Ian and Sylvia
Encyclopedia
Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 music duo which consisted of Ian
Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson CM, AOE is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.-Career:Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria in 1933, and grew up in Duncan B.C...

 and Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson, CM , is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson....

, née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Fricker. They began performing together in 1959, married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.

Early lives

Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson CM, AOE is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.-Career:Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria in 1933, and grew up in Duncan B.C...

, CM
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

, was born in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in 1933. In his teens, he decided upon a career as a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 rider. Recovering from injuries sustained from a fall during the mid 1950s, he started learning guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. In the late 1950s, he relocated to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, aspiring to a career as a commercial artist. He also started playing clubs and coffeehouses in Toronto. By 1959 he was performing music as a full-time occupation.

Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson, CM , is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson....

, née Fricker, CM, was born in Chatham
Chatham, Ontario
Chatham is the largest community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Formerly serving as the seat of Kent County, the governments of the former city of Chatham, the county of Kent, and its townships were merged into one entity known as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998.Located on...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in 1940. While still in her teens, she started frequenting the folk clubs of Toronto.

Folk duo

Ian & Sylvia started performing together in Toronto in 1959. By 1962, they were living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 where they caught the attention of manager Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...

, who managed Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...

 and would soon become Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's manager. Grossman secured them a contract with Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...

 and they released their first album late in the year.

Ian & Sylvia's first and self-titled album on Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...

 consisted mainly of traditional songs. There were British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 folk songs, spiritual music, and a few blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 songs thrown into the mix. The album was moderately successful and they made the list of performers for the 1963 Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz 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
Tomorrow Is a Long Time
"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. Dylan's version first appeared on the Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II compilation, released in 1971...

", and the title song "Four Strong Winds
Four Strong Winds
"Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson in the early 1960s. It was first recorded by The Brothers Four in a version that "Bubbled Under" the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1963...

", which was written by Ian. "Four Strong Winds" was a major hit in Canada and ensured their stardom.

Ian and Sylvia married in June 1964. They also released their third album, Northern Journey, that year. The album included a blues song written by Sylvia, "You Were On My Mind
You Were on My Mind
"You Were On My Mind" is a song written by Sylvia Tyson in 1964. It was originally performed by her and Ian Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia and they recorded it for their 1964 album, Northern Journey. It was published in sheet form by M...

", which was subsequently recorded by both the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 group We Five
We Five
We Five was a 1960s folk rock musical group based in San Francisco, California. Their best-known hit was their 1965 remake of Ian and Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind", which reached #1 on the Cashbox chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart...

 (a 1965 #1 on the Cashbox chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and British folk-rock singer Crispian St. Peters
Crispian St. Peters
Crispian St. Peters was an English pop singer-songwriter, best known for his work in the 1960s, particularly his 1966 hits, "The Pied Piper" and "You Were on My Mind."-Early career:...

 (#36 in 1967). A recording of "Four Strong Winds" by Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...

 made it to #3 on the country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 charts around that time.

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

Their fourth album, Early Morning Rain, consisted in large part of contemporary compositions. They introduced the work of fellow Canadian songwriter and performer Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...

 through the title song and "For Loving Me". They also covered "Darcy Farrow" by Steve Gillette
Steve Gillette And Cindy Mangsen
Since their marriage in 1989, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have been traveling, performing and recording together.Their album Live In Concert, recorded at The Ark in Ann Arbor in 1991, is available from their own company, Compass Rose Music. A second duet album, The Light Of The Day, was named...

 and Tom Campbell, being the first artists to cover these three songs. Additionally, they recorded a number of their own compositions.

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 for a mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...

 effect.

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. At this time they were doing a weekly TV program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

.

Country-rock pioneers

They relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, 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. Three of Bob Dylan's "Basement Tapes" compositions are covered on these albums, most of the rest were written by Ian or Sylvia.

In 1969, Ian and Sylvia formed the country-rock group Great Speckled Bird
Great Speckled Bird (band)
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...

