Alive and Awake

Amy Sky’s music can hit a nerve. When one of her songs comes on the car radio, you may need to pull over, rest your head on the steering wheel and weep. “A lot of people have told me they’ve done just that,” says Sky, a three-time Juno nominee. “‘I Will Take Care of You,’ especially, seems to have that effect.”

After putting her career on the back burner to raise her two children, Sky (BMus 1982) is releasing Alive and Awake  – her first album of all-new material since 2001 – in early April. She is also publishing a memoir under the same name that will come out around Mother’s Day.

This time around, Sky says she’s using her music to help remove the stigma of having a mood disorder by addressing it in some of her lyrics. “There’s help for depression, and there’s no shame in asking for it. The brain is just a body part,” she says.

Sky’s awakening came in 1991 when she had severe postpartum depression complete with hallucinations. Later, she realized she had been struggling with anxiety and depression since childhood. In 2006 Sky became the poster child for depression in a Centre for Addiction and Mental Health campaign. She now speaks as passionately about mood disorders as she writes about everlasting love.