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Steven Page

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steven Page
Page in 2008
Page in 2008
Background information
Born
Steven Jay Page

(1970-06-22) June 22, 1970 (age 56)
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • piano
Years active1988–present
Member ofTrans-Canada Highwaymen
Formerly of
Websitestevenpage.com

Steven Jay Page (born June 22, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and musician. He co-founded the rock band Barenaked Ladies with Ed Robertson in 1988 and served as one of its principal vocalists and songwriters until his departure in 2009.[1][2] His compositions for the group include "Brian Wilson", "The Old Apartment" and "It's All Been Done"; he also co-wrote songs including "If I Had $1000000" and "Pinch Me".

Outside Barenaked Ladies, Page has released several solo albums and has composed music for productions at the Stratford Festival. His other projects include collaborations with British musician Stephen Duffy and the Art of Time Ensemble. He is also a member of the Canadian supergroup Trans-Canada Highwaymen.

Early life

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Page was born in Scarborough, Ontario, on June 22, 1970.[1] His father, Victor, was a drummer, and Page studied piano and sang with the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir while growing up.[3][4]

Page and Robertson attended Woburn Collegiate Institute and later worked as counsellors at the Scarborough Schools Music Camp. Their shared musical interests led them to begin performing together and to form Barenaked Ladies in 1988.[2] Page studied English at York University, with a minor in music theory and choral studies, before leaving to concentrate on the band.[4]

Career

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Barenaked Ladies

[edit]
Page at Massey Hall in 2005

Robertson invited Page to perform with him at a charity show under the name Barenaked Ladies in 1988. The two continued as a duo before other musicians joined the group. Page became one of the band's principal singers and songwriters and played acoustic and electric guitar in the studio and onstage.[2][3]

Barenaked Ladies achieved commercial success in Canada with its independently released cassette The Yellow Tape (1991) and debut studio album, Gordon (1992). International success followed during the late 1990s with Stunt (1998) and the single "One Week".[2] Page wrote or co-wrote much of the group's repertoire during his tenure, frequently collaborating with Robertson and Duffy. In 2002, Page and Robertson received an International Achievement Award at the SOCAN Awards for "Pinch Me".[5]

By the mid-2000s, Page had reservations about the band's creative direction. He later said that he participated in the recording of Barenaked for the Holidays (2004) and Snacktime! (2008) despite opposing the projects. Of Snacktime!, he said, "It was a lot of fun to do, but it wasn't my idea. I was along for the ride."[6]

Page performing with Barenaked Ladies in 2008

On February 24, 2009, Page and the band announced that he was leaving by mutual agreement to pursue solo and theatrical projects, while the remaining members would continue as Barenaked Ladies.[7][8] The decision had been made approximately a week and a half earlier, partly because the other members wanted to record another album and Page did not.[9] Page said that his widely publicized 2008 drug arrest hastened an already imminent separation.[6]

In 2011, Page said that the band had ceased to be "the joyous place that it once was" and that its work had become defined by stress, although the members continued to enjoy performing together.[10]

On March 25, 2018, Page performed with Barenaked Ladies for the first time in nine years at the Juno Awards in Vancouver, marking the band's induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.[11] Page later said that he proposed performing "One Week" and "If I Had $1000000" because the songs highlighted his musical interplay with Robertson, which he considered a defining feature of that era of the band.[12]

In the same 2026 interview, Page said that the members no longer wanted to be around one another by the time of his departure. He cited his divorce, efforts to maintain his relationship with his children and travel restrictions stemming from his arrest as additional strains. Because the restrictions required him to travel separately to American engagements for nearly a year, he said, it eventually became apparent that they were no longer functioning as the same band. Asked about another reunion, Page said, "I think they don't want to do it. I don't think they want to work with me. And I've had to kind of be okay with that."[12]

Solo and theatrical work

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Page began collaborating with Duffy in the early 1990s. Several of their compositions appeared on Barenaked Ladies albums, beginning with Maybe You Should Drive (1994). In 2005, they released an album of their collaborations under the name The Vanity Project.[13]

Page also composed music for the Stratford Festival. His credits there include As You Like It, Bartholomew Fair, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Hamlet, Macbeth and The Miser.[14]

In February 2010, Page and the Art of Time Ensemble released A Singer Must Die, a studio album of songs they had previously performed in concert. The album was followed by a twelve-date tour.[15] Page continued to perform with the ensemble on programs devoted to the music of artists including the Beatles and Leonard Cohen.

Page's first album of original material under his own name, Page One, was released on October 19, 2010. The album included songs written with Duffy and Canadian musician Craig Northey.[1] Page toured in support of the album in Canada and the United States.

In 2011, Page performed the Canadian national anthem at the 2011 NHL Winter Classic and sang Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the state funeral of Jack Layton.[16][17]

Page released the songs "A Different Sort of Solitude" and "Manchild" in 2012. The former, written for the film French Immersion, received a nomination for best original song at the 32nd Genie Awards.[18]

His second album of original solo material, Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct, was released on March 11, 2016.[19] Its follow-up, Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II, followed on September 14, 2018. The latter incorporated political themes alongside Page's personal songwriting; Exclaim! described it as recapturing the anger and activism of his earlier work.[20]

Page and playwright Daniel MacIvor wrote the musical Here's What It Takes, which was scheduled to premiere at the 2020 Stratford Festival. The production was cancelled when the festival suspended its season during the COVID-19 pandemic. Page subsequently began a series of online concerts and performed material from the musical with members of its cast for Q.[21]

In December 2021, Page released "Canada Loves You Back", featuring Odds, after performing the song as a tribute to actor Ryan Reynolds at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.[22]

