Janice Hagan is an OG at The Reservoir Lounge. The long-time jazz vocalist has been involved with the Toronto speakeasy since it opened nearly 30 years ago, and currently performs there every week on Tuesday nights. 

Known for supporting Canadian talent like Michael Bublé and Jeff Healey in their early days, and for welcoming a slew of high-profile guests (including Prince, Queen Latifah, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Alicia Silverstone, and Hagan’s personal favourite, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Sex and the City star John Corbett), The Reservoir Lounge opened in 1997 and has been a staple in the city’s live music scene ever since. Hagan remembers those early days when the club cemented itself as the place to be for swing and jazz music. 

“The swing-era jazz just took off,” she said. “All the performers at that time in the 90s were performing some form of jazz. I would come in and sit in and sing…and then they offered me a night.” Hagan began performing on Wednesday nights, before she moved to Thursdays, where she stayed for 12 years. She stepped back from her weekly shows to raise her children, but has since returned, now taking over the Tuesday night slot.

While she never imagined she’d become a professional vocalist, Hagan’s love for music goes way back. “I fell in love with music when I was really young. My dad and my dad’s family were really good singers, and there was always music around.” Her early musical influences were the 50s and 60s artists her parents would listen to, like Simon & Garfunkel, Karen Carpenter, and Barbra Streisand. Her father would bring her to plays and musicals, but it was through film that she first discovered jazz. “I first heard jazz music in film…I would seek it out, I had to listen to it on my own—it wasn’t popular. But I fell in love.”

While Hagan was in college, there was a sudden surge of interest in jazz—specifically swing-era jazz. “The movie Swingers had come out, and there was a big Gap commercial that came out with swing dancers,” she said. “It was very easy to get work. Everybody wanted a jazz band in their wedding. Everybody wanted one in their clubs…so I just stumbled into it.” She left school and not long after, began her decades-long career as a vocalist. Outside of The Reservoir Lounge, she’s been a regular performer in Canada’s top jazz festivals, and has worked for Fisher-Price on character voices, which has made her a platinum and gold recording artist. 

This is all without any formal music training. Instead, Hagan learned over time from the accomplished musicians surrounding her. Her current band consists of Scott Neilsen on saxophone, William Sperandei on trumpet, Eric Boucher on piano, Jonathan Meyer on bass and Davide DiRenzo on drums. 

“Some of the members of my band have been with me almost 30 years,” Hagan says. “I think it’s important to have people that you get along with. It’s a lot of energy. You have to be in a good mood. You have to exude that sort of feeling so that everybody else is feeling it.”

The Reservoir Lounge has curated the ultimate speakeasy vibe. The club is located below street level, with moody golden lighting, exposed brick, and low ceilings. It’s intimate, cozy, and alive with the energy of countless artists who have performed there. 

“The Reservoir Lounge is historic,” Hagan says. “It just has a feeling. There’s just something about the lighting and the vibe and the people that come in here, and then the way that it’s set up. You can be right with the musicians, or you can be back and enjoying your evening with whoever you’ve come with.”

Hagan tells us she likes being in the audience just as much as she likes being on the stage. “The drinks are exceptionally good here,” she says. She doesn’t indulge often, but her favourite drinks to order are the Asian Beauty and the Chocolate Storm Martini. Whether you come for the drinks or the music, there’s something that draws audiences of all ages to The Reservoir Lounge, as Hagan has seen firsthand. 

“We used to have an 80-year-old woman that would sit right here at the bar, every week she was here. And then you’d have 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds and people in suits and ties and people in jeans and T-shirts. Somehow it just always melded.”

After almost three decades of performing every week, how do you keep things exciting? For Hagan, one way is revisiting the past. “We’re going through all of our old books and trying to sort of revamp some of the things that I haven’t done in years and years, but I still could do,” she says. Otherwise, inspiration for songs to perform can come from anywhere, whether it’s a track her band members suggest or something she discovered from listening to a lot of music. 

“There’s a lot of pop songs that I really like…I would love to do Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers.’ Olivia Dean, I really love some of her songs. But you have to make sure that it makes sense…you have to make sure there’s going to be a good flow.”  

As much as she loves performing, Hagan also enjoys being in the studio. She’s recorded several albums throughout her career, including Hey Big Spender, Let’s Misbehave, and Big Band Christmas Volumes One and Two, but the decision-making was always in someone else’s hands. “I want to record an album…that is my own,” she tells us. While it’s not officially in the works yet, she’s been toying around with the idea, specifically the concept of a duets album—but it might take some time.

“My life right now is busy,” she says. “I’m looking forward to having a little more focus.”

But in the meantime, what better place to glean inspiration than on Tuesday nights at The Reservoir Lounge—the stage she’s called home for decades.

Catch Janice Hagan performing on Tuesday nights at The Reservoir Lounge. Reservations can be made online.