Rebecca Binnendyk

Port Elgin, Ontario

Adult-contemporary pop artist Rebecca Binnendyk is on a mission to use her songs for greater good. The Canadian singer-songwriter, who has delivered medical supplies to the Maasai tribe and taught sex education and music to young people in Uganda, plans to pair the promotion of her second album, I Don’t Belong To You, with raising money for Plan International Canada, a global organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights, equality and education for girls and the putting an end to female genital cutting which affects 3.9 million annually women and girls globally. Exposed to jazz for the first time in her 20s — a style of music which reflects her free-spirited personality — Rebecca recorded her debut album, 2016’s Some Fun Out of Life, a collection of jazz standards and reimagined pop covers. Her fans contributed to it through a crowdfunding campaign. - Rebecca Binnendyk