Mandy Lagan
Biography Mandy Lagan
Mandy Lagan
Music has always had a significant place in Mandy’s life. Her mother was a piano teacher, organist and choir director so she grew up learning to play the piano and singing in church choirs.
As a teenager she picked up the guitar and learned a few chords so she could explore the music of some of her favourite artists.
She moved from Ridgetown, a small town in South Western Ontario, to Hamilton to study music at Mohawk College as a classical piano major. It is during these years that she began teaching piano in the community music school at Mohawk College as well as night school classes of group piano, ear training and music theory. She also began exploring the world of vocal jazz music as well as singer/songwriter material.
Mandy has released her fourth CD, “The Joni Book”. This is a collection of Joni Mitchell songs that she has creatively and imaginatively arranged along with the members of her band, ORIGINS. Band members include Dave Restivo-piano, Ted Quinlan-guitars, Kevin Turcotte-trumpet, Andrew Downing-cello, Jim Vivian-bass, and Blair Mackay-percussion/drums.
Mandy began taking herself seriously as a singer in 1990 when she moved from Hamilton to Toronto and formed a band in order to play songs of Joni Mitchell’s as well as her own writing. In 2002 she released her first CD, “I Thought About You”, a collection of jazz standards and two originals. In 2003 she released her second CD, “You See Me”, a selection of five jazz standards and five originals. In 2007 she released her third CD, “Verses”, a collection of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poetry which she collaboratively set to music. The “Verses” project awarded her financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts and The Ontario Arts Council.
Mandy lives in Toronto where she continues her teaching, writing, recording and performing.
