-
LIGHTS is Born
On April 11 1987, Valerie Anne Poxleitner was born in Timmins, Ontario. -
Lights' Childhood
Because her parents were Christian missionaries, Valerie has lived in many different places, including Philippines, Jamaica, Ontario and Vancouver. Since the mid 2000s, Valerie legally changed her name to Lights. -
Musical Beginnings
Lights showed an early interest in music and explained in an interview about how it all started. At the age of 11 she learned how to play 3 chords on the guitar. She then asked her mother to pick a number from 1-150 (she chose 5) and Lights wrote a song based on Psalm 5 in the Bible. -
Songwriter
Lights started her career being a writer for Sony/ATV Music Publishing. She was one of the songwriters who composed music for the television series Instant Star.She composed the song "Perfect" sung by the star of the show Alexz Johnson. -
First Single -February Air
In late 2006, Lights worked with the Canadian photographer Marc Lostracco on her first song "February Air." Sony didn't release it at the time, but a new version of the music video was released in 2009. -
Lights is Discovered!
Lights was discovered by Jian Ghomeshi and he remained her manager until December 2010. -
Tours!
Starting in early 2008, Lights toured cities in the Great Lakes region, in both Canada and the United States. In late 2008, she toured the United States. -
The Listening - Lights' first EP
In August 2008, Lights entered into a record deal with Underground Operations as well as signing a partnership with Warner Bros. and with Doghouse Records. Around the same time, her song "Drive My Soul" peaked at #18 in the Canadian Hot 100 in 2008. After signing with them, her EP was released in stores on 16 September. Her second single, "February Air", sold 12,000 copies in early 2008. -
Collaborations
Lights appears in the song & music video for the song Every Day by Ten Second Epic (from their album Hometown). The music video was nominated for Best Independent Music Video at the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards. She is also featured in the song by The Tremulance: "You Got The Girl", and also on the soundtrack for the 2008 Canadian film One Week, starring Joshua Jackson. -
Worthy Accomplishments
Lights won Indie Awards in the Favourite Solo Artist and Favourite Single categories during Canadian Music Week in March 2009 in Toronto. All awards were for her debut single "Drive My Soul", except the award for Favourite Solo Artist.
She also won in the best new artist category at the 2009 Juno Awards. -
Warp Tour Hit!
Light's single "Saviour" was released on radio on July 6, 2009 while she was touring in Warp tour. It came from her debut full length album, "The Listening." -
Hit after Hit!
In 2009, Lights released her third single to Canadian radio called "Ice" with a self-made video released via her MySpace. She also released a second video for 'Ice' in Canada on 10 November 2009, On 10 August 2009, her music video for "Saviour" was released. -
The Listening's Success
In 2010, she was nominated in the Indie Awards for "Video of the Year" (Drive My Soul) "Pop Artist of the Year"and in the Juno Awards for "Pop Album of the Year" (The Listening). In October 2010, her album The Listening was given a gold certification by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for sales of 40,000 albums. -
Tour with Owl City
She toured from January to May 2010 with contemporary synthpop artist Owl City in Canada, USA and Europe. they plan on collaborating on a song together in the near future. She was also in the summer 2010 Lilith Fair lineup. She embarked on a two week solo UK tour in May 2010 being supported by fellow Canadian artist Rich Aucoin for the majority of her shows. -
Second EP
Lights was a special guest for Hedley's The Show Must Go... On The Road Tour, as well as These Kids Wear Krowns.
Lights' released an acoustic EP titled Acoustic on July 2010. That same month, she started her six-date tour around the US, performing her songs acoustically. -
2011 and Beyond
Lights is currently in the studio, recording tracks for her new album as a follow up to her debut album "The Listening." She is also dating Beau Bokan, a fellow musician from the band Blessthefall.
