Ally was born in a district of Toronto. Growing up, Ally's mother moved constantly. Originally from St. Louis, she moved to Puerto Rico and then Spain. Her father spent much of his life on the border of Windsor and Detroit before moving to Toronto. Like most Canadians, her father’s family were immigrants, who originally fled their home country in search of a better life
As a kid, Ally changed schools many times. Toronto's diverse neighborhoods further exposed her to many different cultures and kinds of music, including jazz, gospel, world music and soul.
After bouts of bad behavior in elementary school, and feeling troubled at home, Ally left school in the third grade. She didn’t return to school until grade six, in another district of the Greater Toronto. Three years later she switched schools again. Those three years would be the longest time she ever spent at one school.
While Ally excelled at school, especially the arts, she was frequently absent. Because Ally’s mom was busy coping with four kids, the youngest one of whom nearly died as a child, many nights Ally would not go home, instead crashing on friend’s couches and hanging out with older crowds.
Ally was a sophomore in high school when the car accident happened. She suffered post concussion syndrome and her personality changed dramatically. She started to react badly in social situations, becoming irritable and volatile. When her teachers forced her to go to classes in the special education room, she quit school altogether. Circumstances at home continued to be unstable, and finally when Ally was 17 she moved out on her own.
It was at this point that Ally began to channel her feelings into music, starting by writing simple rhymes while on the commuter train to downtown Toronto to work. But Ally was still unsatisfied.
She decided to go back to school, and enrolled in university for political science. Ally has been involved in many social and political movements in the Toronto area. She became interested in human rights and civil liberties and how they are being eroded in the world today.
In 2008, her social political activities led her to represent Canada at the G8 Youth Summit in Japan, and then in Italy in 2009, and in Toronto in 2010. She maintained close ties with the university G8/G20 networks as they continued to strive to better conditions for people in their communities around the world.
Ally was serving as Canadian Ambassador for the G20 group, when the Yonge St. riots broke out in Toronto. She witnessed first-hand the police brutality against protesters. She was very vocal about her frustration with the violence and injustice she saw there and on the university campus, where anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic protests were breaking out.
Ally spoke out against the violence, debated, and participated in student elections. But after another two violent sexual assaults on campus, months of no classes due to a union strike, and more shootings, Ally left school and decided to focus all of her energy on her music.
The content of High World is about Ally’s life, beginning with the car accident that changed her life forever. The EP tells the story of what happened after the accident, good and bad. The song content is very personal, as Ally addresses various pictures of her past, and her experiences putting her life together after the accident, piece by piece.
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