Sylvia Tyson
{{Use Canadian English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Sylvia_Tyson_in_2010.JPG
| caption = Tyson in 2010
| name = Sylvia Tyson
{{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}}
| birth_name = Sylvia Fricker
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1940|09|19}}
| birth_place = Chatham, Ontario, Canada
| known_for = You Were on My Mind
| spouse = {{marriage|Ian Tyson|1964|1975}}
| children = 1
| module =
{{Infobox musical artist | embed=yes
| background = solo_singer
| origin = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| instrument = Vocals, autoharp, guitar, piano
| genre = Folk, country rock, country
| occupation = Musician, songwriter, broadcaster, author
| years_active = 1959–present
| label = Vanguard, Columbia, Capitol, Stony Plain, Salt, Outside
| associated_acts = Ian & Sylvia, Great Speckled Bird, Quartette
| website = {{URL|quartette.com/sylvia.htm}}
}}
}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
Sylvia Tyson, {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (née Fricker; born 19 September 1940) 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.{{cite book |author=John Einarson |title=Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pydnobIDzJEC&pg=PA233|date=January 2001 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8154-1065-2 |pages=233–}}{{cite magazine|author=Larry LeBlanc|title=Canada: Who's Who|magazine=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80|date=4 February 1995|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|pages=80–|issn=0006-2510}}
Early life
Tyson was born Sylvia Fricker in Chatham, Ontario,{{cite magazine|author=Larry LeBlanc|title=Tyson album, stage show, draw on her life and long career in music|magazine=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aREEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60|date=9 September 2000|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|pages=60–|issn=0006-2510}} the second of four children.{{cite news | first=Sarah | last=Hampson | title=The Hampson Interview: Sylvia Tyson | location=Toronto | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=31 July 2004 | page=R3}} Her father was an appliance salesman for the T. Eaton Company, and her mother was a church organist and choir leader.{{cite news | first=June | last=Callwood | title=The Informal Sylvia Tyson | location=Toronto | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=28 October 1974 | page=8}} At a young age Fricker decided to become a singer. Although her parents tried to discourage her from pursuing a career as an entertainer, she left Chatham in 1959 to perform in Toronto.
Ian and Sylvia
From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson.{{cite web|url=http://www.quartette.com/tyson.html |title=Tyson |publisher=Quartette |date=8 September 2003 |accessdate=4 April 2012}}{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ian-and-sylvia |title=Ian and Sylvia |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |accessdate=4 April 2012}} The two met after a friend of Ian's heard her sing at a party and let Ian know about her. Ian had been performing in Toronto clubs as a solo artist, but after he and Fricker met, they decided to work together as a duo.{{cite news | first=Dennis | last=Braithwaite | title=How to Get Rich | location=Toronto | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=29 October 1963 | page=31}} Their full-time collaboration began in 1961 and continued for a decade.{{Cite web|url=https://canadianmusichalloffame.ca/inductee/ian-sylvia/|title=Ian & Sylvia – Canadian Music Hall Of Fame|website=Canadianmusichalloffame.ca|accessdate=12 February 2020}} From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she and Ian Tyson also fronted the country rock band Great Speckled Bird.
Sylvia Tyson wrote her first and best-known song "You Were on My Mind" in 1962. It was recorded by Ian & Sylvia in 1964.{{cite news | first=John | last=Barber | title=I've Been a Writer All My Life | location=Toronto | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=19 March 2011 | page=R19}} The song has been covered extensively,{{cite news | url=https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/a-quartette-christmas-with-sylvia-tyson-and-friends | title=A Quartette Christmas with Sylvia Tyson and friends | newspaper=Ottawa Citizen | first=Lynn | last=Saxberg | date=16 December 2016}} but first became a hit single in the mid-1960s for the San Francisco-based folk-rock band We Five, and also for the British pop singer Crispian St. Peters.
Fricker married Ian Tyson on 26 June 1964.{{cite news | title=Bach and Shubert as Ian, Sylvia Wed | location=Toronto | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=27 June 1964 | page=18}} During their years together, they recorded 13 albums.
