Heather Nova

Biography

Heather Nova (born Heather Allison Frith; 6 July 1967) is a Bermudian singer-songwriter. Born in Bermuda to a Canadian mother and Bermudian father, she spent most of her childhood aboard a sailboat, sailing throughout the Atlantic. As a teenager, she relocated to the United States, where she attended the Rhode Island School of Design, earning a degree in film in 1989.
In 1990, after a stint residing in New York City, she relocated to London and began writing and performing music, releasing her first EP that year on the British independent label Big Cat Records. After releasing the studio albums Glow Stars×Glow Stars17 May 1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Bare4:242My Fidelity4:223Spirit in You4:004Shell4:105Glow Stars3:076Ear to the Ground4:407Second Skin3:488Mothertongue3:259All the Way1:1110Frontier4:1311Shaking the Doll3:5112Talking to Strangers3:23 (1993) and Oyster×Oyster17 October 1994 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Walk This World3:492Heal3:563Island6:234Throwing Fire at the Sun5:585Maybe an Angel5:126Truth and Bone4:537Blue Black4:348Walking Higher4:129Light Years4:5010Verona4:0211Doubled Up4:13 (1994), she found mainstream recognition with her third record, Siren (1998), which charted on the Billboard 200 after two of its tracks were featured on the popular American television series Felicity and Dawson's Creek.
Nova followed this with the albums South×South19 September 2001 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1If I Saw You in a Movie4:072Talk to Me4:063Virus of the Mind4:144Like Lovers Do4:115Waste the Day3:346Heaven Sent4:157It's Only Love4:348I'm No Angel3:589Help Me Be Good to You3:5410When Somebody Turns You On3:4711Gloomy Sunday4:1012Tested3:2713Just Been Born4:30 (2001), Storm×Storm25 August 2003 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Let’s Not Talk About Love3:212You Left Me a Song3:383Drink It In2:554River of Life3:245One Day in June4:356Storm3:157I Wanna Be Your Light4:178Aquamarine2:539All I Need3:3510Everytime3:0811Fool for You4:15 (2003), and Redbird×Redbird8 August 2005 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Welcome4:182I Miss My Sky (Amelia Earhart’s Last Days)5:053Motherland4:264Redbird4:165Done Drifting4:116Overturned3:267Mesmerized4:148Singing You Through4:129A Way to Live3:5110Wicked Game4:5111This Body3:4812The Sun Will Always Rise4:44 (2005). In 2006, she released The Sorrowjoy, a poetry album. Her subsequent albums include The Jasmine Flower×The Jasmine Flower10 October 2008 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Ride3:272Beautiful Storm3:253Maybe Tomorrow3:574Out on a Limb3:545Every Soldier Is a Mother's Son3:156Out in New Mexico3:287Looking for the Light2:408Hollow3:129If I Should Die3:1610Say Something3:4811Follow Me in Grace3:3712Always Christmas4:32 (2008), 300 Days at Sea×300 Days at Sea27 May 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Beautiful Ride4:262Higher Ground4:163Stop the Fire3:524Save a Little Piece of Tomorrow4:565Everything Changes3:386Do Something That Scares You4:327The Good Ship “Moon”3:448Turn the Compass Round3:489Burning to Love4:2010I’d Rather Be3:5711Until the Race Is Run4:2612Stay4:35 (2011), The Way It Feels×The Way It Feels29 May 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 24 tracks · 2 discsDisc 1A1Treehouse5:15A2Sea Glass3:56A3The Archaeologist4:06A4Girl on the Mountain5:20A5Lie Down in the Bed You've Made3:35A6On My Radar4:32B1Sleeping Dogs4:29B2Sea Change3:49B3This Humanness4:40B4I'm Air3:55B5Women's Hands5:29B6Moon River Days4:23Disc 21Treehouse5:152Sea Glass3:563The Archaeologist4:064Girl on the Mountain5:205Lie Down in the Bed You've Made3:356On My Radar4:327Sleeping Dogs4:298Sea Change3:499This Humanness4:4010I'm Air3:5511Women's Hands5:2912Moon River Days4:23 (2015), and Pearl (2019).

