Ian Tyson born 25 September 1933

Ian Tyson CM, AOE (born 25 September 1933 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.

A rodeo rider in his late teens and early twenties, he took up the guitar while recovering from an injury he sustained in a fall. He made his singing debut at the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1956 and played with a rock and roll band, "The Sensational Stripes." After graduation from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958, Tyson moved to Toronto, Ontario where he commenced a job as a commercial artist. There he performed in local clubs and in 1959 began to sing on occasion with Sylvia Fricker. By early 1959 Tyson and Fricker were performing part-time at the Village Corner as "Ian & Sylvia." The pair became a full-time musical act in 1961 and married four years later. In 1969, they formed and fronted the group The Great Speckled Bird. The duo played their final public performance in 1975 and The Great Speckled Bird disbanded a year later.

 

It was during this time the duo also began hosting a television show, Nashville North, which became the Ian Tyson Show when the couple split up in the middle of the decade. Their son Clay (born c. 1968) was also a musical performer, and then moved to a career modifying racing bikes.

After Ian & Sylvia's break-up, Tyson recorded Ol'Eon. He temporarily retired from recording in 1979 to work his ranch, but returned with Old Corrals and Sagebrush in 1983. In 1984, he toured with Ricky Skaggs and also released an eponymous album. Tyson released a third album, Cowboyography, two years later, and in 1991, he released another popular Canadian album, And Stood There Amazed, which contained the hits "Springtime in Alberta" and "Black Nights." Subsequent releases include 1994's Eighteen Inches of Rain, 1996's All the Good 'Uns and 1999's Lost Herd. Tyson released Live at Longview in 2002, followed by Songs from the Gravel Road in 2005. In 1989 he was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose his song "Four Strong Winds" as the greatest Canadian song of all time on the series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. There was strong momentum for him to be nominated the Greatest Canadian, but he fell short. He has been a strong influence on many Canadian artists, including Neil Young, who recorded "Four Strong Winds" for Comes a Time (1978). Johnny Cash would also record the same song for American V: A Hundred Highways (2006). Judy Collins recorded a version of his popular song, "Someday Soon", in 1968.

In 2006, Tyson sustained irreversible scarring to his vocal cords leading to a notable loss of the remarkable quality and range he was known for. Notwithstanding, he released the album "From Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories" in 2008 to high critical praise. He was nominated for a 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards for Solo Artist of the Year. The album includes a song about Canadian hockey broadcasting icon Don Cherry and the passing of his wife Rose, a rare Tyson cover written by Toronto songwriter Jay Aymar.

He has written a book of young-adult fiction about his song "La Primera", called La Primera: The Story of Wild Mustangs.

Ian Tyson married Twylla Dvorkin in 1986, and their daughter Adelita was born c. 1987.Tyson's second marriage ended in divorce which was made official in early 2008, several years after separating from Dvorkin.Ian, a recipient of the Order of Canada, lives and continues to work on his ranch in Alberta's Rocky Mountains. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia)