Ian & Sylvia

Last updated
Ian & Sylvia
Ian and Sylvia 1968.JPG
Background information
Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres Folk, country, country rock
Years active1959–1975
Labels Vanguard, MGM, Columbia
Past members Ian Tyson
Sylvia Tyson

Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), [1] married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

Early lives

Ian Tyson, CM, AOE was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1933. In his teens, he decided upon a career as a rodeo rider. Recovering from injuries sustained from a fall during the mid-1950s, he started learning guitar. In the late 1950s, he relocated to Toronto, aspiring to a career as a commercial artist. He also started playing clubs and coffeehouses in Toronto. [5] By 1959 he was performing music as a full-time occupation.

Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker, CM, was born in Chatham, Ontario in 1940. While still in her teens, she started frequenting the folk clubs of Toronto.

Career

Folk duo

The two started performing together in Toronto in 1959. By 1962, they were living in New York City, where they caught the attention of manager Albert Grossman, [6] who managed Peter, Paul and Mary and would soon become Bob Dylan's manager. Grossman secured them a contract with Vanguard Records and they released their first album late in the year. [7]

Their first album, self-titled Ian & Sylvia, on Vanguard Records consists mainly of traditional songs. [8] There were British and Canadian folk songs, spiritual music, and a few blues songs thrown into the mix. The album was moderately successful and they made the list of performers for the 1963 Newport Folk Festival.

Four Strong Winds, their second album, was similar to the first, with the exception of the inclusion of the early Dylan composition "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" and the title song "Four Strong Winds", written by Ian Tyson. "Four Strong Winds" was a major hit in Canada and ensured their stardom. [9] [10] Years later, the song was named as the greatest Canadian song of all time by the CBC-Radio program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. [1]

The two married in June 1964; they also released their third album, Northern Journey, that year. It included a song written by Sylvia, titled "You Were on My Mind", recorded by both the California group We Five (a 1965 #4 on the RPM charts, #1 on the Cashbox chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and British folk rock singer Crispian St. Peters (#29 on the RPM charts, #36 in 1967). [11] A recording of "Four Strong Winds" by Bobby Bare made it to #3 on the country charts around that time.

On the Northern Journey album was the song "Someday Soon", a composition by Ian Tyson that would rival "Four Strong Winds" in its popularity. (Both songs would eventually be recorded by dozens of singers.)

Their fourth album, Early Morning Rain, consisted in large part of new songs. They introduced the work of the couple's fellow Canadian songwriter and performer Gordon Lightfoot through the title song and "(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me". They also included the first recording of the song "Darcy Farrow" by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell, as well as a number of their own compositions.

They performed at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. [12] Play One More, their offering of 1965, showed a move toward the electrified folk-like music that was becoming popular with groups like the Byrds and the Lovin' Spoonful. The title tune used horns to evoke the mariachi style.

In 1967, they released two albums, one recorded for Vanguard, the other for MGM. These two efforts, So Much For Dreaming and Lovin' Sound, were far less dynamic presentations.

From 1970 to 1975, Ian Tyson hosted The Ian Tyson Show on CTV, known as Nashville North in its first season. Sylvia Tyson and the Great Speckled Bird appeared often on the series. [13]

Country rock pioneers

They moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where they recorded two albums; one to fulfill the terms of their Vanguard contract, the other to supply MGM with a second (and last) album for that label. The albums can be defined as early country rock music; Nashville for Vanguard was cut in February 1968, one month before the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo , widely considered the first collaboration of rock and Nashville players. [14] Three of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes songs are included on their Nashville albums; most of the rest were written by Ian or Sylvia. [14]

In 1969, Ian & Sylvia formed the country rock group Great Speckled Bird. In addition to participating in the cross-Canada rock-and-roll rail tour Festival Express, they recorded a self-titled album for the short-lived Ampex label. Produced by Todd Rundgren, the record failed when Ampex was unable to establish widespread distribution. Thousands of copies never left the warehouse, and it has become a much sought-after collector's item. Initially, the album artist was given as Great Speckled Bird but later copies had a sticker saying that it featured the duo.

