'90s music icon Amanda Marshall steps back into the spotlight with new album, Canadian tour

It's been more than two decades since Canadian singer Amanda Marshall released new music, but the wait is finally over for her fans.

Marshall is perhaps best known for her 1995 self-titled debut album, which featured hits like “Dark Horse” and “Let it Rain.”

It is one of only 24 Canadian albums to achieve diamond certification in the county.

Marshall followed it up with two more multi-platinum albums before disappearing from the music scene.

Now, 20 years later, Marshall is back.

She’s re-emerging with her first album since 2001 and a nationwide tour to go with it.

“I said to someone the other day, ‘it’s sort of like slipping back into a warm bath, but you’re shocked the water’s still warm’ ... so that’s kinda what it’s been like,” she told CTV Atlantic’s Katie Kelly.

Marshall says her hiatus from music began in 2002 after she fired her manager.

“It triggered a landslide of legal issues that went on and on and on,” she says.

“I was sort of at lose ends; there was considerable questions as to whether or not I was going to come back and make music publicly. I was always writing and recording and I knew that I had this record in my back pocket.”

Marshall says words of encouragement helped her get back into the music game.

“I had one friend in particular who said to me, ‘you’re too young to retire and you’re too good not to try, don’t waste your gift,’ and that really stuck with me.”

Marshall’s brand new album “Heavy Lifting” will be released on June 9. Earlier this year, fans got a taste with the album’s first single -- “I Hope She Cheats.”

“Heavy Lifting” by Amanda Marshall will be released on June 9, 2023.

“It’s just been shocking to me, the level of enthusiasm with which it has been received,” says Marshall. “It’s truly been just amazing.”

Marshall will soon hit the road on her “25 & Counting: The Heavy Lifting tour” in support of the new album and in celebration of her past releases.

She says she’s excited to see the country again, especially the East Coast.

Marshall lived in Halifax for three years between the ages of 10 and 13.

“I have a trove of memories of living in Nova Scotia, those were really, sort of, my early tween-formative years,” Marhsall says. “I remember everything from first school dance, my first boyfriend, my first kiss -- my first everything.”

Amanda Marshall's “25 & Counting: The Heavy Lifting tour” kicks off at Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, N.B., on June 11, 2023.

Marshall’s tour kicks off at Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, N.B., on June 11 and ends Aug. 5 at The Jubilee music festival in New Glasgow, N.S.

She says she is looking forward to reconnecting with old fans and making new ones.

“That’s what every recording artist that I know aspires to -- to look around the room and see generations of people singing these songs back to you. It’s amazing,” she says.

“And the new stuff has gotten such a warm reception so far that I’m so happy that the people around me talked me into putting it out and coming back and giving it an opportunity to be heard.”