Following a self-released demo called
Learning 2 Cook in 1995, she released her debut album
Tidy in 1996, mixing rock, punk, pop, and hip-hop, along with her trademark spoken-word poetry. On that album, she rapped in three languages: English, Spanish, and French. Starr signed to major label group
Island/Def Jam in 1997, following a massive bidding war during which
Clive Davis personally flew out to dine the young artist to try and sign her to his roster of pop stars. The next year,
Seagram bought
Polygram, the parent company of Island Def Jam, and merged it into
Universal Music Group. In the resulting upheaval, Starr felt she was lost in the shuffle and she asked to be released from her contract. The material she recorded for her first album with Island Def Jam, 1998's
Mending was never released, though some record labels have talked of releasing the lost album. In 1997, Starr appeared on the
Lilith Fair tour. In the late '90s and in 2004, she toured Canada with
Veda Hille and
Oh Susanna as part of the "Scrappy Bitch Tour". She performed in November 2000 at
Lee's Palace in Toronto.
Cirque du Soleil pursued Starr to sing in their productions, and in 2003 she contracted with them to perform in
Zumanity for two years. After releasing her 2003 album
Sun Again, she moved to
Las Vegas. However, she was back home in Canada by the following year, where she continued to perform and record. In the mid-2000s, Starr began mentoring youth in poetry and beat-making workshops. She taught alongside Sal Ferreras in Vancouver Community College as part of a 5 day artist development series in 2008.She worked as a youth educator through Artstarts In Schools and has been encouraging youth and adults to consider creative expression as important since the mid 2000’s Her 2013 album "Kiss It" was made available to fans at Vancouver's Queer Arts Festival one week before the official release. Her 2018 album,
Feed the Fire explores finding one's truest self amidst the digital chaos of the 21st century.
Musical style and influences Her musical style has been described as "hip hop aggro
groove". Starr has enlisted other Canadian musicians to appear on her albums over the years, including
Swollen Members'
Moka Only,
Coco Love Alcorn, former Dream Warrior
Spek and
Tegan Quin of
Tegan and Sara.
Nelly Furtado credits Starr as an influence.
Music videos • "Ophelia" Director: Marsha Herle • "Month of Trickery" Director: Marsha Herle • "Nearer" Director: Marsha Herle • "Home is Everywhere" Director: Hannah C • "Go Go See It" Director: Hannah C • "High Heels" Director: Hannah C
Film Starr's songs have been included on the soundtracks for the TV series
The L Word and the movie
Thirteen. In 2001, Starr co-starred in
Down and Out with the Dolls, a
Kurt Voss movie about a fictional all-girl rock band. Starr conceived of, and co-produced, the 2016 documentary
Play Your Gender, which explores the gender gap in the music industry, asking why only 5% of professional music producers are female. Produced by Sahar Yousefi and directed by Stephanie Clattenburg, the film premiered at the
Canberra International Film Festival in Australia. At the 2017 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival the film was awarded "Best Music / Art Documentary" (in a tie). In 2018, the film was screened at the
Reeperbahn Festival as part of the "Key Change Festival Initiative". Starr composed the score for the 2018
Haida language film
Edge of the Knife. ==Activism & Public Speaking==