Sylvia Tyson

Brief Biography

Ontario - Folk, Roots, Country, Americana

We are honoured to welcome Sylvia Tyson, one of the headliners at the original Mariposa Folk Festival in 1961, to our stage for the 50th anniversary festival. Sylvia Tyson's first commercial recordings were part of the 13-album history of Ian & Sylvia, the landmark folk and country duo who began in the early 1960's. Later, Sylvia established an impressive solo career, hosting the award-winning CBC Network radio show, Touch The Earth, and a national CBC Television show, Country In My Soul. She has released seven solo albums, the most recent being Gypsy Cadillac. She is also a member of the successful group, Quartette. Sylvia Tyson has been a long time supporter of Mariposa and she serves on the Board of Advisors of the Mariposa Folk Foundation.

ARTIST WEBSITE: www.quartette.com/index.html

Sylvia Tyson's first commercial recordings were part of the 13-album history of Ian & Sylvia, the landmark folk and country duo who began in the early 60's. Ian & Sylvia (she was Sylvia Fricker then) were headliners at the very first Mariposa Folk Festival in 1961.

Among their early music, Ian's song, Four Strong Winds, and Sylvia's song, You Were On My Mind, confirmed to the world that these were to be two of the biggest influences on folk music ever to come out of Canada.

As Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, Ann Murray, Peter Paul and Mary, and Judy Collins all attested on the Ian & Sylvia Reunion television special (co-produced by Sylvia), Ian & Sylvia's music influenced two decades of writer/performers. "Magic" was the word often used to describe their sound, and the albums - stocked with timeless material - stand their ground today.

One of those albums, The Great Speckled Bird, is a cornerstone of country rock music. This album helped to lay the foundation for what would become country rock, progressive country, and finally new country.

Ian & Sylvia parted ways in the mid-70's, and Sylvia established an impressive solo career, hosting the award-winning CBC Network radio show, Touch The Earth, and a national CBC Television show, Country In My Soul. She has released seven solo albums, the most recent being Gypsy Cadillac, released by Sony in Canada, and by Round Tower Music in Europe. She continues to have great success with her songwriting.

In 1992, Sylvia Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on the nationally televised Juno Awards. In 1995, And Then I Wrote (the songwriter speaks), a book on songwriters she co-edited with longtime friend and collaborator, Tom Russell, was published.

Quartette

Sylvia is currently part of a collaboration with three other female singer/song-writers called Quartette, and it is in that incarnation that we welcome Sylvia and her partners Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick, to the Mariposa stage.

Since their debut in 1993, the four members of Quartette have been both publicly and critically acclaimed for their lush harmonies and delightfully diverse repertoire ranging from blues and gospel to folk and country to jazz and pop.

The group’s first appearance, a showcase of Canadian women songwriters, took place at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. What began as a “songwriter in the round” concert of musical friends grew into an inspired collaboration. This initial performance generated an appearance on CBC Radio’s Morningside with host Peter Gzowski. The phones began to ring with requests for a recording, and seven months later in April of 1994, the self-titled album, “Quartette,” was released to rave reviews. This was followed by coast-to-coast tours of theatres, folk festivals, performances with symphony orchestras, and live appearances on radio, including two appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

In 1995 a second album, “Work of the Heart ,” was released and, following this, CBC’s Adrienne Clarkson Presents profiled the group in an hour-long special.

With the untimely death of original member, Colleen Peterson, in 1996, Quartette elected to continue performing, and welcomed another musical friend, Gwen Swick, to the group. Gwen’s skills as a songwriter and vocal arranger carried the group to a new level as they prepared to record once again, and the result was “In The Beauty Of The Day,” released in 1998.

Quartette has received several Juno nominations, won a Canadian Country Music Award for best vocal collaboration, performed with major symphony orchestras across Canada, and recorded the CMT-TV special, A Quartette Christmas. They have also released two Christmas CDs, It’s Christmas! in 1996, and I See A Star in 2002, both of which are collections of traditional and original Christmas songs, and their Christmas shows have become a tradition with audiences across the country.

Quartette continues to tour and record. In October of 2007, they released their sixth recording, Down At The Fair, produced by legendary guitarist, arranger and producer Colin Linden.

Wikipedia