Sound and sight: Tamica Herod

Nov 12, 2023

By Douglas McLean On August 6, 2023 Arts, Culture and Entertainment, Sound and Sight

Behind many of the greatest musical acts, there is often a duo or trio of singers, along with countless backup musicians, whose performances bring out the very best in the act they support. Consider Ray Charles without the Raelettes, Mick Jagger without Lisa Fischer, Jackson Browne without Rosemary Ann Butler, or Taylor Swift without the Starlights.

Their skill and implicit talent are to make another artist sound phenomenal. Often overlooked and underappreciated, their contribution demands a special ability few musicians understand, let alone can achieve.

Tamica Herod has made a powerful career being the singer behind the main act, especially in the local Huntsville music arts, where she has performed and recorded with countless well known singer songwriters and performers, notably Sean Cotton and his various endeavours as well as Gina Horswood, and Tobin Spring.

Over the past eighteen months, Tamica has been instrumental in the success of a Sean Cotton project, aptly named the Acoustic Sessions, which has seen incredible audience turnouts. Cotton’s brainchild, the Acoustic Sessions features the music and songs of some of the best-performing bands in the world: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and the excitingly received revue of Fleetwood Mac.

Surrounded by stalwart bandmates such as Mike “Lopez” Phillip, George Axon, and Sean Cotton—a masterclass musician in his own right—the soaring vocal arrangements are appreciably augmented by backup singers Liz Anderson and Tamica Herod, who also supplements various percussion elements. Tamica has worked with Cotton over many years, on hundreds of distinctive projects, from blues to pop.

Presented as Acoustic Floyd, the band will perform their show of Pink Floyd songs at the Algonquin Theatre on Thursday, August 17, 2023, starting at 8:00 pm. The band will be joined by Chris Hess on saxophones.

Their performance at the Algonquin Theatre marks a series of sold-out shows around Muskoka for the Acoustic Fleetwood Mac which they bring to the Etwell Concert Series Tuesday, September 12, 2023, at 7:30 pm. They will also perform their shows, The Bowling Stones on August 8, and Acoustic Zeppelin on August 29, beginning at 6:45 pm at the Etwell Concert Series which take place at 2012 Etwell Road.

Tamica Herod began her prodigious professional musical career 26 years ago but loved music from childhood. “Drumming was actually my first love when I was really young. I remember being five or six, thinking I wanted to be the biggest female drummer in the world. My mom was like, girls aren’t drummers”. She followed the traditional Royal Conservatory training in piano and voice, harmony singing became something very critical in her foundational discipline.

In her teens, Tamica decided to become a professional musician. Searching for a place to begin, she began hanging around Ruanne’s, an amazing music venue, in Barrie. “Every Sunday, they had the Ruanne’s House Band and it was led by Gerry Markman, who was Alannah Myles’ band leader, and the keyboard player from Red Ryder. I started going to that and listening and it was at that point that I really discovered Blues Music. Then I started learning material and I would show up for the jam portion of the night. My very first paid gig was with Ruanne’s House Band. I showed up with a little cassette tape of my set. We went down to a dungeon in the basement, the band listened to every song, went yup, and I got up and did my thing”.

Although Tamica was deeply influenced by Aretha Franklin and particularly Bonnie Raitt, she was obsessed with hard rock Metal singers like Ronnie James Dio, whom she wanted to emulate. Preparing to further her skills and education in music, Tamica planned to audition for the Humber School of Music in 1992 but became pregnant with her daughter. “It was a miracle because I was told I could never have children and all of a sudden, I’m pregnant. So, I made a decision at that point to pursue being a single mom and leave the music ‘till later. And I’m glad I did it”.

During the last term of her pregnancy, she was involved in a serious automobile accident that left her disabled for close to ten years. Recovering with a small child, unable to work in a conventional profession, she revived her interest in music a few years into her disability and began to study for a future career in social services.

By 1996, she was working in Hamilton with Big Trouble, now known as the Paul Coombs Band, as lead singer, backup singer, and percussion. In Niagara, Tamica formed two bands as a bandleader, Vintage Trouble and Echo, a band she recalls with fondness for their style, and individual approach to turn cover songs into something new and energized.

Finding professional work in Muskoka, she moved to Bracebridge in 2007. Through Bill and Jeanne Spring, she became a vital member of the Northern Blues Revue with Tobin Spring, her first introduction to blues in Huntsville. She remained a member for several years.

“We went over to Pub on the Docks (in Huntsville), after a Northern Blues Revue show, and Sean Cotton was playing, and somebody said, “Oh, she can sing”. So, I got up to sing and did ‘Love Me Like a Man’, by Bonnie Raitt and Sean kind of looked at me and said,” Whoa, a redheaded blues singer in Muskoka”. That was Tamica’s introduction to Sean Cotton and she has been singing with him since.

Tamica formed her own band, Vintage Soul, which focused on fundraiser shows. The band included Cotton and Michael Lopez. In 2016, her professional life took her briefly to Collingwood, where she formed the highly successful Tamica & the Boyz, who travelled a wide circuit of “pubs, bars, house concerts and festivals in Ontario including repeat performances at the Stonebridge Wasaga Beach Blues Festival (2015, 2016, 2017).”

As bandleader, Tamica generates enthusiasm and intense audience engagement, through the vast versatility of her chosen repertoire: “Blues, R+B, Funk, Soul and Rock and Roll hits from yesterday and today.” You can check out her website, HERE.

In 2015, Tamica formed a trio, The Ladybirds, with Gina Horswood and Dani Strong, that briefly set hearts ablaze with their scorching harmonies. But both Dani and Gina had solo album tours to pursue and the trio had to disband.

“Harmony singing – harmony for me is a real feel thing. If somebody asks me if I am singing the third or the fifth, I’m like I don’t know, I’m just singing what feels right”, Tamica adds with a chuckle.

With several successful projects on the go, Tamica is also finalizing a set of her own songs that reflect her consciousness of the world around us, especially her close professional connection to people suffering from disparaging mental distress and illness. She hopes to showcase her work soon.

Music is incredibly important and there is a healing service to the work. For Tamica, blues is a way of life and a way to keep her grounded and healthy. “Therapist by day, blues singer by night”, she quips, but Tamica Herod has built her life with these dual, purposeful missions. A balancing act that only a daring few seek, but rarely accomplish.

Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.Local news in your inbox three times per week!

Click here to support local news