As the daughter of Kevin Chief, the Juno-winning musician\/dancer also known as Flying Down Thunder, Kayley grew up in a family comfortable with performing, whether they were following the powwow circuit or touring Europe.<\/p>\n
But being picked to play Bluesfest<\/a> is going to be \u201clife-changing,\u201d predicts the 26-year-old Orl\u00e9ans singer-songwriter who\u2019s poised to release her first album this year.<\/p>\n Kayley is booked for July 10, the second day of this year\u2019s edition of the festival<\/a>, which runs from July 9-19 on the grounds of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats Park with a slate of headliners that includes Hardy, Limp Bizkit, Gwen Stefani<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still absolutely floored,\u201d Kayley said of the opportunity. \u201cHonestly, when I applied I had no idea if I should even try because I only had one song. It\u2019s been doing really well, but it\u2019s still pretty new. Then my guitarist actually was like, \u2018Just give it a shot.\u2019 So I did and we got in, and it was insane.\u201d<\/p>\n Ottawa singer Alicia Kayley, photographed at the Robo Lounge in Ottawa, is booked to play Ottawa Bluesfest on July 10, 2026.<\/p>\n Kayley is one of about a dozen Ottawa-area acts booked by the festival<\/a> to round out the programming. With more than 800 submissions from independent acts between Toronto and Montreal, the competition was stiff. In all, about 40 unsigned artists from across the Ontario-Quebec region were selected this year.<\/p>\n For Kayley, the booking not only represents a milestone in her blossoming career but it\u2019s also a personal high. She\u2019s been to the festival as a fan \u201cmany, many times,\u201d and knows the exhilaration of sharing the moment with thousands of like-minded fans.<\/p>\n One of her favourite memories is seeing country star Shania Twain, who\u2019s played the festival<\/a> twice in recent years, with a bestie who\u2019s a huge fan. \u201cIt\u2019s the best party,\u201d Kayley says, \u201cand honestly it\u2019s so entertaining, and I love seeing Shania perform. It\u2019s always something so different.\u201d<\/p>\n Adele is so incredible, and just such a groundbreaking artist. … I definitely aspire to be like her.<\/p>\n Alicia Kayley<\/p>\n Kayley\u2019s own music leans more towards R&B than country, though her influences encompass everything from pop songs on the radio to years of serious vocal training in academic settings. A graduate of Canterbury High School\u2019s specialized vocal program, she also earned a degree in music at Carleton University.<\/p>\n But at one point in her education, she got the urge to stretch her powerful pipes a bit more, emulating the singers she heard on the radio. \u201cI started getting this huge feeling of, like, \u2018I need to do vocal runs,\u2019 and I started falling in love with old-school R&B,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then I wanted to make sure I could do my pop and R&B on my own time, and maintain the classical structure and the training I was getting. I really valued that. It helped me a lot as a singer and it helped me grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Kayley\u2019s latest single, Don\u2019t Break My Heart, is an upbeat dance track built on the emotional plea of the title lyric. It\u2019s the first song from an album that\u2019s being recorded in Nashville for a label headed by another Indigenous Canadian singer, Crystal Shawanda. It\u2019s expected to drop by summer.<\/p>\n Shawanda, a multiple Juno Award winner, discovered the power of Kayley\u2019s voice through videos on social media. According to Kayley: \u201cShe ended up reaching out and saying, \u2018I want to give you a chance to expand past the covers\u2019 and see what else I could do musically. Then it turned into this huge thing of, \u2018Let\u2019s sign you, come to Nashville and create an album.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n One of the early reactions to Kayley\u2019s musical style described her as an Indigenous version of Adele, the best-selling British superstar. It\u2019s a welcome and humbling comparison.<\/p>\n \u201cAdele is so incredible, and just such a groundbreaking artist,\u201d Kayley said. \u201cI love that she\u2019s got such a vast variety of different styles, and that\u2019s a lot of what I am. I definitely aspire to be like her.\u201d<\/p>\n As for her Indigenous background, Kayley has roots in Algonquin, Tahltan and Northern Tutchone First Nations, and wears her culture with pride. She\u2019s been known to add Algonquin lyrics to Canada\u2019s national anthem, and went viral for her cover of Hozier\u2019s Too Sweet, replacing his lyrics with hers.<\/p>\n \u201cI like my bepsi sweet,\u201d she sings in the clip, using Indigenous slang to refer to the cola, \u201cI like my bannock with some lard and tea.\u201d<\/p>\n She clearly had fun with the tune and her voice hit every note in the soaring melody, leading to an uptick in followers, especially among Indigenous youth, a demographic she\u2019s keen to reach.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big part of my platform,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be able to inspire Indigenous youth and Indigenous people to follow their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n lsaxberg@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Lynn Saxberg is the arts reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. For years she has been covering music festivals like Bluesfest, performances at the National Arts Centre and Canadian Tire Centre, as well as art exhibitions, comedy shows, the club scene and more. Sign up to receive weekly updates from\u00a0Lynn Saxberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/66e0497c73f2a924b4b3fd65087b8792.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n