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Stompin' Tom Connors

Background information
Birth name Charles Thomas Connors
Also known as Tommy Messer
Born February 9, 1936 (1936-02-09) (age 72)
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Genre(s) Folk, Country
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Musician
Years active 1967 – Present
Label(s) Rebel Records (Canada), Dominion Records, Boot Records, Cynda Records, ACT Records, EMI
Website www.stompintom.com

Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors OC (born February 9, 1936) is one of Canada's most prolific and well-known folk singers. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Saint John is the largest city in the Province of New Brunswick, and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. New Brunswick ( French: Nouveau-Brunswick /nuvobʁɔnzwik/ is one of Canada 's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to Performers who write, compose and sing their own material including Lyrics A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in The Order of Canada is the highest civilian honour within the Canadian system of honours, with membership awarded to those who exemplify the order's Latin Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page

He currently lives in Ballinafad, a hamlet that makes up part of Erin, Ontario. Erin (population 11000 is a Town in Wellington County, approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

Early life

He was born Charles Thomas Connors (known as Tommy Messer) in Saint John, New Brunswick to the teenaged Isabel Connors and her boyfriend Thomas Sullivan. Saint John is the largest city in the Province of New Brunswick, and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. New Brunswick ( French: Nouveau-Brunswick /nuvobʁɔnzwik/ is one of Canada 's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally Tom spent a short time living with his mother in a low-security women's penitentiary before he was seized by Children's Aid Society and later adopted by the Aylward family in Skinners Pond, Prince Edward Island. A Children's Aid Society exists in every county or major city in Ontario, Canada. Skinners Pond is a rural community in Prince County, Prince Edward Island. Prince Edward Island (ˌprɪns ˌɛdwɚd ˈaɪlɨnd ( PEI or P

At the age of 15 he left his adoptive family to hitchhike across Canada, a journey that consumed the next 13 years of his life as he traveled between various part-time jobs while writing songs on his guitar. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles At his last stop in Timmins, Ontario, he worked in one of the local gold mines and was offered a year-long contract to sing on stage at the Maple Leaf Hotel, which earned him the attention of the local CKGB radio station. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec CKGB is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an Adult contemporary format at 99

Musical career

During the mid-1970s, Connors wrote and recorded "The Consumer", an ode to bill-paying that became the theme song for the popular Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) consumer affairs program, Marketplace. Marketplace is a Canadian television series broadcast on CBC Television. For the first few seasons, Connors appeared in the opening credits of the program, before "The Consumer" was replaced as the theme initially by an instrumental background version, and ultimately by another piece of music entirely.

Typically writing about Canadian lore and history, some of Connors' better-known songs have included "Bud the Spud", "Big Joe Mufferaw", "The Black Donnellys", "Reesor Crossing Tragedy", "Sudbury Saturday Night" and "The Hockey Song" (aka "The Good Old Hockey Game"); the last is frequently played over sound systems at National Hockey League (NHL) games. Big Joe Mufferaw was a French Canadian folk hero from the Ottawa Valley, perhaps best known today as the hero of a song by Stompin' The Black Donnellys is the common Nickname of the Donnelly family a family that emigrated from County Tipperary, Ireland, to Canada in The Reesor Siding Strike of 1963 was one of the defining labour conflicts in Canadian history resulting in the shooting of 11 union members "Sudbury Saturday Night" is one of the most famous songs by Stompin' Tom Connors, which depicts the hard-drinking hard-partying social life of hard rock miners The Hockey Song is a Canadian anthem written and sung originally by Stompin' Tom Connors. The National Hockey League ( NHL) is a professional Ice hockey league composed of 30 teams in North America

The song that Tom wrote the fastest was Maritime Waltz; time, 12 minutes. [1]

Nickname

Connors' habit of stomping the heel of his left boot to keep rhythm earned him the nickname "that stompin' guy", or "Stomper". A nickname is a Name of an entity or thing that is not its Proper name. It wasn't until Canada's 100th birthday, July 1, 1967, that the name Stompin' Tom Connors was first used, when Boyd MacDonald, a waiter at the King George Tavern in Peterborough, Ontario introduced Tom on stage. The Canadian Centennial was a year long celebration held in 1967 when Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Canada Day (Fête du Canada formerly Dominion Day, is Canada 's national day, a federal statutory holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the Peterborough is a City on the Otonabee River in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres [2] Based on an enthused audience reaction to it, Tom had it officially registered in Ontario as Stompin' Tom Ltd. the following week. Various stories have circulated about the origin of the foot stomping, but it's generally accepted that he did this to keep a strong tempo for his guitar playing - especially in the noisy bars and beer joints where he frequently performed. After numerous complaints about damaged stage floors, Tom began to carry a piece of plywood that he stomped even more vigorously than before. Plywood is a type of Engineered board made from thin sheets of Wood, called plies or veneers The "stompin' " board has since become one of his trademarks. After stomping a hole in the wood, he would pick it up and show it to the audience (accompanied by a joke about the quality of the local lumber) before calling for a new one. It was reported that when asked about his "stompin' board", Tom replied, "it's just a stage I'm going through". Stompin' Tom periodically auctions off his "stompin' boards" for charity with the latest board selling for over $14,000. 00

