The first single ever released by Newfoundland country singer-songwriter Justin Fancy was “Long Time Comin’,” a phrase that fittingly describes his entry into the world of songwriting.
His professional music career started in 2008, but Fancy’s full commitment to the craft of writing came over a decade later. “I had never played any professional or bar gigs before I appeared on Canadian Idol in 2008,” he recalls. “I was just a kitchen party guy, or someone who’d sing around a campfire, but after I finished in the Top 50 of Idol, the pubs, and the bars downtown here in St. John’s reached out to me to play some gigs.
“I started playing downtown for seven or eight years, five or six nights a week. That’s where I got my chops. I played covers, and I’d have made lots of SOCAN writers money by singing their songs!” Fancy also detoured into the folk music world with the group Eastern Passage, then took something of a break to raise his young daughter, before the itch to write songs was then finally scratched.
“I’ve always written songs, but I just never really had the confidence to move forward with it, and test them to the world,” he says. “I started digging into the writing seriously in 2019, just before the pandemic. I remember sending a song to a friend of a friend who worked as a host at CMT Canada, and she passed it onto [notable Canadian country music industry figure] Jim Cressman.
“That’s where I got the validation to say ‘OK, we’re onto something here. This music is competing.’ That started a firestorm in my head to really explore this writing thing.”
Released in 2020, Fancy’s debut album, Sure Beats A Good Time, quickly made a splash on country radio, and in the streaming world. His track “Makes Me Wanna” was featured as a SOCAN Song of the week in 2021, the same year he won MusicNL Awards as Country Artist and Rising Star of the Year. A 2022 East Coast Music Award as Fan Choice Entertainer of the Year further boosted his profile.
Select the image to access the video of the Justin Fancy song “Break My Heart Again”
Without scoring a huge hit single, Fancy’s consistently strong songs reached a million streams in the first two years, a figure that confirmed he was on the right track. “When I started this, I looked at Canadian country artists who got a million streams, and I set that as a goal,” he says. “I believed I could do it, but if anyone had mentioned that I’d now be at 7.4 million streams [his current total], I’d have laughed them out of the room. I’ve had a consistent response from every song I’ve ever released, and that’s exactly why I keep doing what I do.”
Fuelled by a breakup, the emotionally revealing first record comprised solo Fancy compositions only, but he’s since dived deep into the world of co-writing. “I now go on co-writing trips to Nashville two or three times a year,” he says. “I primarily co-write with other Canadians there, I also have co-writers across Canada, and I’ve developed a real passion for co-writing. Previously, when I had song ideas, I’d just run with them, but then I had to learn how to take those ideas, document them, and make sure that they were still fresh when I went into a writing room with these writers. I’ve grown accustomed to the process now, and I know what to expect.”
Other writers with whom Fancy has been working include Jesse Slack (Owen Riegling, Robyn Ottilini); Dave “Dwave” Thomson (Lights, Lady Antebellum); New Brunswick singer-songwriter Riley Taylor; his longtime producer Clint Curtis; Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Greg Wells (on the popular cut “Lies”); and Nashville hit writer Terri Jo Box (Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson).
It’s been another notable year for Fancy in 2025. During the summer, he shared the stage at Cavendish Beach Music Festival with Lainey Wilson and Shania Twain, then opened up for Blake Shelton at the Churchill Park Festival. A win in the Fans Choice Entertainer of the Year Award category at the MusicNL Awards in November of 2025 re-affirmed his regional popularity
Fancy is now focused on a third album that he’s preparing for a planned spring 2026 release. “To date, I’ve focused on the radio game and that pop-country sound, but this one is more raw to me,” he says. “We have a couple of tracks that’ll be tailored to radio, but there are some more acoustic, more country-sounding songs, with fiddle and steel guitar, just based on the emotions that are in the songs. I believe they’re well-written and they reflect who I am as a songwriter today, versus two or four years ago.”
Justin Fancy has reached his current level of success as a completely independent and self-published artist, with publicity and management assistance coming from industry veteran Paula Danylevich. “I’ve had a couple of offers for publishing deals, but I think it’s more beneficial for me right now to be self-published,” says Fancy. ”I own 100 percent of everything I’ve ever released. Clint Curtis and I are actually talking about the idea of starting a publishing company and getting other artists involved in that game. I have a real passion for the industry.”