Early life

Heather Nova was born Heather Allison Frith on Bermuda, a British overseas territory. Her mother is a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father is a native of Bermuda. Nova spent most of her childhood with her family, including one sister, television reporter and fashion model Susannah, and one brother, reggae singer Mishka, on a 42-foot-long (13 m) sailboat (named Moon) built by her father, where the Friths spent most of the 1970s and part of the 1980s, sailing throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean waters and coasts. Nova started playing guitar and violin as a child.
She relocated to the United States as a teenager and graduated from The Putney School in Vermont in 1983 before enrolling at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she earned a degree in film in 1989. While attending RISD, she also composed and recorded the music for her student films.

Career

After graduating from RISD, Nova relocated to New York City to pursue a music career. She recorded several demos which she sent to Columbia Records. In retrospect, she commented: "I had no idea how the music industry worked at all." She subsequently moved to London, where she already held British citizenship due to her Bermudian origins. In London, she worked in a Bermuda tourism office and began performing in local pubs in the evenings.
In 1990, she released her first recording, These Walls, an EP, as Heather Frith. The new name debuted in 1993 with her second EP titled Spirit in You×Spirit in You5 April 1993 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Spirit in You4:012Glow Stars3:073Ear to the Ground4:394Shaking the Doll3:51 and her first full album, the critically acclaimed Glow Stars×Glow Stars17 May 1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Bare4:242My Fidelity4:223Spirit in You4:004Shell4:105Glow Stars3:076Ear to the Ground4:407Second Skin3:488Mothertongue3:259All the Way1:1110Frontier4:1311Shaking the Doll3:5112Talking to Strangers3:23, produced by Felix Tod, after being discovered by Big Cat label manager Steven Abbott. The success of the album led her to record and release her first live album Blow the same year.
In 1994, she released Oyster, her breakout album that was produced by Youth and Felix Tod and began almost two years of touring. Another live album, Live from the Milky Way×Live From the Milky Way25 April 1995 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Maybe an Angel5:392Throwing Fire at the Sun6:433Talking to Strangers5:274Sugar6:045Walking Higher3:206Verona3:55, was released in 1995. Siren, the follow-up to Oyster because of the single "London Rain×London Rain11 May 1998 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1London Rain3:532Ship Song3:203London Rain (acoustic)4:004Water From Wine3:14", was released in 1998, after which she joined Sarah McLachlan and others on the North American Lilith Fair, a music festival with only female performers. After the release of Siren and a world tour to promote the record, Nova took a break while various television show and film soundtracks licensed some of her songs and her record company (Sony Records/The WORK Group) released various singles from the album, which received only moderate play on America's MTV2, Europe's MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and on mainstream radio, although she was popular on college radio. Also during this time, she recorded a version of the often covered traditional song "Gloomy Sunday×Gloomy Sunday11 October 1999 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Gloomy Sunday (radio edit)3:422Gloomy Sunday (movie version)4:313Make You Mine (live)5:544Widescreen (live)7:44", for the German WWII feature film drama Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod (released under the international title, Gloomy Sunday). In 2000, Nova released yet another live album titled Wonderlust×Wonderlust26 June 2000 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Winterblue5:582Walk This World4:203Island5:514Heart and Shoulder4:195Paper Cup3:596London Rain4:147Not Only Human5:158Doubled Up3:439Truth and Bone4:2910I'm the Girl5:2811Heal3:5612Make You Mine5:3613Sugar8:2914I'm on Fire3:44.
