that songs from the album would be released starting August 24, 2010 with the song "Bury Me with a Gun" and from then on, every few weeks a new song would be released until the release of the completed album in early 2011. While "Bury Me With a Gun" was indeed released, the rest of the tracks have failed to appear. In January 2011 Maida's official website was updated to give the album a release date of November 29, 2011. Known songs recorded for the album include: "How Far Will You Go?", "We All Get Lighter", and "Bury Me with a Gun." Potential songs that may be included on the album are "S.O.S" and "Not Done Yet" as they were performed live.^[5][6][7] Maida's website was been updated with a possible album title, "Pachamama" and a release date of February 20, 2012. However a few days after this date had passed, the date was replaced with "Coming Soon".^[6]

Producing and writing[link]

Maida has also been producing music since 1999, when he co-produced Our Lady Peace's albums Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch and Spiritual Machines. He has developed numerous indie bands, including Texas-based Sleepway, Lightbreak, and Billy the Kid. He produced four songs on the dance punk band Men, Women & Children's self-titled debut for Warner Bros. Records. He co-wrote and produced five tracks on Avril Lavigne's second album Under My Skin, released in 2004.

Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk contributed to Kelly Clarkson's song "Where Is Your Heart?"; Kreviazuk co-wrote it, while Maida produced and played the guitar.^[8] Maida and Kreviazuk also helped write the international hit "Walk Away", another song on Clarkson's album, Breakaway. They also co-wrote "One Minute" for Clarkson's third album, My December.

Maida during a 2008 interview

Maida and Kreviazuk contributed to The Veronicas' first album The Secret Life Of...; they wrote and produced the song "Revolution". Maida and Kreviazuk also co-wrote "Outside of You" with Pink but the song ended up on Hilary Duff's 2007 release, Dignity. The two wrote and produced both the first single and theme for Cheyenne Kimball's MTV reality show and album The Day Has Come. They wrote "Meant to Fly" for Eva Avila, the winner of the fourth season of Canadian Idol, and wrote the first single of Rex Goudie's second album Look Closer, called "You Got to Me".

Most recently, they co-wrote the song "Permanent" with American Idol winner David Cook. Maida also collaborated with Cook on the songs "Heroes," "Mr. Sensitive," and "I Did It For You," on the self titled album, David Cook. Maida has also been co-writing with the pop punk band Hawk Nelson for the 2008 released album Hawk Nelson Is My Friend. Maida has co-writes on numerous forthcoming releases this year including Alternative rock bands Green River Ordinance, Marianas Trench and Toronto based Die Mannequin. Maida also co-wrote a song, "Unapologize" for Carrie Underwood's 2009 album Play On.

Other work[link]

Maida had a small role in a Canadian movie released in 2001, Century Hotel. He played the character Damon Riley. In 2005, Maida contributed Liar to Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies from Neverending White Lights. Maida received special thanks on People in Planes album Beyond The Horizon. Maida and Kreviazuk wrote an original song for the HBO documentary Ithuteng, and composed music for the restored version of Helen Gardner's 1912 silent film version of Cleopatra.

Both Maida and Kreviazuk are strong advocates of the organization War Child having traveled and filmed documentaries in Iraq, Darfur, and Ethiopia. Maida produced a War Child Canada benefit album entitled Help: A Day in the Life. Maida and Kreviazuk both also co-hosted a 2006 Mothers Against Drunk Driving video. Raine has also expressed support for the Green Party of Canada.

Personal life[link]

Maida married Winnipeg, Manitoba singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk in December 1999 after meeting Kreviazuk at a Pearl Jam concert September 21, 1996 in Toronto. On January 16, 2004 their first son, Rowan Michael Maida, was born. Their second son, Lucca Jon, was born on June 3, 2005. Third son, Salvador 'Sal' Daniel, was born on June 28, 2008.^[9] Kreviazuk and Maida renewed their wedding vows in Costa Rica in November 2009.^[10]

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• 2006: Love Hope Hero EP
• 2007: The Hunter's Lullaby
• TBA: We All Get Lighter ^[11]

Our Lady Peace[link]

• 1994: Naveed
• 1997: Clumsy
• 1999: Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
• 2000: Spiritual Machines
• 2002: Gravity
• 2003: Live
• 2005: Healthy in Paranoid Times
• 2006: A Decade
• 2009: The Very Best of Our Lady Peace
• 2009: Burn Burn
• 2012: Curve

Singles[link]

• "Lebo's River" (with Chantal Kreviazuk, Lebo Kgasapane, and Archie Khambula) from Help: A Day in the Life.
• "Yellow Brick Road" premiere single from The Hunters Lullaby^[4]

References and notes[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Our Lady Peace bandology – Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
2. ^ Raine Maida at last.fm – Last.fm. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
3. ^ Raine Maida interview March 2008
4. ^ ^{a b} "Raine Maida delivers the Hunter's Lullaby". Chartattack.com. 2007-09-19. http://www.chartattack.com/news/44488/raine-maida-delivers-the-hunters-lullaby. Retrieved 2009-02-26. .
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ ^{a b} [2]
7. ^ http://www.thetelegram.com/Festivals-events/2010-06-26/article-1444504/Our-Lady-Peace-taking-it-to-the-street/1
8. ^ Google cache of Kelly Clarkson's official website - retrieved June 27, 2007.
9. ^ "CBB Exclusive: Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida welcome third son; Introducing Salvador "Sal" Daniel Maida". www.celebrity-babies.com. http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2008/06/cbb-exclusive-c.html. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
10. ^ "Chantal Kreviazuk's Blog - Tour Journal #1". www.myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/chantalkreviazuk/blog/520501243. Retrieved 2011-01-09. 
11. ^ http://blogs.myspace.com/rainemaida

External links[link]

• Raine Maida's official website
• Raine Maida on Myspace
• Raine Maida at the Internet Movie Database