Luba (born Lubomyra Kowalchyk (Ukrainian: Любомира Ковальчук), 24 April 1958) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and recording artist from Montreal.
[1] At the beginning of her career, Luba performed with the traditional Ukrainian music group Via Zorya, with whom she released a self-titled album in 1973.
With high production values, Luba's Ukrainian recordings raised the bar for this music genre in the diaspora, setting a standard that was followed by artists such as Kvitka Cisyk and Darka & Slavko.
Their debut album, Chain Reaction, was released on an independent label in 1980 and received only minimal interest outside of their native Montreal.
Capitol-EMI signed her as a solo artist under the mononym Luba in 1982, and she released a self-titled EP that year, followed by the top-40 hit "Every time I See Your Picture" in early 1983.
Later the same year, she recorded several songs written by Stephen Lunt, Jon Stroll, and Kevin Gillis for the first season of the Canadian cartoon series The Raccoons.
This top-20 Canadian hit represented Canada at the 1985 World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan and made the finals.
[citation needed] During the 1990s, Luba experienced both professional and personal problems that resulted in her withdrawing from the music industry.
Her grandmother and then her mother both died, while her sister and only relative left in Canada, developed multiple sclerosis that required intensive care.
At year's end, Luba was featured in a concert performance on a Canadian program entitled An Evening with the Stars, where she sang both new and old material.
[citation needed] Two new songs by Luba appeared on a member music page of the popular social networking site MySpace.
[7] It contains remastered versions of hits from her albums Secrets and Sins, Between the Earth & Sky, All or Nothing, and From the Bitter to the Sweet, as well as the track "Heaven".
[7] Her three consecutive Juno awards for Female Vocalist of the Year put her in select company: only Anne Murray (9) and Celine Dion (6) have won more.