Cindy is a professional poet and lyricist and has collaborated with many established singers and composers of various musical styles around the world. She has contributed lyrics on projects of Iona, Colin Mold, Mandalaband, Last Knight (Jose Manuel Medina), Enrico Amato, Tatiana Manolidou, Leighton Band, Vivienne Neville, Lisa Fury, Robert Gerrard, Ian Harris, Eric Severson, Alex Grata, United Progressive Fraternity and Jeff Cannata.
Cindy is known by many as the Musician’s Poet and has been featured many times on CBC radio and television and on the historical DVD “When the Ships Sailed In” a project of the Great Irish Famine 150th Anniversary Commemoration Committee.
Song ‘Exile of the Night’ containing Cindy’s lyrics (from Last Knight’s Talking to the Moon CD) won best Singer-Songwriter Award from Akademia Music Awards of Los Angeles, California.
Cindy has performed her poetry live, on radio, tv and in recordings backed by the atmospheric music of Iona and Last Knight. As a visiting Poet in Schools, she has enjoyed enlightening students on the joys of poetry.
Cindy has two poetry books “Favoured by Romance” and “Awakened” as well additional poems, photographs and articles in various literary journals and major newspapers in Canada and elsewhere.
Cindy has an English Literature Degree with Creative Writing and often uses the literary classics and historical figures in her lyrics, poetry and fiction. She is a member of The Australian Society of Authors. Plus is an ongoing student of the Australian Writers’ Centre.
The late Dr. Fred Cogswell, former publisher, Editor of Fiddlehead Poetry Books, English Professor Emeritus UNB and member of The Order of Canada who introduced Cindy’s work to many well known authors has stated: “Cindy L Spear’s poetry and lyrics express simply, melodiously, purely, some of the best impulses of the human spirit.”
Her friendship with Kerry Livgren (from the famous Kansas band - writer of Dust in the Wind and other prog rock hits) inspired her to pen the lyric Icarus featured on Leighton Band's CD "Beyond the Door." Kerry’s comment: “Nice melodic rock song (rare nowadays) with good vocals. Very nicely written lyrics. I enjoyed and appreciate the tribute very much.”
Cindy is particularly fond of Celtic progressive rock/folk music and has a passion for her ancestral home Ireland.
Now moving into a new direction: she is currently writing historical fiction.
OTHER THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT CINDY!
Cindy was the first woman in Australia to own and run a national fishing rod company. Her company, Black Diamond Tailored Rods Pty Ltd, operated from 2000-2008. Initially they were the builders of the famous G. Loomis Rod range for EJ Todd & Son and then later produced the Black Diamond Tailored Rods range that became very popular with keen competition anglers. The company received rave reviews for its top quality product and excellent customer service. All rods were hand crafted in Australia.
Cindy has a passion for photography and her work appeared frequently in the award winning literary magazine The New Brunswick Reader (a weekend feature in Saint John’s Telegraph Journal) along with her poetry and articles.
Like some of her characters in fiction, Cindy has a keen interest in exploring ancestral memory and history. These studies often unveil some surprising family mysteries and characteristics. Music, writing and horses are loves passed down in her family.
Speaking of music: Cindy comes from a very musical heritage. On her mother’s side, the Leighton family is well known for its extensive talent as multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters. Her grandfather, Wilfred Leighton, was particularly famous for his violin work. He was featured in the book ‘Fiddling in New Brunswick - The History and its People’ by Gary Copeland.
Cindy also plays piano and guitar and in the past composed many of her own songs (lyrics and music) throughout her teen years before embarking on collaborations with world class award-winning singers, composers and musicians.
Another piece of history: Arnold Hawkins (Cindy’s great uncle) was the oldest man in Canada until he passed close to his 111th year. When asked the secret of his longevity? He often smiled and stated he ate lots of fish and potatoes! We know that living in his own home all his life helped, too. Sadly he had a bad fall not long before passing. He is greatly missed by all his family but he left an amazing legacy. This longevity trait runs in the family as Cindy’s great great grandmother (Arnold’s mother) was 107 when she passed. Plus a great aunt at 100. And yes, all from the same family tree!
The late George Mackay Brown, one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th Century, also an amazing novelist and dramatist, wrote many letters to Cindy in his later years. He was thrilled that she dedicated two poems to him in her second book that were inspired by his work. He said nobody had ever bestowed such an honour on him. He was a great source of encouragement, too, and wrote after reading her latest book: ‘The Muse has gifted you! May it long prosper.’ A blessing that any poet would covet.
Cindy has worked extensively with the UK Celtic prog rock band IONA within the realm of writing and promotion in North America. She wrote the lyrics to Inside My Heart and Journey Into The Morn for their Journey Into The Morn CD. Due to the band’s Irish Celtic themes (and while the band was on a North American tour), she helped organise and promote what became a very memorable concert at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada for the The Great Irish Famine 150th Anniversary Commemoration Committee. The same night, Cindy also performed on stage one of her poems ‘Ireland’ backed by the band’s atmospheric music.
Another bit of IONA band trivia: For a number of years Iona was on the Forefront (USA) and Alliance Records (UK) labels. Their talent and popularity made it easy for Cindy to highlight their music in her interviews on CBC and in newsprint. She wanted their music to reach a wider audience and contacted EMI Music Canada. EMI listened to their JITM album (that featured two of Cindy’s lyrics) and were so impressed with the band they released the album on the EMI Canada label. As a result, JITM became their biggest selling album with exceptional reviews.
This year in August 2020, IONA released their Book of IONA box set that features their musical history: all the albums plus many extras of never before heard songs, demos, photos and numerous other goodies. One new song included, All That We Have Ever Dreamed, features Cindy’s lyrics. It was originally written for a movie about C S Lewis but production fell through. You can now hear it on this collection. Also, there is an alternate version of the Journey Into the Morn song plus a demo version that includes an additional verse of Journey Into The Morn that Cindy had originally written.
