Meryn Cadell is an American-Canadian writer and performance artist. He is an assistant professor of song lyrics and libretto writing in the Creative Writing Program at University of British Columbia.
Early life and education
Cadell was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, and he later moved to Toronto in the mid-1980s. Cadell is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Career
Cadell re-released an independent cassette titled Mare-In Ka-Dell in 1988 while active as a performance artist in Toronto's Queen Street West scene. As a performance artist, he was particularly known for performing with a heating duct to add reverb.
In 1993, Cadell released a follow-up album, Bombazine, on Sire Records. This album featured guest appearances by Rheostatics, Ben Mink, Tyler Stewart, Anne Bourne and John Alcorn. Following the album, he took a hiatus from music to do human rights work with PEN Canada. Cadell also wrote an independent film, which was never produced.
In 1997, Cadell returned to music with the album 6 Blocks on the independent label Handsome Boy Records.
Guest performers on this outing included Anne Bourne, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Chris Wardman and Jason Sniderman (Blue Peter), Paul Brennan (Odds) and Martin Tielli.
Following that album, Cadell retired from the music business. He then publicly came out as transgender on Bill Richardson's CBC Radio One program Bunny Watson on October 2, 2004, although Cadell had already been out to friends and family for a year.
In 2007, Bongo Beat released an expanded edition of Angel Food for Thought, including two tracks that were previously available only on cassette as well as the video for "The Sweater". The CD was remastered by Graemme Brown. Cadell is also known for the Christmas song "The Cat Carol".
Personal life
Cadell is a transgender man who transitioned in 2003. In 2014 Cadell married composer Ian McAndrew. They live in Toronto, Canada.
Discography
- MARE-in ka-DELL (1988)
- Angel Food for Thought (1991)
- "Barbie" (1992)
- Bombazine (1993)
- 6 Blocks (1997)
- Angel Food for Thought [bonus tracks] (2007)