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Chester Knight is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter from Saskatchewan.[1] He is most noted for the 1999 album Falling Down, which won the Juno Award for Best Aboriginal Recording at the Juno Awards of 2000.[2]
A Cree musician originally from the Muskoday First Nation near Prince Albert,[3] Knight also worked as an academic counsellor at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, later known as First Nations University of Canada, in Saskatoon.[1]
He was initially active in music as leader of the band Chester Knight and the Wind, in which he was the sole constant member; other supporting musicians over the band's lifetime included his brother Vernon Knight on backing vocals,[2] bass player Darryl Ross,[2] lead guitarists Malcolm Pooyak[2] and Todd Duncan,[5] and drummers K.K. Nogada,[2] Robin Turner[5] and Hal Schrenk.[6]
In 1996 the band released its debut album Freedom,[7] which was shortlisted for Best Aboriginal Recording at the Juno Awards of 1997.[8] Falling Down followed in 1999;[9] in addition to its Juno Award win, the album won a Prairie Music Award[10] and an Aboriginal Music Award.[11] The following year, Falling Down was reissued in the United States with the alternate title Windfall.[12]
Knight released the album Standing Strong in 2002 as a solo artist,[13] although he still toured under the band name.[14] Guest musicians on the album included Brandon Friesen, Lucie Idlout, Derek Miller and Paul Carrack. The album was again a Juno nominee for Aboriginal Recording at the Juno Awards of 2003,[15] and Knight won Songwriter of the Year for "Cochise Was a Warrior" at the Aboriginal Music Awards.[16] In 2004, his music video for "Love Fades Away" won the award for Best Music Video at the American Indian Film Festival.[17]
With his band now consisting of his sons Lancelot and Daniel, a new album was in the planning stages in 2004.[14] The album did not materialize, although Knight continued to perform selected festival tour dates in Western Canada.[18][19]
In 2013, he released "Idle No More (Tomahawk)", a song inspired by the Idle No More activist movement which was his first new release since Standing Strong.[20] He followed up in 2015 with the single "Indian Girl".[21]
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