Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson to be individually inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame

Story by courtesy of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame / courtoisie du Panthéon des auteurs et compositeurs canadiens. | Thursday July 18th, 2019

Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson will be individually inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF), during the 2019 edition of Country Music Week. They’ll be inducted at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, in Calgary on Sept. 5, 2019. The celebration coincides with the double-album compilation release of Ian & Sylvia The Lost Tapes, the next day, 60 years after the two singer-songwriters first met. In July of 1959, they began a musical journey, both as a dynamic duo and with distinguished solo careers, that would help put Canadian country music on the map globally.

“Ian & Sylvia were pioneers of the singer-songwriter movement – a genre firmly established today because of their leadership,” said Vanessa Thomas, Executive Director of the Hall of Fame. “As a performing duo they were superb, and it was apparent through their second album that they wanted to announce their strong individual songwriting skills as well, which continued to drive their authenticity throughout their music careers, spanning more than six decades.”

During the ‘60s and ‘70s, as the folk-singing duo Ian & Sylvia, they were among North America’s leading singer-songwriters, achieving commercial and critical success over 13 studio albums.  The duo performed their hit songs at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and Town Hall in New York City, and enjoyed appearances on television’s Hullabaloo, The Johnny Cash Show, Steve Allen Show, Mike Douglas Show, and the BBC.

Their folk standards “Four Strong Winds” – which CBC called the “most essential” piece of Canadian music – and “You Were on My Mind” were inducted into the CSHF in 2003 and 2007, respectively.  Ian penned “Four Strong Winds,” and Sylvia wrote “You Were on My Mind,” making her one of the few female folk artists to write a major song in that genre at the time. It was re-recorded in 1965 by American folk-rock quintet We Five, becoming a worldwide No. 1 hit single. Both songs cemented their individual status as songwriters.

Ian & Sylvia The Lost Tapes is culled from newly-discovered concert tapes from the early ‘70s, and includes never-before-heard versions of country and pop classics, cementing their reputations as engaging performers of folk, blues, country, R&B, and rock ‘n’ roll.  Much of their best-known repertoire is superbly represented here.

Says Canadian music industry journalist Larry LeBlanc, “Along with the Byrds, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson, Ian & Sylvia laid the foundation of Canadian country music and Americana music that evolved as a recognized source of popular culture.”

Ian, who loves the cowboy way of life, living on his ranch in Longview, Alberta, today performs his own Western-influenced repertoire; Sylvia continues to have a fascinating, still-thriving solo career, while also performing, writing, and recording with Quartette, alongside Caitlin Hanford, Cindy Church, and Gwen Swick.

Photo by SOCAN. Left to right/ De gauche à droite : Andrew Fedyk and/et Joe Depace (Loud Luxury); Eric Baptiste (CEO/Chef de la direction, SOCAN); Nick Henriques.

SOCAN presents No. 1 Song Award to Nick Henriques, Ultra Music Publishing

Story by Howard Druckman, with files from/avec Melissa Cameron-Passley | Thursday July 18th, 2019

SOCAN has presented a No. 1 Song Award to Nick Henriques and Ultra Music Publishing for co-writing and co-publishing, respectively, the Loud Luxury song “Body” (featuring Brando), which reached No. 1 on the Nielsen BDS CHR Airplay Chart on June 18, 2018, holding the top position for six weeks straight.

A celebratory dinner, held on July 3, 2019, at Pai Northern Thai Kitchen in downtown Toronto, was attended by co-writers Loud Luxury (the duo of Joe Depace and  Andrew Fedyk), as well as original co-publisher Marty Simon of MRD-Music Revenue Data, and Matthew Smeaton of North Side Artists, which manages Loud Luxury – all four of whom were previously awarded for the song during 2019 JUNO Awards week in London, Ontario, in March of this year. Other co-writers on the song were Marlon McClain (ASCAP) and Cassio Lopes (ASCAP).

Representing Ultra Music Publishing at the event were Andreas Rizek, Asim “Awesome” Awan, and Adrian Strong. Also enjoying the dinner was Eric Henriques, who manages Nick Henriques, and Artist/Songwriter Veronica Rinomato. SOCAN attendees included CEO Eric Baptiste, Account Executive Daryl Hamilton, and A&R Representatives Melissa Cameron-Passley and Aidan D’Aoust.

Photo by Brad Ardley

Across The Board: 40% of Canadian music industry Board seats held by women

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday July 17th, 2019

Across The Board – an advocacy movement to pursue gender parity on the Boards of Directors of organizations that impact the Canadian music industry – has found that the participation of women on those boards had more than doubled, to 40 percent, by the end of 2018.

Beginning in 2017, Across The Board conducted a study across 30 Canadian music industry boards, finding that women only held 19 percent of the seats. In December of 2018, the organization distributed a survey to compile information on the progress of its gender parity initiative.

SOCAN currently stands well above the industry mark, as 44 percent of our Board of Directors are women. Additionally, SOCAN has achieved 50/50 gender parity on our executive team, while no fewer than 64 percent of our managers, throughout the organization, identify as female.

Further, the Executive Directors of both the SOCAN-owned Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and The SOCAN Foundation, identify as female, and women make up more than 60 percent of SOCAN’s full-time employees.

We’ve pro-actively ensured that our hiring practices are fair and equal. Our leaders and human resources team take an inclusive approach to attracting, securing, and retaining the very best talent regardless of gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. SOCAN strives for inclusivity, equality, and equitability

“We’re pleased and proud to be moving towards, and beyond, complete gender parity,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “But there’s still work to be done. We continue to adhere to Across The Board’s cornerstone initiative of recruiting women as board members, executives, managers, and employees, as we pursue diverse and balanced leadership and staff throughout SOCAN, and throughout the Canadian music ecosystem.”