The Tysons were divorced in 1975.{{cite magazine | title=Tyson Takes a New 'Road' | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vhQEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Tyson+Takes+a+New+'Road'%22+billboard&pg=PA52 | first=Larry | last=Leblanc | magazine=Billboard | date=12 February 2005 | page=52 | accessdate=11 November 2009 }} During their marriage, they had one child, Clayton Dawson Tyson.{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/tyson-comes-clean/article676674/ | title=Tyson comes clean | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=28 March 2008 | first=Marsha | last=Lederman | accessdate=11 November 2009 }}
Later career
After the Tysons separated and stopped performing together in 1975, Sylvia started a solo career. She released two albums on Capitol Records, Woman's World in 1975 and Cool Wind from the North in 1976.{{cite book|author=Jason Schneider|title=Whispering Pines: The Northern Roots of American Music... from Hank Snow to the Band|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c--zNXu1v74C&pg=RA1-PT149|date=15 December 2010|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-55490-552-2|pages=1–}} In 1978, she established an independent record label, Salt Records.{{cite news | url=http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2003/09/08/179238.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115103349/http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2003/09/08/179238.html | url-status=usurped | archive-date=15 January 2013 | title=Country music to honour Tyson | author=The Canadian Press | author-link=The Canadian Press | newspaper=London Free Press | date=8 September 2003 | accessdate=11 November 2009}} With the label she released the albums, Satin on Stone in 1978 and Sugar for Sugar in 1979.{{cite web |title=Salt Records (2) Label |url=https://www.discogs.com/label/155106-Salt-Records-2 |website=Discogs.com |accessdate=13 February 2019}}
Sylvia Tyson contributed offstage to the Canadian music scene as a board member of FACTOR and the Juno Awards. With Tom Russell, she was an editor of the 1995 anthology And Then I Wrote: The Songwriter Speaks ({{ISBN|9781551520230}}). In 2011, she wrote her first novel, Joyner's Dream.
Sylvia joined Ian to sing their signature song "Four Strong Winds" at the 50th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival on 11 July 2010 in Orillia, Ontario.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/four-strong-winds-ian-sylvia-by-john-einarson-with-ian-tyson-and-sylvia-tyson/article4256234/ |title=Four Strong Winds: Ian & Sylvia by John Einarson with Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |accessdate=12 February 2020}}
In 2012, Tyson and singer-songwriter Cindy Church wrote a campaign song for the Alberta Party, a centrist political party in Alberta.
On November 3, 2023 at the age of 83, Tyson released what she states is her last album titled 'At the End of the Day'.
Awards and recognition
Sylvia Tyson was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994.{{cite web | url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3404 |publisher=Governor General of Canada |title=Order of Canada: Sylvia Tyson |date=19 October 1994 |accessdate=11 November 2009 }}
She was nominated seven times for a Juno Award, the first being in 1987 as Country Female Vocalist of the Year. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame inducted Ian & Sylvia as a duo in 1992. In 2003, Sylvia Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.ccma.org/halloffame/hofprofile.cfm?AwardID=64 |title=CCMA Hall Of Fame – Sylvia Tyson |publisher=Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame |accessdate=11 November 2009 |archive-date=5 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905050443/http://www.ccma.org/halloffame/hofprofile.cfm?AwardID=64 |url-status=dead }}
In July 2019, it was announced that Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame individually, not as a duo. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said that "the duo's 1964's hit, Four Strong Winds, has been deemed one of the most influential songs in Canadian history". The CBC report also referenced the song You Were on My Mind, written by Sylvia Tyson, as well as her four albums (1975–1980).{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/ian-tyson-sylvia-tyson-canadian-songwriters-hall-of-fame-1.5215382 |title=Archived copy |website=www.cbc.ca |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718090448/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/ian-tyson-sylvia-tyson-canadian-songwriters-hall-of-fame-1.5215382 |archive-date=18 July 2019 |url-status=dead}}
