Gene MacLellan born 2 February 1938

Gene MacLellan (February 2, 1938 – January 19, 1995) was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island. Among his compositions were "Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand", "The Call", "Pages of Time", and "Thorn in My Shoe". Elvis Presley, Lynn Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Joan Baez, and Bing Crosby were among the many artists who recorded MacLellan's songs. 

Born in Val-d'Or, Quebec and raised in Toronto in a church-going family, the shy but talented Gene MacLellan suffered polio and other medical conditions in childhood. He began playing guitar at age 10 and writing songs in his early teens. After joining Toronto’s nascent rock ‘n’ roll scene, MacLellan dropped out of high school and played with local rock bands as a guitarist and singer. In 1956, he co-founded the popular rock band The Consuls (later known as Little Caesar and the Consuls) which opened for Ronnie Hawkins, a powerful figure in Toronto’s early rock scene. 

MacLellan’sperforming career was slowed by a 1963 car accident that claimed the life of his father and left Gene with several injuries, including facial scarring and an injured left eye. MacLellan left Toronto to travel through Canada and the United States, working temporary jobs before settling in Prince Edward Island in 1964, where he lived with his aunt and worked as a farm labourer and  a psychiatric hospital attendant. 

                                    

MacLellan continued to compose songs during this period, and his songwriting took on a folk-country-gospel sound. He sent a demo tape to the Charlottetown Festival and the popular CBC TV program Don Messer’s Jubilee, which was taped in Halifax. His break came when he appeared on the show, first as a guest and then regularly in 1966, introducing his original songs to a national audience. It was here that MacLellan met Anne Murray, which proved to be a turning point in both their careers. He then toured with Hal “Lone Pine” Breau (father of noted jazz guitarist Lenny Breau), and was briefly a regular on CBC Halifax TV’s Singalong Jubilee (ca. 1970). 

Gene with Anne Murray

The success of MacLellan’s songs “Snowbird,” and “Put Your Hand in the Hand” brought him to national attention as a songwriter. Over 100 performers, including Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, and Bing Crosby have recorded "Put Your Hand in the Hand".  In 1970, MacLellan released his own self-titled LP which was also released as Street Corner Preacher in the United States. Recorded in Nashville, the album produced the modest country hits “The Call” (a Top 20 hit on the RPM chart) and “Thorn in My Shoe.” The same year, he also performed weekly with Anne Murray on the CBC Radio show After Noon. MacLellan made concert appearances in 1971 and 1972, was a headliner at Toronto’s Riverboat club in 1972 and 1973, and gave a concert at Massey Hall with The Bells as part of a 1972 cross-Canada tour. 

Tiring of the demands of the music business and turning to Christianity, he left music for five years. He gave away his money and possessions and moved to Europe to perform missionary work, but by 1977 he was back in the recording studio and released a second album, If It's Alright with You, which included “Shilo Song,” a popular country duet with Anne Murray. 

In 1979, he recorded Gene and Marty, an album of gospel songs, with his fellow Prince Edward Islander Marty Reno. Devoted to his Christian faith, he performed gospel and inspirational music only in small noncommercial venues such as churches, prisons and nursing homes from 1980 until his death. He was also active in "Cons for Christ", a Christian organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of prison inmates in Canada. 

MacLellan suffered depression throughout his life and during his later years, his condition worsened, leading to hospitalization at Prince County Hospital in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Shortly after his release from the hospital, MacLellan commited  suicide by hanging at his home in Summerside, on January 19, 1995. He was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame that year and in 1996 he was given the East Coast Music Association's Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award. 

In 2017, MacLellan's daughter Catherine MacLellan presented a show titled If It's Alright with You – The Life and Music of My Father, Gene MacLellan that was described as "part theatre, part Island music history lesson, and part mental-health awareness campaign". Her album If It's Alright with You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan was released on June 30, 2017, by True North Records 

(Edited from The Canadian Encyclopedia, Wikipedia & Knocking on Heavens Door)