Leith Ross

Ross was raised in Manotick, Ontario, which they have described as "conservative and cut-off".^[4] They are of Scottish descent, having been named for the district of the same name in Edinburgh, and were raised Catholic.^[1][4] They grew up the middle child of an older brother and a younger sister and have said they were an "obnoxious and loud singing kid" as a child.^[5] Ross spent much of their teenage years online, including managing Ariana Grande and Doctor Who fan accounts on Twitter and Instagram.^[4] As a child, they were exposed to country music and to traditional Celtic music from their mother's childhood in Glasgow.^[5]

Ross wrote and performed songs from the age of 12.^[6][7] After finishing high school, they moved to Toronto and attended Humber College, where they pursued a degree in the school's Jazz Vocal program.^[6][8][5][4] Following graduation, Ross briefly moved back home before relocating to Winnipeg to pursue a music career.^[4]

While at Humber College, Ross wrote their debut EP, Motherwell, as a final project for their degree. They recorded the EP live in one afternoon with the help of classmates,^[9][8] and it was released on the indie label Birthday Cake Records in 2020.^[7] Ross' first featured performance was at Toronto's Burdock Music Hall, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.^[9] In June 2021, to combat the pandemic's impact on touring and smaller artist, the collective Folk Music Canada, Ross, and Danish singer Ida Wenøe organized an album that featured rising Canadian folk artists like Ross, Jenn Grant, and The Once alongside international artists from Australia and the Nordic countries of Europe.^[9] Ross and Wenøe later jointly opened for The Bros. Landreth on the group's 2022 European tour.^[9] Unable to tour during the pandemic, Ross turned to TikTok and other social media to promote their music, joining the app in early 2021.^[9][10] Their first video was a cover of "Honey" by Kehlani and led We Are: The Guard to describe their voice as “delicate as dewy cobwebs.”^[11]

Ross' song "We'll Never Have Sex" went viral on TikTok in the summer of 2021, receiving over 41 million streams on Spotify.^[12][2][7] As of 2022, the audio was used nearly 40,000 times in videos by other TikTok users.^[13] Several fellow musicians praised the song, including singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier, who called it "a gorgeous, beautiful song that so many people can relate to",^[14] and English rock band Crawlers, who cited the lyrics as an inspiration on their own song "Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)".^[15] Exclaim! included Ross as one of "8 Emerging Canadian Artists You Need to Hear", calling the song "gorgeously vulnerable",^[3] while Them listed it in "Our 24 Favorite Songs by LGBTQ+ Artists in 2022" and noted its particular resonance with asexual listeners.^[16] In 2022, Ross was signed to Interscope and Republic Records, and "We'll Never Have Sex" was released as a single in March.^[17] In the fall of 2022, Ross performed headline shows across North America. Throughout 2022, they supported Lord Huron in Canada and Andy Shauf and Helena Deland in Europe on tour.^[18] Ross was the recipient of the inaugural John Prine Songwriter Fellowship at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival.^{[19][20][21][22]}

In April 2023, Ross released the track, "Music Box", about which Clash wrote, "there’s a sense of precision to Leith Ross’ work which illuminates their delicate lyrical touch."^[23] Ross announced their spring 2023 headline tour dates across North America, the UK, and Europe.^[24] Ross's debut album, To Learn, was released on May 19, 2023.^[25] In September 2023, Ross will play All Things Go Festival.^[26] As part of an interview coinciding with Ross's 2023 tour, NME called them "Gen Z's new favourite indie songwriter" and stated that Ross is "a voice for their generation".^[4]

To Learn received a Juno Award nomination for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024.^[27]

Ross' music has been characterized as indie folk^[3][9] and has drawn comparisons to Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Feist, Clairo, Adrianne Lenker, Julia Jacklin, and Haley Heynderickx.^{[3][8][17][4]} They have named childhood influences including Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams, Corinne Bailey Rae, India Arie, Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, and Selena Gomez.^[5] Their music has been noted for its yearning quality and introspective lyrics that explore queerness, anxiety, sexual violence, and relationships.^[1][28][29]

Ross identifies as non-binary, transgender, and queer,^{[30][6][9][4]} and uses they/them pronouns.^[31] They came out as gay during their first year of college and came out as transgender two years later.^[6]

• Official website