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Matt Dusk has a found his place in the sun. And the 27-year-old crooner from Toronto says he's absolutely basking in its glow.
Dusk is at the Myer Horowitz theatre tomorrow night, touring in support of his third album, Back in Town.
The thing about the sun is that for all its beaming brilliance, sunsets are inevitable. Dusk knows this, and he's aware that timing is everything. He's fortunate, for example, that traditional pop vocalists like himself are all the rage right now.
He also doesn't mind if you mention his name in the same breath as fellow Canadian crooner Michael Buble. Last year, Buble's album, It's Time, charted internationally and won three Junos. Buble's success, says Dusk, has had a trickle-down effect on his own career.
But Dusk isn't riding anyone's coattails or jumping on a bandwagon - he's loved jazzy ballads since his teens. He's gratified they're popular again, not that in his mind they ever really went out of style.
"People keep asking me why I think this music has come back," Dusk says. "I kind of grew up during the 1990s with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and all these amazing singers. The problem was nobody could really sing along with them because they sing at, like, 50 octaves or whatever.
"I think part of the reason for the resurgence of this music (ballads) is it's music everyone can sing along to. And that's what the foundation of music really is: the sharing.
"A lot of people are also being introduced to this music for the first time, so they don't see it as being old - it's fresh to the young kids.
"Part of what makes it successful is that because the lyrics are so general, you can really deduct what you want to feel from it based on your own experiences. Whereas most music nowadays is so precise - they tell you how to feel. That's another reason why this music is coming back."
Dusk got his first taste of small-scale musical stardom in 1998, winning the top spot in the Canadian National Exhibition Rising Star competition. (Buble, by way of inevitable comparison, won a contest of his own in his teens - the Canadian Youth Talent Search.)
Despite winning, Dusk went into York University's economics program the same year. But a year later, he realized his folly and changed programs, opting for a bachelor of fine arts in music.
He studied jazz theory with John Gittens, jazz vocals with Bob Fenton and, pivotally, attended classes with Oscar Peterson, one of the greatest jazz piano players of all time.
"Though not a vocalist, Oscar is an incredible musician," Dusk says.
"One of the things he said to us in class was that if we're going to pursue music, love it - you have to love what you do. He showed us that if you truly practise the art and take it seriously, you can achieve almost anything."
Dusk learned his lessons well, was awarded the Oscar Peterson Scholarship and graduated with an honours degree in music in 2002.
Before securing his deal with the majors, Dusk recorded four independent albums. He also drew a following from people downloading his tunes from MP3 websites. Along with gigs around Toronto, including the odd wedding, it was a modest sort of success. Bigger things were yet to come.
Last week, he appeared on MTV Live! Other notable TV appearances have included spots on Dancing with the Stars and Fox's reality-TV series, The Casino.
Weekly Scoop - Canada's celebrity, style and entertainment magazine - also recently voted Dusk as one of the 21 most beautiful people in Canada.
"It was a slow year," laughs Dusk, downplaying his ranking. "If I showed you my pictures from high school, you'd laugh. I think when you're in the public eye, the edges get softened a bit."
Dusk isn't letting his cushy position go to his head, however. He's still intent on pushing boundaries artistically, and stresses that he's a fan of music in general, not just jazz ballads.
Back in Town reflects those forward-thinking sensibilities. While standards like As Time Goes By and The Best is Yet to Come are present, Dusk and his 58-piece orchestra gave them a new spin, writing new arrangements from scratch.
The quirkiest example of Dusk's tastes is the album's hidden bonus track, the electronic-music based History Repeating. The original tune was written in 1997 by U.K. big-beat electronica act the Propellerheads, whose futuristic tunes have been featured in films like The Matrix and Lost in Space.
Dusk laughs, saying his interpretation is already being used by his brother as a soundtrack for video game play.
"I dig that," he says. "Music is like a doorway to different things and I wanted this album to be more about songs than genres. We all like different kinds of music, so it shouldn't be surprising some artists want to sing in more than one genre."
Looking ahead, Dusk says he hopes to put together a live DVD employing a large orchestra, unlike the five-piece band he currently tours with.
With such grandiose plans in mind, Dusk's wedding bookings have fallen off, though he does confess to missing the longing glances between lovers and, at times, the mayhem.
"I've had fiances walk into stag parties that had strippers everywhere. Afterwards, some weddings didn't happen. But I still got to keep my deposit."
Tickets for the concert are $27.50 and are available through Ticketmaster online or by calling 451-8000.