Henry Lees has been chasing the music muse his whole life, and lately it's paying off. The Toronto-based singer, songwriter and percussionist has been racking up industry recognition for his songwriting since 2021.
His latest single, "That Last Goodbye," is also his most personal. He wrote it with East Coast songwriter Joanna Butler to work through the grief of losing three siblings in just eight months across 2022 and 2023. Produced by Allister Bradley, the song was a Semi-Finalist in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category at the 2025 International Songwriting Competition.
It's the third song Henry has put out in under a year, following "Into Your Orbit" (May 2026) and "Smoke" (November 2025). Both have been honoured by multiple music competitions, popped up on Spotify's Daylist and Mixes, and gotten airplay on college and community radio across North America, Europe and South America. "Into Your Orbit" came out of a first-time collaboration with Icelandic composer/producer Frosti Jónsson (a.k.a. Bistro Boy), and it was picked for the library of L.A.-based Imaginary Friends Music Partners. "Smoke" was written with Vancouver's Sean Thomas (Debbie Gibson, Joey McIntyre, New Edition), marking the fourth time the two have made music together.
That ISC nod is the twelfth time in five years that major competitions have recognized Henry's music, including a Top 10 Finalist spot at the 2022 USA Songwriting Competition for "Free This Love."
One of his biggest career highlights came when he co-wrote six songs on Chris Antonik's 2022 album Morningstar, which spent two weeks at #1 on Roots Music Report's Top Canadian Albums chart and produced three #1 singles, including "Back to the Good." That same year, he released "Walking With Fear," a song of support for people living with anxiety, co-written with David Leask, co-produced by Steve Dawson and shared in partnership with Anxiety Canada. His debut solo single, "Willing Heart," arrived back in 2019.
Before all that, Henry was singing radio and TV jingles and touring Canada as a background vocalist with Officer of the Order of Canada Tom Jackson on the Huron Carole benefit concerts, sharing stages with the likes of Colin James, Natalie MacMaster and The Rankins. These days, he's writing and performing around Toronto with a wide circle of collaborators, including Lawrie Ingles, his partner in the soul-pop duo The Soul Maitre D's.