Honours

He received an honorary Doctorate of Law from St. Thomas University in 1993, which was the inspiration for his album titled Dr. Doctor of Laws ( Latin: Legum Doctor, LLD) is a Doctorate -level Academic degree in Law. St Thomas University (STU is jointly a public and Roman Catholic Liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick Stompin' Tom Connors, eh?, released the same year. In 1996 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and four years later was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Toronto. The Order of Canada is the highest civilian honour within the Canadian system of honours, with membership awarded to those who exemplify the order's Latin This article is about the University of Toronto's St George Campus

In The Greatest Canadian list, he ranked #13, the highest placing for any artist on the list. Officially launched on April 5, 2004, The Greatest Canadian was a television program series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC to

Retirement and nationalistic protest

As the 1970s progressed, he retired to his farm in Norval, near Georgetown, Ontario, to protest the lack of support given to Canadian stories by the policies of the Federal government, particularly the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Georgetown is a community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec CRTC may also stand for Cathode Ray Tube Controller. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ( CRTC, in French Conseil He also boycotted the Juno Awards in protest of the qualification guidelines set by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) for possible nominees who were being consistently nominated and awarded outside of their musical genre. The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian Musical Artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS is the organization responsible for conducting the Juno Awards Canada's primary national musical honours He strongly opposed artists who conducted most of their business in the United States being nominated for Juno's in Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Connors, who referred to these particular artists as "turncoat Canadians", felt that in view of the fact that they had chosen to live and work in the U. S. , it was only fair that they competed with Americans for Grammy Awards, and left the Juno competition to those who are lived and conducted business in Canada.

His protest caught national attention when he sent back his six Junos accompanied by a letter to the board of Directors.

"Gentlemen:I am returning herewith the six Juno awards that I once felt honored to have received and which, I am no longer proud to have in my possession. As far as I am concerned you can give them to the border jumpers who didn't receive an award this year and maybe you can have them presented by Charley Pride. Charley Frank Pride (born March 18, 1938) is a Country music artist I feel that the Junos should be for people who are living in Canada, whose main base of business operations is in Canada, who are working toward the recognition of Canadian talent in this country and who are trying to further the export of such talent from this country to the world with a view to proudly showing off what this country can contribute to the world market. Until the academy appears to comply more closely with aspirations of this kind, I will no longer stand for any nominations, nor will I accept any award given. Yours very truly, Stompin' Tom Connors

He remained in retirement for 12 years before persistent love from young roots revivalists drew him back into the studio and on to the stage. Traditional music is the term now used in the terminology of Grammy Awards for what used to be called " folk music " To this day, Stompin' Tom's performances remain popular, and he remains one of Canada's more prolific recording artists. His songs often pay tribute to Canadian newsmakers or personalities, and can be topical, referring to news events of the day.

Autobiography

An autobiography detailing his childhood years in a female prison, in an orphanage, and as an indentured farm labourer became a bestseller in 1997. An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to It details his life "Before the Fame", and in 2000 he did his second autobiography "The Connors Tone". Recent years have seen the re-release of 25 of his record albums.

