|
Ed (Edward Potts) McCurdy. Folksinger, songwriter, actor, b Willow Hill, Pa, 11 Jan 1919, naturalized Canadian 1986, d Halifax 23 Mar 2000. McCurdy developed an interest in folk music while he was a student in Oklahoma and, after studying voice, worked in US vaudeville and as a gospel singer on radio. He moved in 1945 to Vancouver, where his CBC radio program 'Ed McCurdy Sings' (1947-8) was the first on the English network devoted to folksong. The baritone's other CBC shows included 'Singing in the Wilderness' (Toronto, 1949), 'Young People's Radio Magazine' (Vancouver, 1953), and the children's TV program 'Ed's Place' (Toronto, 1953-4). He also sang the role of Mal Tompkins in the 1954 CBC-TV production of Mavor Moore's The Hero of Mariposa.
As Performer
Though he moved in 1954 to New York, McCurdy continued to appear in Canada. He was host for such CBC-TV shows as 'Ed and Ross' (Toronto, 1957-9, a children's show with Ross Snetsinger) and 'Folksongs with Ed McCurdy' (Halifax, 1961) and performed in Canadian coffeehouses and at the 1962 Mariposa Folk Festival. With the rise of urban folk music and protest songs, McCurdy's style fell out of vogue by the mid-1960s. He carried out a 1976 tour of Europe, but performed less than previously. In 1982 he moved to Halifax and thereafter performed at several Canadian folk festivals, including Mariposa, Home County Folk Festival (London, Ont), and Winnipeg until 1994. He also took dramatic roles as an actor in films (eg, the NFB's Justice Denied, 1989) and on CBC-TV. A popular interpreter of Anglo-Canadian folksongs, McCurdy was one of the most recorded folk artists in North America, and one of the first to issue an album focusing on Newfoundland folk songs. His first LP, Folk Songs of the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland (1955, Whitehall 850), was followed by some 30 others, largely of non-Canadian material, recorded in the USA for Riverside, Elektra, Tradition, etc. His recordings of bawdy 17th-century English poetry (When Dalliance Was in Flower) 1956-58 were very popular. Of his own songs, the pacifist 'Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream,' written during his first years in Canada, has been recorded some 40 times (by Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez, and others) and sung in at least nine languages; it remains a favourite of Canadian school choirs. Of McCurdy, Richard Flohil wrote, 'Sometimes grumpy and irascible, he is unique; a man of warmth and sensibility, and a link with the great folk singers of the past' (program notes, Mariposa Folk Festival 1990).
Author
Lynne Hoover, Betty Nygaard King
Bibliography
Brown, Bill. 'CBC's sorrowful troubadour,' Montreal Standard, 20 Jul 1949 "Folk singer a fixture at Mariposa festival," Globe and Mail, 30 Mar 2000 Brown, Lorne. "Ed McCurdy," Canadian Folk Music Bulletin, Mar-Jun 2000
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| On Monday August 29, 1864 half the cabinet of the Canadian government boarded the
steamer Queen Victoria at Quebec. They had heard that representatives of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick and PEI were meeting in Charlottetown to discuss Maritime union and they hoped to
crash the party... |
|
| Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ... |
|
|
| Evangelical Christian Church, often called the Christian Church (Christian Disciples), is a denomination stemming from ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| The Toronto Maple Leafs are a HOCKEY team, was formed in 1927 when Conn SMYTHE purchased and renamed the Toronto St ... |
|
|
| Sears Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, is a Canadian retailer incorporated in 1952. In 1953 operating under the ... |
|
|
| John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ... |
|
|
| Land claims are dealt with by a process established by the federal government to enable INDIANS, INUIT and ... |
|
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
| THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA |
|
| Jackson, (Anthony) Brian. Conductor, organist, pianist, b Penzance, Cornwall, England, 26 Dec 1943, naturalized Canadian 1974; FRCO 1964, ARCM 1964, BA music (Oxford) 1965, MA (Oxford) 1968. In England he began to perform in ... |
|
|
