CANADIAN singer-songwriter Jane Siberry will visit Selby Town Hall on May 18 as part of a rare British tour.

“Powerful, enigmatic and renowned in her homeland as a pioneering musical maverick, Jane is regarded by many as one of North America’s most unique and gifted singer songwriters,” says Selby Town Hall arts officer Chris Jones.

“She’s a multi million-selling artist in Canada, well known for her work with k.d.lang and for the general disdain with which she treats regular music industry business practices. “She was a pioneer of the online ‘pay what you like’ model for recordings, being way ahead of Radiohead on that one. She’s re-released her entire back catalogue for free and she often bypasses regular promoters and venues to perform house concerts organised directly by fans.”

In three decades of music-making, Jane has released 14 studio albums and performed around the world. Her career began in the early 1980s as a guitar-and-piano folk artist in the coffee houses and clubs of Toronto, where she earned tips through waitress shifts to finance her debut album while studying for a science degree at the University of Guelph.

Soon Jane signed to a small Canadian label that later joined forces with A&M to issue her 1985 album The Speckless Sky, which brought Jane her first music awards while reaching Gold status in Canada and garnering two People’s Choice Awards for Album of the Year and Producer of the Year.

After she signed to Warner/Reprise in 1987, Jane’s international stature grew with album number four, The Walking, and tours of Europe, Japan and Australia. By 1993, she had attracted the attention of legendary ambient pioneer and David Bowie collaborator Brian Eno, who offered to produce tracks for her 1993 album When I Was A Boy.

This recording became Jane’s biggest commercial success, spawning the hits Sail Across The Water, Temple and her signature song Calling All Angels, the first of many duets with k.d. lang.

Jane has moved through myriad styles from folk to jazz and new wave to classical, maintaining a fiercely independent bent that has seen all her albums since 1996’s Teenager coming out on her own Sheeba label.

In keeping with the inventive nature of that label, she devised a series of three-part, weekend-long Siberry Salons, consisting of two performances, a workshop and dinner at such untypical settings as art galleries and loft apartments.

Jane has achieved iconic status in her native Canada, continuing to notch up awards and accolades and recording with Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson, Indigo Girls and Nigel Kennedy.

“There’s no one quite like Jane Siberry, and I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome her to Selby,” says Chris. “Jane’s absolute commitment to her art is pretty unparalleled: from selling all her possessions, through identity changes, to some of the most beautiful music ever committed to record.

“If you like your singer songwriters with serious emotional depth and real personality, and your music with a bit of Kate Bush unhinged brilliance, Jane’s show is definitely one for you.”

Doors will open at 7.30pm for the 8pm start on May 18. Tickets: £15 in advance, £17 on the door; box office, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk