Margo Timmins (born January 27, 1961) is the lead vocalist of Canadian alternative country and folk rock band Cowboy Junkies. She is the sister of Michael Timmins, the band's lead guitarist, and Peter Timmins, the band's drummer. Her ethereal vocals, paired with the band's spare and low-key instrumentation played at a relaxed pace, lend the band its unique atmospheric sound. Childhood Margo Timmins was born and spent most of her childhood in Montreal as one of six children of Barbara and John Timmins. She describes her mother Barbara as "a very honest person, and very confident in who she was and her emotions and her place in the world. And I think if she gave anything, that's what she gave us: the sense that you do what you do, and not to worry about it too much. A confidence. Not a confidence that we're necessarily right, but even if we're wrong, well, too bad". Her father, John Timmins, spent his professional life working in the sales and marketing divisions of several aviation companies. His passion in life, however, was music and his love of song was passed on to his children, especially his son Michael (Margo's brother) who would eventually form the band Cowboy Junkies. As a young girl, she remembered going through her brother Michael's extensive record collection. Some of her early favourites that influence her to this day include: Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), and Nashville Skyline (1969), by Bob Dylan, Nebraska (1982) by Bruce Springsteen, Harvest (1972) by Neil Young, and Townes Van Zandt's, Flyin' Shoes (1978). In 1977, the Timmins family moved from Montreal to Toronto. They lived in Etobicoke in the west-end of the city and Margo attended Richview Collegiate Institute in her high school years. Young adult After graduating from high school, Timmins spent her evenings along with her brother Michael exploring the punk music scene in Toronto that was happening on Queen Street West. When Michael started his first band, the Hunger Project, she would hang out with the band, take the tickets, and carry the equipment. Timmins supported herself by doing clerical work for her father and performing chores around the house. But by her mid-20s, Timmins had left the night life behind and was studying social work at university. It was also during this time that Timmins developed her signature mane of long hair. As she tells it,