The onetime lead vocalist of the famed Canadian folk unit Stringband, singer/songwriter Marie-Lynn Hammond was born in Montreal, Quebec on August 31, 1948. With banjoist Bob Bossin and fiddle player Terry King, she formed Stringband in Ontario in 1971; the trio released their debut Canadian Sunset three years later, recording several more LPs worth of material before disbanding in 1977. Hammond released her self-titled solo debut the next year, but did not resurface again until 1983's Vignettes; Impromptu followed two years later. In addition to subsequent recordings including 1990's Black & White...and shades of grey and 1995's Imprompt2, Hammond also created Beautiful Deeds/De Beaux Gestes, a stage musical inspired a series of songs she wrote about her grandmothers; she additionally hosted the CBC radio show Musical Friends. ~ Jason Ankeny