Over the years, Nova has written and recorded over 120 songs. With the release of South (2001), she returned to the international spotlight with an appearance on the soundtrack of the John Cusack movie Serendipity. She also appeared on the soundtracks to the Sean Penn film, I Am Sam; The Crow: City of Angels; and The Craft. A collaboration with Swedish indiepop band Eskobar, for a song called "Someone New", led to its music video being played primarily on America's MTV. Storm, Nova's fifth studio album, recorded with Mercury Rev as her backing band, was released in late 2003 on her own Saltwater label, went top 5 in Germany, followed by a tour during which Nova became pregnant. She quickly followed the birth of her son with her next record Redbird, released in 2005, again Top 10 in Germany.
In December 2005, Nova released Together As One, an EP supporting the Bermuda Sloop Foundation which operates the Bermuda sloop Spirit of Bermuda. In 2002, she self-published The Sorrowjoy, a 72-page book of her poetry and drawings. An album of the same name was unofficially released in March 2006, which featured Nova reading the poems from her book set to ambient music. She also collaborated with the German trance artist ATB on tracks like "Love Will Find You", "Feel You Like a River" and the international hit "Renegade×Renegade13 April 2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Renegade (airplay mix)3:582Renegade (A & T mix)10:153Renegade (Ronski Speed remix)6:26". In 2008, she released an album called The Jasmine Flower×The Jasmine Flower10 October 2008 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Ride3:272Beautiful Storm3:253Maybe Tomorrow3:574Out on a Limb3:545Every Soldier Is a Mother's Son3:156Out in New Mexico3:287Looking for the Light2:408Hollow3:129If I Should Die3:1610Say Something3:4811Follow Me in Grace3:3712Always Christmas4:32, a solar powered acoustic album recorded in Bermuda, before touring as an acoustic tour.
In late 2010 she embarked on another European tour promoting her The Jasmine Flower album. On this tour, she played four unreleased songs ("Save a Little Piece of Tomorrow", "Everything Changes", "Burning to Love", and "Turn the Compass Round") that are included on her album, 300 Days at Sea×300 Days at Sea27 May 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Beautiful Ride4:262Higher Ground4:163Stop the Fire3:524Save a Little Piece of Tomorrow4:565Everything Changes3:386Do Something That Scares You4:327The Good Ship “Moon”3:448Turn the Compass Round3:489Burning to Love4:2010I’d Rather Be3:5711Until the Race Is Run4:2612Stay4:35, produced by Felix Tod. This full-band album was released on 27 May 2011. In late 2014, she began working on studio album called The Way It Feels×The Way It Feels29 May 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 24 tracks · 2 discsDisc 1A1Treehouse5:15A2Sea Glass3:56A3The Archaeologist4:06A4Girl on the Mountain5:20A5Lie Down in the Bed You've Made3:35A6On My Radar4:32B1Sleeping Dogs4:29B2Sea Change3:49B3This Humanness4:40B4I'm Air3:55B5Women's Hands5:29B6Moon River Days4:23Disc 21Treehouse5:152Sea Glass3:563The Archaeologist4:064Girl on the Mountain5:205Lie Down in the Bed You've Made3:356On My Radar4:327Sleeping Dogs4:298Sea Change3:499This Humanness4:4010I'm Air3:5511Women's Hands5:2912Moon River Days4:23 which was released in May 2015. Her tenth album, Pearl×Pearl28 June 2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1The Wounds We Bled3:512All the Rivers4:013Rewild Me4:134Some Things Just Come Undone3:385After All This Time4:346Over the Fields4:277Just Kids4:408Don’t Worry What the Experts Say4:239See Yourself5:1810Vincent4:5611Your Words3:44, was released on 28 June 2019.
On 26 August 2022, Nova released her album Other Shores×Other Shores26 August 2022 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Waiting for a Girl Like You4:342Jealous Guy4:403Stayin’ Alive3:434Fireproof3:025Never Gonna Give You Up3:286Don’t Stop Believing3:307Here Comes Your Man2:518Fragile2:389Like a Hurricane3:5010Cold Little Heart4:1311Ever Fallen in Love3:0112Message Personnel4:2713Sailing2:27, which consists of cover songs.
On 21 February 2025, her latest album Breath and Air×Breath and Air21 February 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Hey Poseidon5:022Ebbs and Flows5:153November Skies4:014Breath and Air4:165From Up Here4:376Butterflies and Moths4:227A Human Experience3:278Ghost in My Room5:309Beginner4:1210The Lights of Sicily4:2511I Blame It On Myself4:1912Magnificent4:4813Farewell3:18 was released.

Personal life

Nova was married to Felix Tod from 1996 to 2014. They have one son, Sebastian, born in 2004.

Live albums

Blow (1993)
Live from the Milky Way EP (1995)
Wonderlust (2000)
Live in Europe (2026)

EPs

These Walls (1990)
Spirit in You (1993)
Live from the Milky Way (1995)
The First Recording (1997) – Heather Frith reissue
Together as One (2005)
Higher Ground (2011)