OTTAWA — Haydain Neale, the Juno-winning singer-songwriter who was the creative force behind the Canadian R&B group Jacksoul, died of lung cancer on Sunday.
The 39-year-old’s death comes just over a week before the release of a new album that was to mark his return to the recording industry.
The popular Toronto-based singer had spent the last two years undergoing extensive rehabilitation and therapy after a serious traffic accident.
In August 2007, a car collided with his Vespa scooter, leaving Neale in a coma with head injuries.
His rehabilitation was slow but steady. Over the last six months, with the support of his wife Michaela, daughter Yasmin, and bandmates, Neale was able to finish production on the album he started almost three years ago.
“It takes me more time now, but I still orchestrate the room,” he said in a statement when the album’s completion was announced.
It was never revealed that the silky-voiced singer was diagnosed with lung cancer seven months ago.
“Through all these challenges, Haydain’s sense of humour and love of music were ever-present,” his wife said in a statement. “He constantly brightened the room with his singing and his smile. His joyful presence and beautiful voice will be missed by us all.”
Jacksoul was one of Canada’s most successful contemporary soul groups, with a string of hits that included Can’t Stop and Still Believe in Love. The group won the Juno Award for R&B/soul recording of the year twice, in 2001 and 2007. Neale, whose vocal style was compared to Seal, also received an Urban Music Award for songwriter of the year in 2004 and a SOCAN award in 2005. He was named president of the Songwriters Association of Canada in 2006.
Neale grew up in Hamilton, Ont., one of four children raised by a single mother who instilled in him a love of music. In a 2000 interview, Neale described his mother as a “crazy music lover” who held down four jobs but still found time to sing with a theatre company. She would take Neale to the rehearsals.
“A lot of it for me has been osmosis,” he told the National Post. “I would just sit and watch people who just loved music, they loved it so much they would sing over and over again. It was pretty incredible.”
The new album, Soulmate, co-produced by Neale and Ron Lopata, will be released by Sony Music Canada on Dec. 1.
Proceeds from sales will go to the Haydain Neale Family Trust.
Ottawa Citizen
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
