Leela Gilday is a Dene-Canadian singer songwriter, born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She has released five solo albums since 2002, two of which have won the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year.

The Dene people are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses:Most commonly, "Dene" is used narrowly to refer to the Athabaskan speakers of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada, especially the Chipewyan (Denesuline), Tlicho (Dogrib), Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), Slavey, and Sahtu"Dene" is sometimes also used to refer to all Northern Athabaskan speakers, who are spread in a wide range all across Alaska and northern Canada.