Emily Haines is one of Canada’s more accomplished musical artists. The singer and keyboard player is a founding member of the band Metric. Along with Leslie Feist and Amy Millan, Emily was one of the original singers and composers in the music collective Broken Social Scene, with whom she still performs. She has also recorded and toured with her solo project, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton.

Haines was born in New Delhi and raised in Canada. With her creative partner, James Shaw, Emily has written all of Metric’s music. In addition to over a million album sales, Metric music has streamed over 400,000,000 times in all parts of the world. She has also been asked to write and perform several songs for feature films, including “Twilight: Eclipse”. Metric has won numerous Juno Awards and their albums have attained many Gold or Platinum sales awards. Emily and James were even invited to give a private performance for Queen Elizabeth during her last visit to Toronto, where Metric is based.

Until Lou Reed’s death, Haines was close friends with him and his wife, Laurie Anderson. Together with Lou Reed, she recorded the Metric song “The Wanderlust”. The importance Lou Reed’s influence on Emily was is best illustrated by a well-known exchange between the two artists. When Reed asked referenced the Metric song “Gimme Sympathy” by asking her, “What would you rather be: a Beatle or a Rolling Stone?” Emily answered, “I’d rather be a member of The Velvet Underground”.