Jake Dheer

Jake Dheer is Station Manager for Rogers TV, serving the Dufferin-Peel region with three television studios that produce daily local programming which is in-depth and engaging. He is also the Immediate Past-Chairman of the Mississauga Board Of Trade, serving the business community of the 6th largest city in Canada. Jake's volunteer activity spans over 25 years in the City of Mississauga. He is a strong community activist who has held and continues to hold leadership roles on boards of several organizations including United Way of Peel, Credit Valley Hospital Foundation, City of Mississauga’s Economic Development Advisory Council, Mississauga Chinese Business Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Peel, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion’s Gala Committee, Living Arts Centre, Peel Children's Aid Foundation, Community Living Mississauga Tribute Dinner Committee and Carassauga to name a few. Jake is also the co-founder of The Revolutionary Film Company, Mixed Nuts Comedy Troupe and two radio programs. Recipient of several awards and recognition in the broadcast industry and for his community support, Jake was also chosen as Mississauga's 2005 Citizen Of The Year and, in 2009, received the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International for his continued volunteer work in the community. In March 2007, a Tribute Dinner in his honour was held in support of Community Living Mississauga to help raise funds for summer camp programs for children who have an intellectual disability. Recently, Jake was honoured at this year’s Mississauga Board Of Trade’s Annual Chairman’s Gala for his outstanding leadership and commitment to the success of the organization and the business community. Jake’s jovial and enthusiastic style of emceeing has led him to emcee several high profile events across the Greater Toronto Area. He has been blessed to be the Keynote Speaker at numerous events around the region as he speaks about A Life Of Significance and Leadership. He was recently invited to deliver the Keynote Address at last year’s University of Toronto Mississauga’s Convocation Ceremony at Convocation Hall in Toronto. Jake is married to Geeta for 17 years and they are blessed with 2 children, Sonia (14) and Arjun (9). He is a citizen of the city of Mississauga since the past 29 years.

National Anthem Singer

Jonita Gandhi



website: www.jonitagandhi.com

Jonita Gandhi is a 20-year-old Indo-Canadian singer situated in the GTA. With music running in the family, she has been singing and dancing since she was just a little child. Jonita has been organizing, singing, dancing, and choreographing for various stage performances across North America (over 100 in the past 4 years). As well as practicing Hindustani music, she has been trained in English classical music at the Ontario Conservatory of Music. In 2006, she released a Shabad Gurbani album titled "Har Keertan Sune" on her sixteenth birthday. She is currently a third year student at the University of Western Ontario. She was in the top five of the Western Idol university-wide competition in 2008. In the same year she won in both Hindi and English categories at the Young Indo-Canadian Singing Competition. More recently, she recorded a tribute to Michael Jackson called "This One's for You" along with other singers including renowned Bollywood singer Sonu Niigaam. She enjoys singing a wide variety of styles and languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, English, French and Italian. In the future, Jonita hopes to spread her musical talent and expand her reach as far as possible. Jonita's music can be found on Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace. www.jonitagandhi.com

MC JD

J.D. started his career heavily influenced by hip-hop, reggae and classic/acid house. In the early 90’s he started to follow the then emerging and underground jungle (drum and bass) scene in Toronto. He started emceeing to jungle/drum and bass and is currently one of the top emcees in North America. J.D. also turned to the Bhangra scene in early 2000 recording the smash hit Tere Mere feat. E=MC, not soon after that he recorded another global hit Ishq Brandy featuring Lembhar Husseinpuri. Currently J.D. is song writing, composing, producing and performing live across North America. His solo album is due for release early 2010. Also look out for the JT & MC JD Roadshow featuring all star producer and percussionist JT Saund (jtsaund.com).

www.mcjd.ca
youtube.com/mcjdtv
www.myspace.com/mcjdtoronto
www.twitter.com/mcjd

Media / Bookings / Interviews inquiries: bookings@mcjd.ca

Prita Chhabra

Prita was born in Montreal, Canada before moving to Orlando, Florida at the age of fifteen. After living in Orlando for seven years, she returned to Montreal and obtained a degree in psychology at Concordia University. Since then, she has decided to pursue her singing and songwriting career. Love of Music For Prita, music is something comfortable and natural. Writing and performing are spiritual experiences; almost as though a muse speaks through her. Music has always had a hold over Prita, and to deny her ambition would be to deny herself. Music is the blood which runs through her veins and leaves her feeling like she's lived her life...fulfilled.

Music Experience
Prita has been singing and writing music since childhood, including the orchestra score for her high school graduation. While living in Florida, she often performed at Disney World, in addition to concerts put on with Valencia Community College and InTone. Over the past year, Prita has toured Canada performing for thousands as part of RBC desifest (Canada's national South Asian music festival) ; was the featured music performer at Bollywood star Rahul Bose's Oxfam Canada benefit ; opened for Grammy nominated soul artist Eric Roberson ; and was featured alongside world renowned comic Russell Peters at Tampa's first India Film Festival. Recently, Prita made history as the first South Asian Canadian musician to open for an artist #1 on the Billboard charts, when she opened for British R&B superstar Jay Sean at the Hershey Centre in December 2009 for over 2,000 fans. Prita has also sung the Canadian national anthem at Parliament Hill in Ottawa for key government ministers and dignitaries, as well as at several high profile OHL and AHL hockey games. Additional highlights from some of Prita's national and local media coverage include performing on CTV's “Telethon of the Stars” ; being playlisted and charting #4 on the “Top 6 @ 6” fan requested countdown on Canada's top South Asian radio station RJ1200 ; and becoming one of the few Canadian singers to be featured in her own national segment for Entertainment Tonight Canada. Prita's debut EP, “Spread The Word”, consists of her seven original songs with Montreal's JUNO Nominated Othentic Productions. Prita is currently recording her sophomore EP with one of Canada's top music exports, fusion band JoSH, who collaborate frequently with Nelly Furtado.