Discography
=Albums=
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Album ! style="width:45px;"| CAN ! Label |
|---|
| 1975
| Woman's World | style="text-align:center;"| 54 | rowspan="2"| Capitol |
| 1976
| Cool Wind from the North | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1978
| Satin on Stone | style="text-align:center;"| — | rowspan="2"| Salt |
| 1979
| Sugar for Sugar, Salt for Salt | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1986
| The Big Spotlight | style="text-align:center;"| — | rowspan="2"| Stony Plain Records |
| 1989
| You Were on My Mind | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1992
| Gypsy Cadillac | style="text-align:center;"| — | Silver City |
| 2000
| River Road and Other Stories | style="text-align:center;"| — | Salt/Outside |
| 2001
| The Very Best of Sylvia Tyson | style="text-align:center;"| — | Varèse Sarabande |
| 2011
| Joyners Dream: The Kingsfold Suite | style="text-align:center;"| — | Outside Music |
| 2023
| At the End of the Day | style="text-align:center;"| — | Stony Plain Records |
=Singles=
| class="wikitable" |
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Single ! colspan="2"| Chart Positions ! rowspan="2"| Album |
|---|
| style="width:50px;"| CAN Country
! style="width:50px;"| CAN AC |
| 1972
| "Give It to the World" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| 44 | single only |
| 1975
| "Sleep on My Shoulder" | style="text-align:center;"| 35 | style="text-align:center;"| 24 | Woman's World |
| 1976
| "Good Old Song" | style="text-align:center;"| 42 | style="text-align:center;"| — | Cool Wind from the North |
| 1979
| "Love Is a Fire" | style="text-align:center;"| 32 | style="text-align:center;"| — | Satin on Stone |
| 1980
| "Same Old Thing" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| 36 | Sugar for Sugar, Salt for Salt |
| 1985
| "Up in Smoke" | style="text-align:center;"| 50 | style="text-align:center;"| — | single only |
| 1986
| "Denim Blue Eyes" | style="text-align:center;"| 15 | style="text-align:center;"| — | rowspan="2"| The Big Spotlight |
| 1987
| "Too Short a Ride" | style="text-align:center;"| 20 | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1989
| style="text-align:center;"| 35 | style="text-align:center;"| — | rowspan="4"| You Were on My Mind |
| rowspan="3"| 1990
| "Slow Moving Heart" | style="text-align:center;"| 43 | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| "Rhythm of the Road"
| style="text-align:center;"| 42 | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| "Thrown to the Wolves" (with Tom Russell)
| style="text-align:center;"| 43 | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1992
| "I Walk These Rails" | style="text-align:center;"| 18 | style="text-align:center;"| — | rowspan="2"| Gypsy Cadillac |
| 1993
| "The Sound of One Heart Breaking" | style="text-align:center;"| 52 | style="text-align:center;"| — |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.quartette.com/tyson.html Sylvia's Profile at Quartette's web-site]
- [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sylvia-tyson-emc Sylvia Tyson on The Canadian Encyclopedia]
- [http://www.richieunterberger.com/tyson.html An interview with Sylvia Tyson]
- [http://archives.cbc.ca/400d.asp?id=1-68-1150-6301&wm6=1 CBC interview with Sylvia on the early years of Can-Con (important because of Sylvia's contribution to the organisational side of Canadian music]
- {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130115121901/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/T/Tyson_Sylvia/1997/05/08/751475.html Sylvia Tyson on Canoe.ca]}}
- [http://www.quartette.com/ Quartette]
- {{IMDb name|id=0879193|name=Sylvia Tyson}}
- {{discogs artist|Sylvia Tyson}}
- [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/sylvia-tyson Sylvia Tyson Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2021)
{{Great Speckled Bird}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, Sylvia}}
Category:People from Chatham-Kent
Category:Canadian women country singers
Category:Canadian women singer-songwriters
Category:Canadian folk singer-songwriters
Category:Canadian folk guitarists
Category:Canadian country singer-songwriters
Category:Canadian women folk guitarists
Category:Members of the Order of Canada
Category:Great Speckled Bird (band) members
Category:Quartette (band) members
Category:20th-century Canadian women singers
Category:21st-century Canadian women singers