Emm Gryner – Singer, Keyboard Player and David Bowie Collaborator

Early life in Ontario

Emm Gryner was born on 8 June 1975 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in the nearby community of Forest. Her father was of Irish heritage and her mother was Filipina, giving her a multicultural upbringing that later helped shape her broad musical outlook.

Music entered her life at an early age. She began studying piano when she was four years old and eventually expanded her skills to bass guitar, guitar and vocals. Long before she entered the professional music industry she was already writing songs and developing the independent spirit that would define much of her later career.

After attending North Lambton Secondary School she enrolled in the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College, graduating in 1995. The combination of musical talent and business knowledge would later prove invaluable when she launched her own record label and built a career largely outside the traditional major-label system.

Building a career before Bowie

Gryner first attracted national attention in Canada when her original song Wisdom Bus won a songwriting competition sponsored by Standard Broadcasting. Using the prize money she recorded her debut material and released it through her own label, Dead Daisy Records, making her one of the early independent artists to control her own recordings and releases.

Her growing reputation led to a recording contract with Mercury Records. The breakthrough came with the album Public (1998), which produced the Canadian hit single Summerlong and earned Gryner a Juno Award nomination for Best New Solo Artist.

At this stage she appeared destined for a conventional pop career, but events were about to take an unexpected turn when her path crossed with David Bowie’s.

Joining David Bowie’s band

In 1999 Gryner received an invitation that would change her life. Through Bowie guitarist and producer Mark Plati and fellow singer Holly Palmer, she was asked to join David Bowie’s touring band.

The opportunity arrived almost without warning. Gryner later recalled that the practical preparations for the tour had already begun before Bowie had even heard her sing in person. Although she was understandably nervous, Bowie quickly put her at ease with his relaxed and welcoming attitude.

Rather than treating her as a subordinate musician, Bowie encouraged her to be herself. This would become one of the defining themes of their working relationship.

For a young Canadian artist who had grown up listening to Bowie records, the experience was surreal. Yet Bowie’s professionalism and kindness helped transform what could have been an intimidating situation into one of the most important learning experiences of her career.

The Hours Tour

Emm Gryner joined David Bowie’s band during the promotional campaign for the album Hours…, released in October 1999. The record marked a more personal and reflective period in Bowie’s career and was supported by a series of concerts, television appearances and promotional events across Europe and North America.

Gryner’s role extended beyond traditional backing vocals. She contributed vocals, keyboards and occasional auxiliary instruments while helping create the rich vocal textures that characterised Bowie’s live sound during this era. Alongside fellow vocalist Holly Palmer, she became one of the most visible members of Bowie’s touring ensemble.

The line-up featured an exceptional group of musicians including Earl Slick, Mark Plati, Gail Ann Dorsey, Mike Garson, Sterling Campbell and Holly Palmer. Although Gryner was one of the newest members of the group, she quickly became an important part of the band’s sound and stage presentation.

What impressed her most was Bowie’s attitude toward the musicians around him. Rather than creating a hierarchy between himself and the band, he encouraged participation and creativity. Gryner would later describe Bowie as intensely curious, supportive and remarkably generous toward younger artists.

Television appearances

As part of the Hours… promotion cycle, Gryner appeared with Bowie on a number of major television broadcasts. These performances introduced her to millions of viewers around the world and placed her alongside one of the most celebrated performers in popular music.

Among the most notable appearances were performances on Saturday Night Live in the United States and Later… with Jools Holland in the United Kingdom.

These broadcasts showcased the chemistry that had developed between Bowie and his musicians. Gryner’s harmonies and keyboard contributions became an integral part of the live arrangements, helping modernise Bowie’s catalogue while remaining faithful to the original recordings.

The television performances also demonstrated how comfortable Bowie had become within this new band. By 1999 he was enjoying a creative resurgence and was surrounded by musicians who challenged and inspired him.

Bowie At The Beeb

Gryner also participated in recordings associated with Bowie At The Beeb, the collection documenting David Bowie’s BBC radio performances across several decades.

Although the project primarily focused on archival recordings, Gryner’s involvement helped connect Bowie’s contemporary touring band to his wider musical history. It was another example of how Bowie continuously bridged past and present throughout his career.

For Gryner, performing material spanning such a vast period of Bowie’s output provided a unique education in songwriting, arrangement and performance.

Glastonbury 2000

The defining moment of Emm Gryner’s time with David Bowie arrived on 25 June 2000 when she stepped onto the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival.

The concert has since become recognised as one of the greatest performances in the history of the festival and one of the finest concerts of Bowie’s entire career. More than one hundred thousand people watched from the field while millions later experienced the show through broadcasts, recordings and the official release Glastonbury 2000.

For Gryner, the experience was particularly extraordinary. She had always dreamed of attending Glastonbury as a music fan. Instead, her first visit to the festival found her standing on stage with David Bowie in front of one of the largest audiences she had ever seen.

