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Renowned Toronto R&B artist Jully Black to play The Mod Club for the first time in nearly 20 years as part of her Jully Black Live tour.

Black has been active in the music industry for over 30 years, having released four studio albums and dozens of singles. But she says she has felt unsupported in her career in Canada.

“Seven Day Fool,” the lead single off of her sophomore album, Revival, reached number nine on the Canadian Billboard Hot 100.

Acclaimed Toronto R&B artist Jully Black will be playing The Mod Club for the first time in almost 20 years as part of her Jully Black Live tour. 

Named one of the best Canadian singers ever, Black has been active in the music industry for over 30 years. She got her start in 1995, after being discovered by Warner Chappell Music at 19 years old. Not long after that, she got a deal with Universal Music Canada.

Black has won two Juno Awards, performed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and performed in the five-time extended Mirvish production of Da Kink in My Hair.

She last played The Mod Club on Oct. 17, 2007, the day after the release of her second album, Revival. The album’s lead single, “Seven Day Fool,” climbed the Canadian Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number nine on the charts. 

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“October 17, 2007, when Revival came out with ‘Seven Day Fool.’ And my mom was there, and I got the announcement that we’re top 10. And it was just like such a whirlwind,” she said. “I was grateful, of course. But now I think back, and I’m like, Wow, 19 years later, I’m going back to that same stage, and in hopes that the room will pack up,” Black revealed on The Brandon Gonez Show.

Despite her renowned career, Black didn’t believe her career would have any longevity in Canada. She saw her peers pursue careers overseas after failing to “make it” in Canada and chose to follow in their footsteps. In her early years, she bounced from record label to record label.

“I left Canada many years ago. I got my first record deal when I was 14 at Sony, [in] New York. I left again when I was 21 to [Los Angeles]. I got with MCA Records. I left again when I was 25,” she explained. “I also just took my own internal census on different artists, different peers that have had international success but cannot do anything in Canada and cannot make an honest, decent living.”

Black faults the Canadian music industry’s promotion of hip-hop and R&B artists, remarking that record labels and agencies didn’t make the same effort to arrange cross-country tours with hip-hop and R&B lineups as they did with other genres. She also remarked at the constant cycle of competition and successors in the Canadian hip-hop and R&B genres.

“I think it’s the promotion. The other genres, country, rock, pop, alternative, bluegrass, have a tried and true system that they’ve been schlepping. They’re willing to get into the 15-passenger van and go across the country, back and forth.”

“So you’re talking about the black Canadian hip-hop and R&B community and I think that it’s important that we continue to extend the bridge. It shouldn’t be that there’s a successor, it’s not a takeover. We should be on the same relay team. That’s what needs to happen. That’s what prevents that from happening.”

But even with all the hurdles she faced in the last 30 years, Black is excited to play Toronto’s The Mod Club again for the memories she’ll be able to capture.

“Beyond my mom, a lot of people who were in that room aren’t here anymore. So when I think about this tour and these moments that we’re creating their memories, so I ask that everybody really capture those memories. That’s why I go out into the audience. That’s why I take pictures at the merch table.”

Tickets to the Jully Black Live tour can be purchased here.