Guest of honour on "Late Night"

Connors' music is rarely heard outside Canada, with the possible exception of his anthemic "The Hockey Song" which has been recorded by many artists. It has been suggested that Connors refuses to allow foreign release of his material, although a more likely reason is that the very Canadian-specific subject matter of many of his folk songs has resulted in limited demand in foreign markets. When Late Night with Conan O'Brien taped a week's worth of shows in Canada in 2004, Connors was one of the guests of honour, leading the Toronto audience in a rendition of "The Hockey Song"; this was one of the only times Connors had ever performed on American television. Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an Emmy Award -winning American late-night Talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien on NBC Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Another Canadian-taped installment of Late Night featured a segment in which Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited Quebec; a parody of Connors' "Canada Day, Up Canada Way" is heard during the segment. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a character Puppet performed by Robert Smigel premiering in 1997 on NBC 's Late Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk

Favourite guitar

Tom's favourite guitar was a Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic that he purchased in 1956 while on his way through Ohio to Nashville, Tennessee and Mexico. The Gibson Guitar Corporation of Nashville Tennessee, USA is a manufacturer of acoustic and Electric guitars The company's most popular guitar A steel-string acoustic guitar, is a modern form of Guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter louder sound Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. He discovered it in a furniture store, hidden in a case on the top of some shelf, and after some haggling, purchased it for $80 (all he had was $90 on him). The guitar was used to audition in 1964 at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, as well as for writing Bud the Spud four years later. Although retired in 1972, it remains in his possession. [3]

Dispute with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

After years of requests from CBC for Connors to do a Stompin' Tom music special he did just that. At a cost of over $200,000. 00 of his own money, a live concert presentation at Hamilton Place was shot and edited on HD in September of 2005 and according to Connors' longtime promoter, Rocklands Entertainment CEO Brian Edwards, a copy was presented to the CBC's head of TV variety. Hamilton Place is an enclosed two-story Shopping mall in Chattanooga Tennessee. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition He received a reply the next day telling him that a decision would be reached within a few weeks. After 10 weeks another email was then sent to the newly appointed programming VP, and a prompt reply came back saying that the broadcaster was moving away from music and variety programming and that the Connors special didn't fit with its strategy.

Edwards says he received another letter from the CBC that reinforced its lack of interest in the concert special, but saying that Connors would have been a great guest to perform a song on the network's Hockeyville series or an excellent subject for a Life and Times project. Kraft Hockeyville is a Canadian Reality television series developed by CBC Sports and sponsored by Kraft Foods in which communities Life and Times was a series of biographical Documentary films aired by CBC Television, CBC Country Canada and CBC Newsworld

"As far as I'm concerned, if the CBC, our own public network, will not reconsider their refusal to air a Stompin' Tom special, they can take their wonderful offer of letting me sing a song as a guest on some other program and shove it," said Connors. [4]

Discography

Connors has released music on no fewer than seven different labels. His earliest foray into recording was on the CKGB Timmins radio station label. These 45 RPM singles were pressed by Quality Records in Toronto, and distributed (and paid for) primarily by Tom. A gramophone Quality Records is a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels and also released recordings by Canadian artists His first two albums (and two subsequent 45 RPM singles) were released on the Rebel Records bluegrass label, under the name "Tom Connors".

Most of Connors' well-known albums were released on Dominion Records, and on the Boot Records label that he co-founded with Jury Krytiuk and Mark Altman. His releases on Dominion (and all subsequent releases) were done under the name "Stompin' Tom Connors". Most of the Rebel and Dominion albums would be reissued (and in some cases, re-recorded) under the Boot label, and would represent the bulk of his recorded material. It was released on 33 1/3 RPM record albums, 45 RPM record singles, 8-tracks, and cassette tapes. An album or record album is a collection of related audio or Music tracks distributed to the public This is an article about the 8-track cartridge For eight-track multitracking see Multitrack recording. The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound

After his retreat from the music business in the late 70's, he started the ACT (Assisting Canadian Talent) label in 1986, and released two albums.

All of his subsequent releases (and rereleases) have been through Capitol Records / EMI. Capitol Records is a major United States -based Record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood California and New York City as The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in Most of this work is now available on Compact Disc. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio In recent years, many of his album releases have included at least one re-recording of one of his earlier songs.

Albums

A partial list of his recorded works includes:

Compilations

Footnotes

  1. ^ Connors, Stompin' Tom (1995). Stompin' Tom - Before the Fame. Toronto: Viking Penguin, 490. ISBN 0-670-86487-0.  
  2. ^ Connors, Stompin' Tom (1995). Stompin' Tom - Before the Fame. Toronto: Viking Penguin, 509. ISBN 0-670-86487-0.  
  3. ^ Connors, Stompin' Tom (1995). Stompin' Tom - Before the Fame. Toronto: Viking Penguin, 356-379. ISBN 0-670-86487-0.  
  4. ^ http://www.stompintom.com/whatsnew/snubbed_by_cbc.html "Stompin’ Tom Snubbed by CBC TV" (press release by Brian Edwards, Rocklands Entertainment Inc. , Peterborough Ontario), 2006

External links

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