In 2012, Feist collaborated on a split EP with metal group Mastodon, releasing an interactive music video in the process.

Her father, Harold Feist, was an American-Canadian abstract expressionist painter who taught fine arts at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.

[10] At the age of 12, Feist performed as one of 1,000 dancers in the opening ceremonies of the Calgary Winter Olympics, which she cites as inspiration for the video "1234.

[10][11] She and her bandmates won a local Battle of the Bands competition and were awarded the opening slot at the festival Infest 1993, featuring the Ramones.

At this concert she met Brendan Canning, whose band hHead performed immediately before hers, and with whom she joined in Broken Social Scene ten years later.

[13] During this era, Feist also worked at The Rivoli and Lava Lounge, both popular Toronto music venues at the time.

In 2006, Feist contributed backup vocals on a track entitled "Give 'Er", which appeared on Peaches' album Impeach My Bush.

While on tour in Europe with Gonzales, they began recording new versions of her home-recorded Red Demos, which would later become her major label debut Let It Die.

Let It Die featured both original compositions and covers, and Feist has been noted both as a songwriter and as an innovative interpreter of other artists' songs.

While in Europe, she collaborated with Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience as co-writer and guest vocalist on their album Riot on an Empty Street, singing on "Know How" and "The Build Up".

[citation needed] Feist toured during 2004, 2005 and 2006 through North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia supporting Let It Die.

She lent her voice to the two tracks "La Même Histoire" and "We're All in the Dance" for the soundtrack to the 2006 film Paris, je t'aime [citation needed] In early 2006, Feist moved to Paris,[16] where she recorded a followup to Let It Die at LaFrette Studios with Gonzales, Mocky, Jamie Lidell, and Renaud Letang, as well as her touring band Bryden Baird, Jesse Baird, Julian Brown of Apostle of Hustle, and Afie Jurvanen of Paso Mino.

8 in the US, a rare feat for indie rock musicians and even more notable since it hit the Top Ten on the strength of downloads alone.

In January 2009, Bon Iver played a cover of Feist's "The Park" from The Reminder on Australian radio's Triple J.

The song "Limit to Your Love" was featured in season 2, episode 1 of British teen drama Skins, and was used in the film The Accidental Husband.

Writer Josh Tyrangiel called the song a "masterpiece", praising Feist for singing it "with a mixture of wisdom and exuberance that's all her own".

Feist performed an alternate version of "1234" on Sesame Street during its 39th season (2008), teaching children to count to the number four.

[26] In 2009, Feist appeared in a short film directed by Broken Social Scene bandmate Kevin Drew that focused on her song "The Water".

Feist was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair as part of a photo essay on folk music.

At the end of the show she performed "I Feel It All", while Colbert donned Feist's blue, sequined, strapless jumpsuit from the "1234" video.

[33] On October 20, 2008, she told The Canadian Press that, following the success of her last album, The Reminder, she felt she needed to step away from the pressures of the music industry to consider her next career move and "rest for a minute".

Feist collaborated with Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear on the song "Service Bell" for the AIDS charity the Red Hot Organization.

Her song "Limit to Your Love" was covered by British post-dubstep artist James Blake and later remixed as a dubstep track by Benny Benassi and played to high acclaim at the 2011 Ultra Music Festival.

On July 7, 2011, Feist with Radiohead's Colin Greenwood, Air's Nicolas Godin, The Hotrats and Soap&Skin performed The Velvet Underground and Nico's "Femme Fatale" at an all-star gig "The Velvet Underground Revisited" which took place in Cité de la Musique, Paris.

[39][40] In 2011 Leslie Feist contributed two songs to Sarah Polley's film Take This Waltz: "Secret Heart" by Ron Sexsmith, and "Closing Time" by Leonard Cohen.

[5] In 2012, she wrote the song "Fire in the Water" exclusively for the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

In September 2010, Feist announced through her website the release of a documentary film about the creative process of making of The Reminder, called Look at What the Light Did Now.

The film includes interviews with band member Afie Jurvanen; producer Chilly Gonzales; Broken Social Scene bandmates Kevin Drew and Andrew Whiteman; and video director Patrick Daughters.

[54] Initially intended to accompany the release of Pleasure,[55] the style of Multitudes as a traditional, intimate and communal experience for smaller audiences was a concept that Feist and designer Rob Sinclair co-designed.

[56][57] On September 1, 2022, Feist announced that she would withdraw from opening for Arcade Fire on their tour after their frontman Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct.