Best known for his work with Toronto-based bands Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene, Charles Spearin began performing samples of The Happiness Project live during Broken Social Scene concerts, offering insight into the inspiration and concept of the album, which was long-listed for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.

On April 17, 2010, Spearin won a Juno Award for the Best Contemporary Jazz Album for The Happiness Project.

[1] The project sprang from casual interviews with people in Spearin's neighbourhood on the subject of happiness.

Normally, we don’t pay any attention to the movement of our lips and tongue, and the rising and falling of our voices as we toss our thoughts back and forth to each other.

So I had some musician friends play, as close as they could, these neighbourhood melodies on different instruments (Mrs. Morris on the tenor saxophone, Marisa on the harp, my daughter Ondine on the violin, etc.)