. In addition to participating in the cross-Canada rock-and-roll rail tour Festival Express
Festival Express
Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the eponymous 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends...

, they recorded a self-titled album
Great Speckled Bird (album)
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...

 for the short-lived Ampex
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence...

 label. Produced by Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...

, the record failed when Ampex was unable 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. Later copies had a sticker saying that it featured Ian and Sylvia.

Ian and Sylvia's last two albums were recorded on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

. The first, 1971's Ian and Sylvia, not to be confused with their 1962 release titled Ian & Sylvia, consists largely of mainstream country-flavored compositions. This album was released on CD, with bonus tracks, as The Beginning of the End in 1996.

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.

By 1975 they had stopped performing together and soon afterwards divorced.

Later lives

Ian retreated to western Canada, returned to ranching, and focused on his solo career.

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
Quartette (band)
Quartette is a Canadian country-folk group featuring Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick and Sylvia Tyson. Each of the four members also records as a solo artist in addition to their work as a group.-Biography:...

, and performing a one-woman show entitled River Road and Other Stories.

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

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

Honours

In 1992 they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
Canadian Music Hall of Fame
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The ceremony is held each year as part of the Juno Award ceremonies. Members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame represent many of the world's great talents...

 during the Juno Awards ceremony.

In 1994 they were both made Members of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

.

In 2005 an extensive Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 (CBC) poll determined their song "Four Strong Winds
Four Strong Winds
"Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson in the early 1960s. It was first recorded by The Brothers Four in a version that "Bubbled Under" the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1963...

" to be the "most essential" piece of Canadian music.

In 2006 they were both inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame. It was in 1961 that Ian and Sylvia headlined at Canada's legendary Mariposa Folk Festival
Mariposa Folk Festival
The Mariposa Folk Festival was founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr...

. The induction featured a rare live performance by the duo (accompanied by David Celia on guitar) in Toronto to an enthusiastic audience including Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...

, The Good Brothers
The Good Brothers
The Good Brothers are a Canadian country, bluegrass and folk music group originating from Richmond Hill, Ontario. The band's core members are Brian Good , his twin brother Bruce Good and younger brother Larry Good ....

, Greg Keelor
Greg Keelor
Greg Keelor is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as a member of the band Blue Rodeo, where he shares song writing and vocal duties with Jim Cuddy. Keelor has also released three solo albums and appeared as a guest musician on albums by Crash Vegas and Melissa McClelland...

, and David Wilcox
David Wilcox (Canadian musician)
David Wilcox is a Canadian rock musician.-History:Montreal native, David Wilcox drew inspiration from musician Elvis Presley at the early age of six...

.

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions Label
CAN US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

1962 Ian & Sylvia Vanguard
1964 Four Strong Winds 115
Northern Journey 70
1965 Early Morning Rain 77
1966 Play One More 142
1967 So Much for Dreaming 130
Lovin' Sound 148 MGM
Nashville Vanguard
1968 Full Circle 48 MGM
1970 Great Speckled Bird
Great Speckled Bird (album)
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...

54 Ampex
1971 Ian and Sylvia 60 201 Columbia
1972 You Were on My Mind
1996 Live at Newport Vanguard

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
CAN AC CAN
1965 "Early Morning Rain
Early Morning Rain
"Early Morning Rain" is a song composed and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The song appears on his debut album Lightfoot! and in a re-recorded version on the 1975 compilation Gord's Gold...

"
1 Early Morning Rain
1971 "Creators of Rain" 73 Ian & Sylvia
"More Often Than Not" 22
1972 "You Were on My Mind
You Were on My Mind
"You Were On My Mind" is a song written by Sylvia Tyson in 1964. It was originally performed by her and Ian Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia and they recorded it for their 1964 album, Northern Journey. It was published in sheet form by M...

"
4 You Were on My Mind

External links

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