Justine Chantale

Sometimes, you gotta have heart — even if it’s half-broken because of relationship and romantic confusion.
A London singer and songwriter, who is also a cardiac-care nurse, shares her song called Half Broken Heart in this week’s Reaney’s Pick video.
“It’s based on my own experience,” Justine Chantale said during Tuesday’s video session.
“Originally, Half Broken Heart was supposed to be a song just for myself. I didn’t want to release it or put it out there because I didn’t want the person who it’s about to pick up on any cues or anything like that.”
Fortunately for fans, London musician Nick Ross persuaded Chantale a song that strong needed to be shared. Ross and Chantale (Justine Chadillon offstage) met at the Carey’s Bar and Grill open mic about three years ago.
Bonding over a love for country music, they became allies.
“He’s my partner in crime,” Chantale said.
Ross is part of an all-star team on Chantale’s EP, Stepping Stones, where Half Broken Heart is one of the hits. He mixed the sound and also played guitar, provided string arrangements, sang backup and more.
With his encouragement, Ross helped the song find its audience. When Chantale has sung Half Broken Heart, fans have come up to say how it has helped them in reflecting on similar relationships. “If people can find healing in any experiences I write about, then I’ve done half my job as a songwriter,” she said.
Born in Montreal, Chantale lived in Surrey, B.C., and Ottawa before settling in the London region where she attended Stratford St. Michael’s Catholic secondary school.
As a young country acoustic artist in Wellesley, she began playing guitar at the age of 14 and studying voice — while keeping quiet about it on the home front — four years later.
McMaster-tied nursing studies at Conestoga College led to work in health care and eventually to a job in London. Chantale soon connected with the music scene here.
The scene was part of her reason for moving here. She found it to be friendly and supportive.
Chantale also brought her songwriting gifts to the mix.
“Sometimes you have to ‘vague it up’ so people can identify with it,” she said of how she shapes her personal feelings into words and emotions that will reach out to others.
In addition to solo gigs, or duo work with Ross, she has a new band project Justine Chantale and The Trusty Guns, which plays off her affection for contemporary country music. She has more recording on the radar.
She also knows the importance of music as a balance to the day-to-day demands of being a nurse.
“You need something else (like music), because if you don’t, it wears you out after a while,” she said.
james.reaney@sunmedia.ca
Twitter @JamesatLFPress
JUSTINE CHANTALE GIGS
What: A selected guide to performances by London singer and songwriter Justine Chantale this month. Some details are TBC. Visit soundcloud.com/justinechantale or her Facebook page for more.
Jan. 22, 9 p.m.: Duo gig with Nick Ross. Monforte on Wellington, 80 Wellington St., Stratford. (519) 301-7256.
Jan. 30, 3:30 p.m.: As part of Gator Gals Gala Part IV. Grinning Gator, 391 Richmond St. No cover. Visit grinninggator.ca or call 519-672-5050.
Trust these Guns: Lineup for Justine Chantale’s band The Trusty Guns: Nick Ross (guitar), Steve Wilcox (lead guitar), Dennis Varillas (bass) and drummer Anthony Goodman  - James Reaney

Our London
By Sean Meyer
Justine Chadillon doesn’t really look to role models in her burgeoning music career, but if she did, country superstar Paul Brandt would be a good choice.
Before making it big in the music business, Brandt worked as a nurse at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
Brandt found his way to country music success and Chadillon — a nurse at University Hospital in London — could too, but she’s not in too big of  a hurry to leave her current career behind.
“I know so many talented musicians . . . they don’t see themselves doing anything else. They work so hard to get noticed, but they don’t. I love music . . . if I can keep it in my life, I will,” said the 26 year old, who lives in Stratford. “I love what I do as a nurse and I wouldn’t want to give that up. For me, I’m still trying to find that balance between music, work, having a life. At the same time, just being a better musician, a songwriter, a business person in the music industry, my thing is just constant growth and if an opportunity comes up, great.”
Chadillon recently had one opportunity come her way, participating in the Canadian Country Music Week festivities in London.
The next big break is likely to put her under an even bigger spotlight.
Chadillon will take to the Jack Richardson London Music Awards Stage on Sunday, Sept. 18 as part of London’s Music Mavens. The showcase will feature a half-dozen women who will be wrapping up the Western Fair’s I Love Local entertainment lineup.
For a young woman who started singing in the school choir at eight years old (she started playing the guitar at 14), the Western Fair show represents the highpoint of a complicated musical journey.
When she was 18 years old, Chadillon took it upon herself to take vocal lessons for about a year. From there she did the Kiwanis Music Festival, capturing second- and third-place finishes.
Her musical training essentially ground to a halt as her post-secondary education took over.
In fact, between Conestoga College and McMaster University, where she received her degree, Chadillon took a two-year break from music.
Achieving her grades meant the life balance Chadillon craves took something of a backseat. “I had been way too busy for music. It was just eat, sleep, school. That was it.”
A singer/songwriter competition at Conestoga changed things for her. She entered — and won.
It was, “a pretty cool moment,” and it started getting Chadillon back in touch with her musical roots. She started performing again, playing a few open mic nights and getting “a little bit back into it.”
She was 22 years old when she finished school and began working a series of part-time nursing jobs.
Chadillon found work at the Seaforth Community Hospital, then came a position as charge nurse in a nursing home in Stratford while occasionally picking up some shifts in the critical care unit at the Stratford General Hospital.
But then bigger opportunities began to present themselves in the Forest City.
She would find a full-time job, but with apologies to Stephen King, all work and no play made Chadillon not very happy at all.
So she began expanding her network of friends outside of work, nurtured contacts in the music business and, perhaps most importantly, started performing at venues across London.
Whether it’s being a better musician or songwriter — something she’s really working at — or nurse, Chadillon said she’s just excited to keep learning and growing and see what comes next.
“I’ve always considered myself to be a work in progress, to learn, to get better and grow,” she said. “I’m also a very stubborn individual. Anything I really want to do or accomplish, if I want it bad enough, I’ll do it.” - Sean Myer - Our London