Famous Hamiltonian Contest

Boris Brott (1944–2022)

Boris Brott was a celebrated conductor, music educator, and one of Canada’s most recognized maestros. He served as assistant to Leonard Bernstein, and led orchestras from Carnegie Hall to La Scala. He served as Music Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra for 21 years, even staging an HPO performance in the middle of one of Dofasco's industrial factories. He helped establish the National Academy Orchestra to develop young professionals, the only orchestral training institute of its kind in Canada. In 1988 he founded the Brott Music Festival, Canada’s largest orchestral music event. The Officer of the Order of Canada and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Arts Award from the City, Boris Brott died in April 2022 at 78 following a hit-and-run collision near his home. His legacy continues in 2026 through the ongoing festivals he founded and the naming of the Boris Brott Great Hall at Hamilton's FirstOntario Concert Hall in his honor.  

(Image William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University Libraries)

Rita Chiarelli (1954-)

"Canada’s Queen of the Blues", Rita Chiarelli is known for her powerful voice and soulful storytelling. Born and raised in Hamilton, she honed her craft with Ronnie Hawkins’ band and spent six years as a studio vocalist in Italy before going solo. Over her career, she has received the Maple Blues "Blues with a Feeling" Lifetime Achievement Award, the Hamilton Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Award, a Canadian Folk Music award, and a JUNO. Chiarelli continues to be a force in Canadian music, frequently performing with her all-female R&B band, Sweet Loretta. She is active in social advocacy through her work with the Topeka Freedom Singers documentary project. “Hamilton was the place where I learned the blues. This heavy steel town was a good place to learn the blues as a kid. Growing up here, all the influences of the surroundings and the environment are in my music, for sure.”

(Image Denise Grant Photography) 

Daniel Lanois (1951-)

Daniel Lanois is a world-renowned producer, guitarist, and songwriter, one of the most influential "sound architects" in modern music. Raised in Hamilton, he began his career in his basement studio before establishing the legendary Grant Avenue Studio in 1976 with his brothers. Lanois rose to international fame through his partnership with Brian Eno and his production of landmark albums like U2's The Joshua Tree, Peter Gabriel's So, and Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind. He has produced the work of Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball), Robbie Robertson (Robbie Robertson), Neil Young (Le Noise), and Willie Nelson (Teatro) among many others. A seven-time Grammy Award winner, eight-time JUNO Award winner, and member of the Order of Canada, Lanois maintains a solo career, recently releasing a live retrospective album, and continuing to tour while developing new experimental projects.

(Image Supercrawl)

Terra Lightfoot (1986 -)

Terra Lightfoot is a JUNO Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated singer-songwriter and guitarist from Hamilton. She is renowned for her soulful vocals and blues-infused roots rock. She came to local prominence as guitarist and vocalist with the Dinner Belles, a Hamilton country-folk group. Since her 2011 self-titled debut album, she has released several acclaimed albums, including New Mistakes (2017), Healing Power (2023), and her most recent intimate project, Home Front (2025). Known for relentless touring across four continents, she has shared stages with legendary artists such as Willie Nelson, Bruce Cockburn, and Blue Rodeo, and she also founded the all-female touring revue The Longest Road Show. Often performing with her signature Gibson SG guitar named "Veronica," Lightfoot remains prominent in the Canadian music scene and currently operates her own record label, Midnight Choir.

(Image Hamilton Music Collective)

Jackie Washington (1919–2009)

Born and raised in Hamilton, Jackie Washington was a legendary multi-instrumentalist jazz performer and storyteller from Hamilton. First performing on stage at the age of 5, Washington’s career spanned more than seven decades, and featured a repertoire of more than 1,200 songs across jazz, blues, and folk. A living connection to the swing era and African Canadian musical history, he broke barriers as Canada’s first Black disc jockey at CHML radio in 1948. He shared stages with such giants as Duke Ellington, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot. A beloved fixture at Canadian folk festivals, Jackie missed only one Festival of Friends in more than two decades. Despite losing a leg to diabetes in 1989, he continued to perform and record, including a Juno-nominated album. Washington was inducted into the Canadian Jazz & Blues Hall of Fame in 2002 and received an honorary doctorate from McMaster University, where his musical archives are now preserved. Today, he is commemorated by the Jackie Washington Rotary Park.

(Image William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University Libraries)

Tom Wilson (1959-)

Tom Wilson (Mohawk name Tehohåhake - `Two Roads’) is a one of Hamilton’s most iconic musicians, storytellers, and visual artists. He is renowned for his work with the bands Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and his psychedelic-folk project LeE HARVeY OsMOND. At age 53, Wilson discovered he had been adopted as child and was actually of Haudenosaunee-Mohawk descent, a life-altering revelation he detailed in his 2017 memoir, Beautiful Scars, which has since been adapted into a documentary and stage musical. Performing under his Indigenous name, Tehohåhake, he collaborates with his son, Thompson Wilson. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2023 for his artistic contributions and advocacy for Indigenous communities. In 2026, he continues to be active in the arts, touring and exhibiting his paintings, including his "Blood Memory" collection. 

(Image Richard Kyllo, CCShare-Alike 4.0, modified)