'I was in a man's world:' Liona Boyd on music industry sexual harassment
More accusations about film director James Toback
Award-winning classical guitarist Liona Boyd says she never really wanted to be an actress.
But film director "[James] Toback was the one who dangled the opportunities in front of me to be in a film," she said.
It came with a catch – she needed to sleep with him.
"That's just the way it works" Boyd said Toback later told her.
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Boyd declined the offer, but in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition she said those kinds of incidents happened in the music industry as well.
Price 'evident'
"It was hard. I was in a man's world. The guitar world – classical guitar world – was very much a man's world," she said.
If she wanted to play at the White House or get distribution in Greece, the price was "always too evident."
"Men would lower their voices and say, 'But my wife's out of town.'"
Boyd, who has spoken out about sexual harassment in light of the #metoo campaign and other allegations against Toback, said despite turning down such offers she has had a successful international career.
She said she hopes telling her story will help other victims also speak out.
"I think women should support each other," she said. "I think women should come out and be strong and hopefully this will empower other people to not just take it and to talk to the sisterhood."
'So many stories to sing about'
Boyd has won five Juno awards and has released 28 albums. Her latest is No Remedy for Love.
She said it's an album about "all kinds of love" – love for animals, planet, one song with Ronnie Hawkins pays tribute to Gordon Lightfoot while another song is dedicated to her friend, Prince Philip.
Boyd also released a new memoir with the same name as the album. It begins where her last memoir – In My Own Key – left off in 1998. It tells the story of a cross-Canada tour, moving her home seven times, getting divorced and why she stopped playing for six years.
"And then I reinvented myself. I added singing which I think has been my life's destiny, quite honestly," she said. "I have so many stories to sing about."
Current tour
Boyd is currently touring with Andrew Dolson and has scheduled November concerts in Nova Scotia and throughout Ontario.
At each stop, she hosts a special guest choir. In Kitchener on Nov. 19, she will perform with the Cambridge Kiwanis Boys' Choir.
"Bring your kids," Boyd encouraged. "It would be wonderful if people would bring kids because one concert changed my whole life."