Ian & Sylvia's last two albums were recorded on Columbia Records. The first, 1971's Ian and Sylvia (not to be confused with their 1962 self-titled release) consists largely of mainstream country-flavored songs. This album was released on CD, with extra tracks, as The Beginning of the End in 1996. [15] Their second Columbia record, 1972's You Were on My Mind, featured a later incarnation of Great Speckled Bird. The songs range from hard country rock to middle-of-the-road country material. Neither of the Columbia albums sold well. They were eventually combined and released as 1974's The Best of Ian and Sylvia.

In 1972, Ian & Sylvia performed the song "Let Her Alone" for Walt Disney Productions' live-action drama Run, Cougar, Run . Ian also served as the film's narrator. [16]

By 1975, Ian & Sylvia had stopped performing together and soon afterwards were divorced. Their final appearance as a duo was in May 1975 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. [4]

Post-divorce

After their marriage ended in 1975, Ian returned to Southern Alberta to farm and train horses, but continued his musical career. His autobiography The Long Trail: My Life in the West was published in 2010. [17] [7]

Sylvia wrote, performed, and involved herself in various projects. In recent years, she has been recording new material, working as a member of the group Quartette, and performing a one-woman show entitled River Road and Other Stories. [18]

The duo's son, Clay Tyson (Clayton Dawson Tyson, [19] born 1966), [20] is also a musician and recording artist.

On August 16, 1986, folk singers who had recorded or written Ian and Sylvia songs, reunited for a concert that was filmed for the CBC. The group at the Kingswood Music Theatre in Maple, Ontario included Gordon Lightfoot, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, and Murray McLauchlan. [4]

Ian & Sylvia sang their signature song "Four Strong Winds" at the 50th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival on July 11, 2010, in Orillia, Ontario. [21]

Honours

In 1992, they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. [1]

In 1994, they were both made Members of the Order of Canada. [1]

In 2005, an extensive Canadian Broadcasting Corporation poll on the CBC-Radio program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version named "Four Strong Winds" to be the greatest Canadian song of all time. Artists Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Sarah McLachlan, Harry Belafonte, and Bob Dylan recorded this song. [7]

In 2006, they were both inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame; the duo performed a song together at that time, long after they had gone their separate ways. [1] Back in 1961, Ian and Sylvia had headlined at the Mariposa Folk Festival.

In a poll of the Western Writers of America, two Ian & Sylvia songs, "Someday Soon" and "Summer Wages" (both written by Tyson), were selected among the "Top 100 Western Songs" of all time. [22]

Ian Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. [17] Sylvia Tyson was inducted in 2003. [23]

In July 2019, it was announced that Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson would be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame individually, not as a duo. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stated that its 1964 hit "Four Strong Winds" "has been deemed one of the most influential songs in Canadian history". The report also referenced the song "You Were on My Mind", written by Sylvia Tyson, as well as her four albums from 1975 to 1980. [24]

Discography

Albums

YearAlbum [25] Chart PositionsLabel
CAN US
1962Ian & SylviaVanguard
1963Four Strong Winds115
1964Northern Journey70
1965Early Morning Rain77
1966Play One More142
1967So Much for Dreaming130
Lovin' Sound148MGM
NashvilleVanguard
1968Full Circle48MGM
1970 Great Speckled Bird 54Ampex
1971Ian and Sylvia60201Columbia
1972You Were on My Mind
1996Live at NewportVanguard

(Canadian album charts did not start until 1967)

Singles

YearSingleChart PositionsAlbum
CAN ACCAN US
[26]
1965"Early Morning Rain"1Early Morning Rain
1967"Lovin' Sound" [27] 101Lovin' Sound
1971"Creators of Rain"73Ian & Sylvia
"More Often Than Not"22
1972"You Were on My Mind" (re-issue)4You Were on My Mind

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Lightfoot</span> Canadian singer-songwriter (1938–2023)

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. Credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s, he has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter, having several gold and multi-platinum albums and songs covered by some of the world's most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings said, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Tyson</span> Canadian singer-songwriter (1933–2022)

Ian Dawson Tyson was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including "Four Strong Winds" and "Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Louvin Brothers</span> American country music duo

The Louvin Brothers were an American musical duo composed of brothers Ira and Charlie Louvin. The brothers are cousins to John D. Loudermilk, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie P. Bennett</span> Musical artist

William Patrick "Willie P." Bennett was a Canadian folk-music singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and mandolinist. Bennett was part of the 1970s folk music scene in Canada, and wrote and recorded many original songs. As well as performing as a solo artist, he was part of several well-known Ontario bands.

