Justin Nozuka

Born in Queens and raised by a single mother in Bloor West Village, Ontario, Justin Nozuka grew up between cultures, the son of a Japanese father and a Canadian mother, and that mix runs quietly through his music. He began writing songs at twelve, and the first tracks that became his 2007 debut, Holly, were written at fifteen. Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye are among his influences, and he turned down a Universal contract to record independently.

Holly arrived in 2007 with songs on heavy subjects, from the fictional story of an abused woman in Save Him to a man trapped in a well in Down in a Cold Dirty Well. It earned him a Juno nomination for New Artist of the Year in 2008. His second album, You I Wind Land and Sea, reached number 118 on the Billboard 200 in 2010, and later records followed: Ulysees in 2014, Run to Waters in 2018, Daydreams & Endless Nights in 2023 and Chlorine in 2024. In 2025 he released three lo-fi EPs, 一, 二 and 三, the second including a cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow sung with his brother George.