I was scrolling through Facebook doing my research on bands gigging in Toronto. Somehow I came across a Youtube video of 13 year old Lyric Dubee playing guitar and singing. It was a poor quality video taken at an outdoor event. It was obvious the kid could play guitar, but I wasn’t too impressed. I was sipping my morning coffee, however, and relaxing, so I decided to check out two more of his videos. The final video was Lyric being interviewed by Glenn Coulson on Rogers Barrie (cable channel) and performing some of his original music. Lyric played and sang beautifully, but that wasn’t the impressive part. Lyric is still a boy and his voice has not matured. What impressed me was his personality. He was not intimidated at all. He had amazing stage presence. When he sang, he had range and feeling. When he played guitar it was with ease and soul.

I posted the Rogers video on Facebook with a little paragraph about my impression of Lyric. I received a comment back from veteran Toronto musician/producer Virgil Scott who said he was going to contact Lyric’s parents and request that the boy perform at his upcoming annual “Happy New Year to Musicians Party”. I was thrilled to have brought the two together!

The video here was taken the night of the annual private event hosted by Virgil at Hollywood on the Queensway. The room was full of elite R&B musicians. When Lyric finished performing his two songs the room exploded with applause. People were excited by him. I was so happy that he had this exposure. People will be talking about Lyric Dubee, not because he’s a kid who can sing and play guitar, but because he’s a musician.

Lyric released his first CD last April. You can get a copy at his website http://www.lyricsmuzic.com/. Lyric will perform at the Wiarton Willie Festival Saturday (Feb 4). He’s performing on the main stage at 2pm. He will be performing songs from his blues album and some unreleased material. If you’re lucky enough to be there, you can also catch Walk Off The Earth and David Usher in the evening. If Lyric performs again in Toronto, I’ll be sure to let you know!