After garnering attention as a contestant on Rock Star: INXS in 2005, McNeil began pursuing a musical career and released her debut album, Broken & Beautiful, on April 10, 2007.

[1] Its second single, "Believe" was re-recorded with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in support of Canada's Own the Podium campaign, and served as the official anthem of the Canadian team for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In 2011, McNeil signed with Canadian label 604 Records and enjoyed mainstream success with the songs "Drama Queen" and "Merry Go Round".

In 2014, after a two-year hiatus from her solo career, McNeil teamed up with Elisha Hoffman, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and Marti Frederiksen to form the country rock quartet Loving Mary.

McNeil briefly dated stage actor Scott Walters in 2007 after the pair met working on We Will Rock You; they got engaged that summer, but ended up separating.

[6] McNeil began performing on the late 1990s by working as a backing vocalists for a number of Canadian artists including Jeff Healey, Ronnie Hawkins, and Glass Tiger's Alan Frew.

[15] The song had debuted exclusively on "King Ben's Injection of Perfection" radio programme on 2RRR in Sydney, Australia, on September 9, 2006, to positive reaction.

[20] In March 2008, prior to her April tour, she held a contest for her fans across Canada to sing her hit single "Believe" and post it on her website; viewers then voted for the winner.

[27] On March 28, 2009, McNeil headlined a concert held at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto to celebrate WWF's Earth Hour.

In 2013, McNeil began working on a duo project with previous songwriting collaborator Marti Frederiksen, which was reportedly intended to follow in the style of American country trio Lady Antebellum.

[4] Instead, they teamed up with Grammy-winning country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard and songwriter Elisha Hoffman to form the band Loving Mary, which they envisioned as a sort of modern-day Fleetwood Mac.