Years later she recalled the surreal nature of the event. From her position as a backing vocalist and keyboard player she was able not only to perform, but also to observe Bowie at work from close range. She described the experience as a gift because she could witness the phenomenon of Bowie’s fame without being consumed by it herself.

According to Gryner, Bowie appeared relaxed, confident and genuinely happy during this period of his life. He was deeply engaged with new technology, enthusiastic about projects such as BowieNet and enjoying a stable personal life with his wife Iman and their family.

Watching Bowie command the Glastonbury audience became one of the defining memories of her career. The concert remains one of the most important visual documents of Bowie’s later years and permanently linked Gryner to one of the greatest live performances in modern rock history.

“It’s not about us, it’s about them”

One of the lessons Gryner remembers most vividly came directly from Bowie himself.

Before performances, Bowie would remind his musicians that the concert was not about the people on stage. It was about the audience.

His philosophy was simple: “It’s not about us, it’s about them.”

For Gryner, this statement became one of the most valuable lessons of her career. It reflected Bowie’s understanding that music ultimately exists as a shared experience between performer and audience rather than an exercise in ego or self-promotion.

The idea would continue to influence her work long after her time in Bowie’s band had ended.

The Toy sessions

Following the conclusion of the Hours… era, Emm Gryner remained connected to David Bowie during the sessions for what became the long-unreleased album Toy.

Recorded in 2000, Toy was conceived as a project in which Bowie would revisit songs from the earliest years of his career and re-record them with his contemporary band. Rather than treating the material as nostalgia, Bowie approached the songs as living works that could be reinterpreted through the experience and musical maturity he had gained over the previous three decades.

Gryner contributed vocals during these sessions, helping create the layered harmonies that became a hallmark of Bowie’s late-period recordings. The project featured many of the musicians who had worked together during the Hours… and Glastonbury period, creating a strong sense of continuity.

Although the album was completed in 2000, contractual disputes prevented its release. For years it circulated only among collectors and Bowie enthusiasts until it finally received an official release in 2021 as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box set.

As a result, Gryner’s contributions became part of Bowie’s official catalogue more than two decades after they had originally been recorded.

Life after Bowie

After her period with David Bowie, Gryner continued building a remarkably diverse and independent career.

Rather than pursuing mainstream celebrity, she focused on artistic freedom. Through her own label, Dead Daisy Records, she released a long series of albums covering styles ranging from pop and folk to jazz, Celtic music and experimental projects.

Her albums Girl Versions and Asianblue received Juno Award nominations, while later releases such as Torrential, Business & Pleasure and numerous independent projects further demonstrated her versatility as both songwriter and performer.

The independence she displayed throughout her career echoed many of the qualities she admired in Bowie himself: artistic curiosity, willingness to take risks and refusal to be restricted by commercial expectations.

Space Oddity in space

One of Gryner’s most unusual Bowie-related projects arrived in 2013 when she worked with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on a new version of Bowie’s classic Space Oddity.

Gryner arranged and performed piano on the recording while Hadfield sang and played guitar aboard the International Space Station.

The resulting video became a worldwide sensation and is widely recognised as the first professionally produced music video filmed in space.

For Bowie fans, the project represented a remarkable continuation of the creative legacy of one of his most famous songs. Bowie himself reportedly approved of the recording, and it became one of the most celebrated musical tributes associated with his work during his lifetime.

The Healing Power of Singing

In 2021 Gryner published The Healing Power of Singing: Raise Your Voice, Change Your Life, a book combining memoir, practical vocal guidance and personal reflections on creativity.

The book draws upon lessons learned throughout her career, including her experiences performing with David Bowie.

It became an Amazon bestseller and further established Gryner as a respected voice teacher and advocate for the emotional and physical benefits of singing.

She later developed Gryner Voice, a vocal training programme designed to help singers develop technique, confidence and self-expression.

New projects and continuing creativity

Far from slowing down, Gryner has continued to explore new artistic directions. In recent years she released the yacht-rock inspired album Business & Pleasure, collaborated with numerous musicians and expanded her work as a speaker, educator and mentor.

In 2024 she launched the metal project Ovary Axe, serving as principal songwriter, bassist and vocalist. The project demonstrated once again that her musical interests remain constantly evolving.

This willingness to embrace change and reinvention mirrors qualities that David Bowie himself valued throughout his career.

Legacy in Bowie’s story

Although Emm Gryner’s time with David Bowie covered only a relatively short period, it coincided with one of the most celebrated phases of his later career.

She was present during the Hours… era, appeared at the historic Glastonbury 2000 performance, participated in major television broadcasts, contributed to the Toy sessions and became part of the musical family that surrounded Bowie as he entered the twenty-first century.

More importantly, she has helped preserve and share memories of Bowie as a bandleader, mentor and human being.

Her recollections consistently describe a man who was curious, generous, supportive and deeply committed to artistic growth.

Within Bowie’s creative universe, Emm Gryner occupies a unique position: not merely as a backing vocalist or keyboard player, but as one of the clearest witnesses to Bowie’s final great period of live performance.

A Conversation With Emm Gryner

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