Influences
Prita has a variety of musical influences, each coming together to form her unique style. One of her favorite artists, since childhood, is Bette Midler. Every day, she would listen to her tapes at home and dream of being a singer. More contemporary influences include Our Lady Peace, Dave Matthews Band and Nelly Furtado. Being South Asian, Prita values her cultural heritage as an important influence on her music. She has studied classical Indian music as well as Western music, and strives to create a blend between the two in her songs.

HIV/Aids Awareness
In 2008, Prita was among 6 students selected to participate in a research study trip to Malawi, Africa. The purpose of the trip was to do grassroots level research on HIV/Aids, so that they could return to Canada to educate youth about the millennium development goals, and to bring awareness about global issues. For Prita, the trip was a life changing experience. Prita has since been visiting Canadian schools to give presentations to kids about HIV/Aids and life in Malawi. On December 1st, 2009 for World Aids Day, Prita released her interpretation of a traditional Malawi song entitled "May God Be With You" as a free single to help continue her awareness efforts. Prita also premiered a self-directed short film of the same title about her trip to Malawi at FILMI, North America's longest running South Asian film festival. Prita will be donating a portion of proceeds from her debut EP to the village, and through her efforts now feels privileged to count several Canadian government luminaries as her fans, ranging from MP Justin Trudeau to Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne.

Imaan Faith

“LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN” 

Like a cool desert breeze that refreshes and tantalizes, Imaan Faith is sweeping through the hip-hop landscape, energizing the masses and giving us new perspectives on rap – Middle Eastern style.  

Born in Iran and raised in North America, Imaan, who now calls Toronto home, brings an intriguing message of peace, positivity and more importantly, the truth. 

His debut album “Let The Truth Be Known” (G.U.T.S./DEP/Universal) was released in March 2008, hitting the Soundscan Charts at an impressive #6 in its first week. The video for the lead single, the soulful Haven’t Seen U Smile (feat. Mopreme Shakur and Big Syke of Thug Life) earned quick praise, scooping an Honourable Mention award at the 2008 Toronto Reel World Film Festival and becoming one of the first urban videos to receive a ‘featured’ selection on YouTube.com, with more than 300,000 views and counting. 

“It’s taken us 10 years to put this album out,” says Imaan, whose name is one of the five pillars of Islam. Imaan means ‘faith’ and it’s considered the most important. “This album is the story of my life and my experiences of hip-hop over the last decade.” 

“It’s not just about money, girls and cars,” he explains. “It’s about dignity, pride and the desire to help your fellow human beings. I want to help everybody help themselves.” 

A cast of heavyweights worked on the CD, which includes contributions from Tupac Shakur’s former producer, Johnny ‘J’, Juno-winning musician Snow and DJ-producer Clinton Sparks. Special guests include Freeway, TQ, Colby O’Donis and others who helped produce this innovative album. 

A huge fan Tupac, Imaan’s flow pays props to his idol, but carves out his own identity in the process. He blends elements of poetry and spoken word with lyrical consciousness and a sweet groove. Imaan is a Persian griot with a message for the masses. 

Imaan’s growing presence within Toronto’s urban and Persian music communities matches his clout across the globe - in Los Angeles, New York and of course in Iran, thanks to an active Internet buzz and his cleverly-produced videos. 

The ‘Hip-Hop Prince of Persia’ discovered the scene through Tupac’s classic album, Me Against The World. “That album kind of snuck up on me,” Imaan remembers of the disc that propelled Tupac into international stardom. It mesmerized me.” 

Imaan’s journey began in 1986 when his family left Iran and moved to Toronto during the Iran-Iraq war. They moved to New York City in 1998, but returned to Canada – and its generous health care system – in 2003 after Imaan’s mother had an accident and U.S. medical costs proved exorbitant. 

His brother, Ali, witnessed first hand the rise of this burgeoning star and quickly launched G.U.T.S. Records to help push this bright new talent to the world. Selling the family cars and channeling all their savings into the album, it truly became a family affair. 

Faith in God and his talent has not only given Imaan strength to persevere in the fickle hip-hop industry, but also to deal with personal health problems that might have felled lesser men. Imaan has glaucoma in both eyes, and while his sight may have fallen, his vision of the future never wavered. 

“After a recent surgery (six and counting), I’d be laying in my bed and I felt there was so much for me to do,” he says, explaining that regular meditation and repeated chants of Chinese mantras helped speed up the healing process. “I wasn’t ready to quit or give up. This ordeal has made me stronger.” 

This strength is evident on his new disc, which deftly weaves personal stories of faith and redemption. Sure winners on the 18-track disc include Wanna Be Loved (featuring Akon’s latest artist Colby O), Everything else is Everything else (featuring Roca-A-Fella Records’ Freeway), and the stunning Children Of The World featuring a choir from Toronto’s famed Regent Park inner city community. 

With the help of family, friends and a growing list of global supporters eager to see his success, Imaan Faith is moving the figurative pieces around the chessboard, eyeing a hip-hop checkmate when the world will know his truth, and by extension ours too.