Terrance Victor Carisse known as Terry Carisse, was one of Canadian Country Music's most awarded, decorated and popular singer-songwriters. His awards include the Canadian Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year Award which he has won six times, and still holds this record. He was nominated four times for a Juno Award. In 1989 he was inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2006, Terry Carisse was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prairie Oyster</span> Country music group from Toronto, Ontario

Prairie Oyster was a Canadian country music group from Toronto, Ontario. They were named Country Group or Duo of the year six times by both the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) and the Juno Awards. The band also won the Bud Country Fans' Choice Award from the CCMA in 1994. They have four No. 1 country singles in Canada, with an additional 12 singles reaching the Canadian Country Top 10. Eight of their albums have been certified gold or platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, including the 1992 CCMA Album of the Year Everybody Knows.

"Four Strong Winds" is a song recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia, from their 1963 album Four Strong Winds. The song was written in 1962 by Ian Tyson, one half of the duo, and was the first song Tyson wrote. Tyson has stated that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in his then-manager Albert Grossman's New York apartment, and was inspired to write it after hearing Bob Dylan sing. The song is a melancholy reflection on a failing romantic relationship. The singer expresses a desire for a possible reunion in a new place in the future but acknowledges the likelihood that the relationship is over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray McLauchlan</span> Musical artist

Murray Edward McLauchlan, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player. He is best known for his Canadian hits "The Farmer's Song," "Whispering Rain," and "Down by the Henry Moore".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Tyson</span> Musical artist

Sylvia Tyson, is a Canadian musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. She is best known as part of the folk duo Ian & Sylvia, with Ian Tyson. Since 1993, she has been a member of the all-female folk group Quartette.

Quartette is a Canadian country-folk group consisting of Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick and Sylvia Tyson. Each of the four members also record as solo artists in addition to their work as a group.

Great Speckled Bird was a country rock group formed in 1969 by the Canadian musical duo Ian & Sylvia. Ian Tyson sang, played guitar and composed. Sylvia Tyson sang, composed and occasionally played piano. The other founding members were Amos Garrett on guitar and occasional vocals, Ben Keith on steel guitar, Ken Kalmusky on bass and Ricky Marcus on drums. They were named after the song, "The Great Speckled Bird", as recorded by Roy Acuff (1936).

<i>Great Speckled Bird</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Great Speckled Bird

Great Speckled Bird is a country rock album by Great Speckled Bird, a band formed in 1969 by Canadian musicians Ian and Sylvia Tyson. The other group members at the time of recording were Buddy Cage, on pedal steel guitar, Amos Garrett, on guitar and backup vocals, and N.D. Smart, on drums. Nashville session musicians David Briggs and Norbert Putnam sat in, with Briggs on piano and Putnam on bass guitar. Although founding member Ken Kalmusky is listed in the original liner notes, he had actually departed the group prior to recording.

Colleen Susan Peterson was a Canadian country and folk singer, who performed both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Quartette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bettis</span> American lyricist (born 1946)

John Gregory Bettis is an American lyricist, best known for his long-term songwriting partnership with Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters. He wrote the lyrics for "Top of the World", a hit for both Lynn Anderson and The Carpenters. He wrote several more hits for The Carpenters, including "Only Yesterday", "Goodbye to Love" and "Yesterday Once More". He later wrote hits for other artists including Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Pointer Sisters, Conway Twitty, Diana Ross, Jennifer Warnes, Peabo Bryson, George Strait ("Heartland"), Juice Newton, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, 38 Special, New Kids on the Block, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston

"You Were on My Mind" is a popular song written by Sylvia Fricker in 1961. It was originally recorded by Ian & Sylvia, but better known versions were recorded by We Five and Crispian St. Peters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Eikhard</span> Canadian singer-songwriter (1955–2022)

Shirley Rose Eikhard was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Although moderately successful in Canada as a performer in her own right, she had her greatest Canadian and international success as a songwriter for other artists, most notably as the writer of Bonnie Raitt's 1991 hit "Something to Talk About".

Cindy Church is a Canadian country and folk artist. Church released three studio albums on Stony Plain Records and was nominated for Best Country Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1995 and 1996. She is also a member of the award-winning group Quartette.

