Patrick Watson is a Canadian singer-songwriter, whose blend of cabaret pop and classical music influences with indie rock has been compared to Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley and Andrew Bird.
He started off with singing in the local church choirs as a boy, studying jazz and classical piano performance, composition and arrangement, and singing and playing keyboards in the ska band Gangster Politics in high school. Watson left the band after graduating and began to explore other types of music, including electronica and ambient. In 2002, after returning from a trip to Vietnam, he decided to start a four-piece chamber pop group, bringing in bassist Mishka Stein, drummer Robbie Kuster (both of whom he had met at university), and former Gangster Politics guitarist Simon Angell.
Patrick Watson (the band) also won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize (Canada) in 2007.