Bif Naked

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Bif Naked (born Beth Torbert; June 15, 1971) is a Juno Award-winning, multi-platinum record selling, American-Canadian rock singer-songwriter, poet, cartoonist, and actress.

Biography

Personal life

Bif Naked was born in New Delhi, India to teenaged American parents attending private school.^[1] She was subsequently adopted by American missionaries.^[2] She spent part of her childhood in Lexington, Kentucky, where her father was a professor at the University of Kentucky. She went to Kelsey Elementary School in The Pas, Manitoba for a couple of years. After living for a time in Dauphin, Manitoba, her family eventually settled in Winnipeg.^[3][4] She graduated from John Taylor Collegiate and studied theatre at the University of Winnipeg.

A noted poet, she has also released a spoken word album called Okenspay Ordway: Things I Forgot To Tell Mommy. She is heavily tattooed, getting her first, an Egyptian Eye of Horus, when she was 16. Her tattoos include a symbol of the Tao, Japanese writing, Buddhist poetry and images (such as the Bodhisattva), and Hindu imagery, she has stated on MTV that her favorite tattoo, on her left arm, reads "Survivor." Naked is also a comic cartoonist.

The name Bif started as a nickname based on the mispronunciation of her real name, Beth.^[5] Bif has always been frank about her bisexuality,^[3] and the lyrics of her autobiographical songs (such as 1995's "Everything" and 1998's "Sophia") detail her attractions to and relationships with women. She is also a strict raw food vegan for health (as opposed to ethical or religious) reasons. She identifies as straight edge.^[6][7]

She was diagnosed with a heart aneurysm, but corrective surgery was ruled out. Her song "Everyday," from her album Superbeautifulmonster, is in part a response to that experience. Bif married her drummer, became pregnant, and later had an abortion. She wrote the song "Chotee" afterwards, with lyrics such as "So long my baby...". However, her song "Moment of Weakness" was about a man she vacationed with in Mexico.^[8] Bif married Vancouver Sun sports writer Ian Walker in a traditional church ceremony in Vancouver on September 29, 2007.^[9] In January 2008, she announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent a lumpectomy and chemotherapy.^[10] Bif Naked blogs on MySpace about politics, her personal life, and dealing with cancer.

Music career

Prior to her solo career, Torbert played with punk bands Gorilla Gorilla and Chrome Dog. She has toured Europe, the United States, and Canada as a headlining act, and has performed on bills with Snoop Dogg, Billy Idol, Dido, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Chrissie Hynde, the Foo Fighters, the Cult and many more. She recorded a version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" for the MTV: TRL Christmas CD. She was also featured on the Ready to Rumble soundtrack with a cover of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It", the Celebrity Deathmatch soundtrack with "Vampire", and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's soundtrack with "Lucky". She made a guest appearance in the song "Fucker", on Strapping Young Lad's album The New Black in 2006.

Bif Naked has also made guest appearances with artists such as SNFU on the songs "One Last Loveshove" and "You Make Me Thick". She also appeared on the Dead Celebrity Status album Blood Music on the track titled "In This Day And Age".

Solo albums include Bif Naked, a self-titled album, Purge, and I Bificus. In 2005, after narrowing it down from over 50 songs, she released Superbeautifulmonster with 13 tracks. The Promise was released in 2009 and was dedicated to her fans. Bif recorded the album during her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

She was in Moist's music video for the song "Believe Me" and "Silver" and Liveonrelease's "Get with it". She also appears briefly in Simple Plan's music video, "Save You" near the end of the video along with other people (such as Sharon Osborne and René Angélil) who have been treated for cancer.

Acting career

• 1990: Archangel, credited as "Bif Torbert," playing a Russian soldier
• 1997: The Boys Club playing "Liquor Store Manager"
• 1998: Television series Once a Thief, playing Nastassja Momomame in one episode
• 1998: The Crow: Stairway to Heaven as herself, performing a untitled song.
• 1999: Buffy the Vampire Slayer as herself; she performed her songs "Anything," "Lucky" and "Moment of Weakness."
• 2000: The Chris Isaak Show and Big Sound as herself
• 2000: Daria movie, Is It Fall Yet?, playing a bisexual art camp attendee who attempts to seduce Jane Lane.
• 2001: Canadian film, Lunch with Charles.
• 2002: became the first host of the CBC Television series ZeD.^[11]
• 2003: cameo in the zombie horror film The House of the Dead (2003).
• 2005: Canadian Independent film Crossing, playing Bernie
• 2006: a one episode part in the The L Word, playing a character named Cynthia
• Since 2006 she has been one of the hosts of Bodog Fight.^[12]
• She voiced the character Zoe Payne in the SSX (Snowboard Supercross) videogame series.
• 2007: narrated the chronicles of her and her spouse's life in Bodog's web reality show "Bif Naked Bride" up to the wedding finale.

Band membership

Current lineup

• Bif Naked – vocals, background vocals
• Jason Darr – guitar
• Jacen Ekstrom - bass
• Flavio Cirillo – drums

Past members

• XFactor (aka Gene Poole) – guitar (co-writer of "Chotee")
• Chris Crippin (now in Hedley) – drums
• Gail Greenwood – bass
• Gillian Hanna (now in Love For Money) – guitar
• Britt Black (now in Lillix) – guitar
• Rich Priske – bass
• Mike Sage – drums
• Doug Fury (now in Scatterheart) - guitar, bass
• Scotty McCarger (now in Southern Death Threat) - drums
• Scott Cooke - bass
• Tim Smyth - bass
• Greg Mark - guitar
• Sean Stubbs (now in Rat Silo) - drums

Political Activism

On June 26, 2009, Bif Naked and Nazanin Afshin-Jam participated in the worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. They performed the song someday.^[13]

Discography

Singles

References

External links

• Bif Naked official website
• Bodog Music record label
• Bif Naked at MySpace
• Bif Naked at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ruckus - 30-minute interview with Bif Naked from June 2009
• Interview With Bif Naked
• Interview on Q TV (video)