Danny Greenspoon is a Canadian music producer, music engineer, guitar player and film composer mainly in the Canadian music industry. Greenspoon is also the President of "The Audio Truck Inc.", a mobile recording studio recording materials for television, radio, and record. From 1989 to 1996, he was Popular Music recording producer for CBC Radio in Toronto producing recordings of jazz, popular music, folk music, country music and world music, for broadcast and commercial release, and from 2004 to 2016 he did most of the live recording for JazzFM91.

"Someday Soon" is a song composed by Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Tyson who recorded the song with Sylvia Fricker as the duo Ian & Sylvia in 1963. Cited by Richie Unterberger of Allmusic as "clearly point[ing] toward [its writer's] future C&W/cowboy direction", "Someday Soon" would be brought to prominence via a 1968 recording by Judy Collins, and subsequently recorded by a number of artists primarily in the country and western field. In 2010 "Someday Soon" was honored by the Western Writers of America as one of the "Top 100 Western Songs" of all time.

Caitlin Hanford is an American and Canadian country and bluegrass singer and a music teacher. She is a member of the group Quartette and also the band The Marigolds. She is the ex-wife of musician Chris Whiteley.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ian & Sylvia – Canadian Music Hall Of Fame". Canadianmusichalloffame.ca. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  2. "Tyson". Quartette. 2003-09-08. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  3. Leblanc, Larry (12 February 2005). "Tyson Takes a New 'Road'". Billboard . p. 52. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  4. 1 2 3 Historica Canada. "Ian and Sylvia". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  5. "Coffeehouses". Archived from the original on December 5, 2005.
  6. Gilliland, John. (1968-01-12). "Pop Chronicles Interviews #184 - Ian and Sylvia Tyson - All Tracks UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  7. 1 2 3 "Hall of Fame Inductees". CCMA: Canadian Country Music Association. Toronto. 2017. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2019. Tyson is a recipient of the Order of Canada and in 2005 CBC Radio One listeners chose his song, 'Four Strong Winds' as the greatest Canadian song of all time, during a radio series titled "50 Tracks: The Canadian Version".
  8. "Ian & Sylvia". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. August 25, 1962. p. 24. ISSN   0006-2510.
  9. 30 Years of Canadian Chart Listings Archived 2002-11-02 at archive.today - #9 on 28 October 1963
  10. "Ian & Sylvia". Billboard Magazine: 18. October 19, 1963. ISSN   0006-2510.
  11. Joel Whitburn, Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits
  12. Ian & Sylvia interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  13. "Ian Tyson Show, The (Series) (1970-1975)". TV Archive. February 2003. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  14. 1 2 Browne, David (July 22, 2015). "Inside Ian & Sylvia's 'Nashville,' Country-Rock's Great Lost Album". Rolling Stone . Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  15. "The Beginning of the End". AllMusic . Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  16. Hanson, Peter (August 18, 2016). "Every 70s Movie: Run, Cougar, Run (1972)". Every70smovie.blogspot.com.
  17. 1 2 "Hall of Fame Inductees - Canadian Country Music Association". Ccma.org. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  18. "Sylvia Tyson's One Woman Show - River Road & Other Stories". Quartette.com. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  19. "They're partners in life as well as in music, which must have its difficult moments like the prospect of having to sing with someone you were maybe not speaking to. But they certainly have made that work, what with that thing rolling around on the rug, young Clayton Dawson, herein and hereafter referred to as 'Mr. Spoons.'" From the jacket notes (by John Court) to Ian and Sylvia's LP "Lovin' Sound", MGM 4388, 1967. Quoted in Mudcat Forum Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine by Dale Rose, 1999-04-16; accessed 2011-05-08.
  20. "Clay Tyson". Living Legends Music. 2006–2008. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  21. "Four Strong Winds: Ian & Sylvia by John Einarson with Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson". The Globe and Mail. 9 September 2011.
  22. Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 19 October 2010.
  23. "Hall of Fame Inductees - Canadian Country Music Association". Ccma.org. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  24. Friend, David (July 17, 2019). "Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson to be inducted separately into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame". CBC. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  25. "Ian and Sylvia - Discography". Quartette.com. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  26. Whitburn, Joel (2011). Top Pop Singles 1955–2010. Record Research, Inc. p. 422. ISBN   978-0-89820-188-8.
  27. "Ian & Sylvia - Lovin' Sound (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1967. Retrieved 2012-04-04.