Barenaked Ladies in 2005 Ed Robertson invited Page to perform with him at a charity show under the name Barenaked Ladies in 1988, and ultimately, the show led the pair to full-time careers in the band. Page was a main songwriter from the band's inception. A majority of the group's material came either from him alone or was co-written with Robertson. Page also played acoustic and electric guitar (and occasionally other instruments) for Barenaked Ladies, both in the studio and live. After additional musicians joined BNL, the band became increasingly popular during the 1990s and 2000s. In 2002, Page won an International Achievement Award at the
SOCAN Awards in Toronto for the song "
Pinch Me", which he co-wrote with Robertson. By 2004, Page was having reservations about his contributions to Barenaked Ladies. He has indicated that he participated in the recordings of
Barenaked for the Holidays and
Snacktime! despite being opposed to them. Concerning
Snacktime!, Page stated, "[i]t was a lot of fun to do, but it wasn't my idea. I was along for the ride." The decision had been made about a week and a half before the public announcement, with one reason being the rest of the band's desire to record a new album and Page's reluctance to do so. Page believes that his much-publicized drug arrest in
Syracuse, New York hastened his already imminent split with the band. In September 2015,
TMZ discovered court documents filed by Page over "
The Big Bang Theory Theme". He alleged that he was promised 20% of the proceeds from the song, which included revenue generated from the Barenaked Ladies
greatest hits album, and he claimed that former bandmate Robertson has kept that money entirely for himself. On March 25, 2018, Page performed with Barenaked Ladies for the first time in nine years at the
Juno Awards in
Vancouver, in celebration of the band's induction into the
Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Though there were reportedly no plans to make the reunion permanent, neither side had made any definite decision.
Collaboration with Stephen Duffy As a young man, Page was a fan of British singer-songwriter
Stephen Duffy, a founding member of
Duran Duran and the frontman for the group
The Lilac Time. Page began corresponding with Duffy after the latter replied to his fan letter. Page was ultimately invited to co-write with Duffy in the early 1990s, and several co-written songs subsequently appeared on Barenaked Ladies albums, starting with
Maybe You Should Drive. In June 2005, Page and Duffy released a self-titled album under the name
The Vanity Project.
Solo Following his departure from Barenaked Ladies, Page's first major project was to complete writing music for the first production of
Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy at the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2009. During that summer, he embarked on a tour of music festivals, accompanied by Kevin Fox on cello. He recorded the song "He's a Really Useful Engine" for the
soundtrack of the 2000 children's film
Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Page's next release was
A Singer Must Die, a studio recording of songs he performed in a pair of concerts, Songbook II, with the contemporary music group
Art of Time Ensemble. Following the album's publication on February 16, 2010, the artists embarked on a twelve-date concert tour. Page participated in other concerts with Art of Time Ensemble, including Take This Waltz (a collection of
waltzes) and a performance of the
Beatles'
Abbey Road album, using semi-classical arrangements by Art of Time Ensemble. In November 2011, Page performed a songbook concert, Songbook 6, featuring new compositions. The singer's first album of original material under his own name,
Page One, was released on October 19, 2010. Page toured the record across Canada and the US, including a string of shows supporting the
Goo Goo Dolls. On January 1, 2011, he performed at the
NHL Winter Classic and led the singing of
Canada's national anthem before the game. He also performed
Leonard Cohen's "
Hallelujah" at the
state funeral of
Jack Layton, on August 27, 2011. On January 17, 2012, Page released a new single containing two new songs, "
A Different Sort of Solitude" and "Manchild". The song was included on the soundtrack of the film
French Immersion. "Manchild" was co-written with
Craig Northey of
The Odds. On the same day as the release, Page was nominated at the 32nd Annual Genie Awards for the composition of "A Different Sort of Solitude". Page has hosted a television show,
The Illegal Eater, in which he is featured travelling to various cities in search of
underground restaurants and/or pop-up supper clubs. In July 2014, it was announced that the singer had been working on a new studio album. The record,
Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct, was released on March 11, 2016. On September 14, 2018, Page issued his follow-up record,
Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II. ''Here's What It Takes'', a musical written by Page and
Daniel MacIvor, was slated to premiere at the 2020
Stratford Festival. With the production shut down due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Page has performed a weekly series of home concerts through
Dan Mangan's Side Door platform. On September 30, 2022, Page released the record
Excelsior. The record touches on "grief, loss, and loneliness", according to Page.
Trans-Canada Highwaymen On July 16, 2016, Page performed a show as a member of the band
Trans-Canada Highwaymen, a
supergroup of fellow Canadian musicians, including
Moe Berg of
the Pursuit of Happiness,
Chris Murphy of
Sloan, and Craig Northey (who also performs as Page's lead guitarist at his solo shows). The band subsequently announced a tour, which began in April 2017. They only performed covers of songs from the members' respective bands for the first seven years of their existence. In 2023, they released their debut album,
Explosive Hits Vol. 1, which consisted of covers of 1960s and 1970s songs by Canadian artists. ==Personal life==