Page released Excelsior on September 30, 2022. The album addressed grief, loss and loneliness, including the deaths of Page's father and several friends.[23]

Trans-Canada Highwaymen

[edit]

In 2016, Page formed the Trans-Canada Highwaymen with Moe Berg of the Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Murphy of Sloan and Northey of Odds.[24] The group initially performed songs associated with its members' respective bands. Its debut studio album, Explosive Hits Vol. 1, was released in October 2023 and consisted primarily of versions of Canadian hit songs from the late 1960s and 1970s.[25]

Other work

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Page hosted the food and travel television series The Illegal Eater, which premiered in 2013 and followed him as he visited underground restaurants and pop-up dining establishments.[26] He made a guest appearance in the How I Met Your Mother episode "P.S. I Love You" in 2013.[27]

In December 2025, Page appeared as a fictional early-20th-century performer bearing his name in the Murdoch Mysteries episode "Sugar Plum Murdoch". He wrote and performed "Christmas in Toronto" for the episode.[28]

Personal life

[edit]

Page's first wife was Toronto musician and teacher Carolyn Ricketts. They separated in 2007 and divorced in 2009; they have three sons.[29][30] Page married Christine Benedicto in 2011.[10]

Page was arrested in Fayetteville, New York, in July 2008 and charged with possession of cocaine. In October, the felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. Under the arrangement, the charges would be dismissed if Page completed treatment and remained free of further offenses for six months.[31][32]

Page has spoken publicly about living with bipolar disorder and previously using alcohol and drugs to cope with its symptoms. He has advocated seeking treatment and reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness.[33][34]

Discography

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See also: Barenaked Ladies discography

Solo studio albums

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Collaborative albums

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 Ankeny, Jason. "Steven Page Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Barenaked Ladies". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Steven Page, Ed Robertson and Tyler Stewart (2004). The Barenaked Truth (television documentary). Take 3 Productions/Casablanca Media Television.
  4. 1 2 Jones, Craig (August 1994). "The Barenaked Ladies: Maybe You Should Drive". Canadian Musician. pp. 36–41. {{cite magazine}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help)
  5. ↑ "2002 SOCAN Awards". Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  6. 1 2 McCoy, Heath (July 21, 2009). "Steven Page stripped bare". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on July 25, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Lead singer quits Barenaked Ladies after drug bust". Reuters. February 25, 2009. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  8. ↑ Page, Steven (February 24, 2009). "Gone Solo". The Steven Pages. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
  9. ↑ Medley, Mark (February 26, 2009). "Steven Page interview: 'Wow, I'm not a Barenaked Lady anymore'". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on January 28, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Gottlieb, Jed (August 26, 2011). "Ex-Barenaked singer Steven Page is his own man: No longer one of the ladies". Boston Herald. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page aim to 'remember the past without getting mired in it' at Junos". CBC News. March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Green, Tom (June 5, 2026). "How Steven Page Reinvented Himself". The Tom Green Farmcast (Podcast). Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Barenaked Page Goes Solo". Rolling Stone. May 2005. Retrieved July 29, 2026. {{cite magazine}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  14. ↑ "The Miser house programme" (PDF). Stratford Festival. 2022. p. 29. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page to drop new albums". CTV. January 6, 2010. {{cite news}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help)
  16. ↑ "The 2011 NHL Winter Classic". Sports Illustrated. December 30, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
  17. ↑ "An Anthem to Remember". CBC News Network. August 27, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Café de Flore leads Genie32 race with A Dangerous Method in hot pursuit". Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. January 17, 2012. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  19. ↑ "Steven Page: Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct". AllMusic. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  20. ↑ McKean, Matthew (September 14, 2018). "Steven Page: Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Steven Page's promising new Stratford show got shut down. So what did he do?". Q. CBC Radio. May 20, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Steven Page song to Ryan Reynolds now raising funds for Reconciliation Canada". FYI Music News. December 9, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Steven Page on his new album Excelsior and dealing with grief and loss". The Globe and Mail. September 30, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  24. ↑ Hudson, Alex (July 15, 2016). "Chris Murphy introduces his new supergroup the Trans-Canada Highwaymen". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Trans-Canada Highwaymen cover CanRock classics on new album Explosive Hits Vol. 1". Exclaim!. September 2023. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  26. ↑ Myles, Ruth (October 25, 2013). "Steven Page sings a new tune with his TV series The Illegal Eater". Calgary Herald. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  27. ↑ Herbert, Geoff (February 5, 2013). "Manlius resident Steven Page appears on How I Met Your Mother". The Post-Standard. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  28. ↑ Volmers, Eric (December 3, 2025). "Turn the Page: Former Barenaked Ladies singer goes orchestral with Calgary Phil". Calgary Herald.
  29. ↑ Köhler, Nicholas; Gulli, Cathy (July 2, 2008). "Barenaked Mess". Maclean's. {{cite magazine}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  30. ↑ "Steven Page and son Ben channel their love of musical theatre with projects for Stratford and off-Broadway". The Globe and Mail. July 12, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Barenaked Ladies' Steven Page gets reduced drug charge". Billboard. October 29, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  32. ↑ "Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page escapes jail time". CityNews. October 28, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  33. ↑ Kleiner, Kurt (October 25, 2012). "Steven Page and Mental Health Awareness Month". University of Toronto. Retrieved July 29, 2026.
  34. ↑ Moe, John (May 18, 2020). "Steven Page Camouflages Songs About Depression". The Hilarious World of Depression (Podcast). Retrieved July 29, 2026.
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