March 07, 2013
Stompin Tom dies
One of the true legends of Canadian music has died.
Stompin' Tom Connors was 77
He was born in Saint John, N.B., on Feb. 9, 1936 to an unwed teenage mother. According to his autobiography, "Before the Fame,'' he often lived hand-to-mouth as a youngster, hitchhiking with his mother from the age of three, begging on the street by the age of four. At age eight, he was placed in the care of Children's Aid and adopted a year later by a family in Skinner's Pond, P.E.I. He ran away four years later to hitchhike across the country.
Connors bought his first guitar at age 14 and picked up odd jobs as he wandered from town to town, at times working on fishing boats, as a grave digger, tobacco picker and fry cook.
Legend has it that Connors began his musical career when he found himself a nickel short of a beer at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ont., in 1964 at age 28.
The bartender agreed to give him a drink if he would play a few songs but that turned into a 14-month contract to play at the hotel. Three years later, Connors made his first album and garnered his first hit in 1970 with "Bud The Spud.''
Hundreds more songs followed, many based on actual events, people, and towns he had visited.
But he had strong convictions about the music industry and declined induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.
Accolades he did embrace included an appointment to the Order of Canada in 1996, and his own postage stamp.
MichelleWright wrote on her Facebook., "We lost one of our great Canadian legends tonight. He did some livin' and was absolutely one of a kind who wrote about and celebrated the Canadian ways in his songs. RIP Tom"
.Long-time friend Brian Edwards said the musician, rarely seen without his signature black cowboy hat and stomping cowboy boots, knew his health was declining and penned a message for his fans a few days before his death.
"The man stood for everything that Canada stood for and he was very adamant that he stayed a Canadian and made it very apparent that he never left the country to advance his career and stayed very, very true to who he was.''
Stompin' Tom Connors was 77
He was born in Saint John, N.B., on Feb. 9, 1936 to an unwed teenage mother. According to his autobiography, "Before the Fame,'' he often lived hand-to-mouth as a youngster, hitchhiking with his mother from the age of three, begging on the street by the age of four. At age eight, he was placed in the care of Children's Aid and adopted a year later by a family in Skinner's Pond, P.E.I. He ran away four years later to hitchhike across the country.
Connors bought his first guitar at age 14 and picked up odd jobs as he wandered from town to town, at times working on fishing boats, as a grave digger, tobacco picker and fry cook.
Legend has it that Connors began his musical career when he found himself a nickel short of a beer at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ont., in 1964 at age 28.
The bartender agreed to give him a drink if he would play a few songs but that turned into a 14-month contract to play at the hotel. Three years later, Connors made his first album and garnered his first hit in 1970 with "Bud The Spud.''
Hundreds more songs followed, many based on actual events, people, and towns he had visited.
But he had strong convictions about the music industry and declined induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.
Accolades he did embrace included an appointment to the Order of Canada in 1996, and his own postage stamp.
MichelleWright wrote on her Facebook., "We lost one of our great Canadian legends tonight. He did some livin' and was absolutely one of a kind who wrote about and celebrated the Canadian ways in his songs. RIP Tom"
.Long-time friend Brian Edwards said the musician, rarely seen without his signature black cowboy hat and stomping cowboy boots, knew his health was declining and penned a message for his fans a few days before his death.
"The man stood for everything that Canada stood for and he was very adamant that he stayed a Canadian and made it very apparent that he never left the country to advance his career and stayed very, very true to who he was.''
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