Ian (Dawson) Tyson. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, rancher, born Victoria, British Columbia on 25 September 1933; honorary D LITT (Athabasca) 1993, honorary LLD (Calgary) 2001. A rodeo rider when he was in his late teens and early 20s, he took up the guitar while recovering from an accident he sustained in a fall. He made his singing debut at the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver in 1956 and played with a rock 'n' roll band by the name of The Sensational Stripes. After graduation from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958, Tyson moved to Toronto, 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 under the name of Ian and Sylvia. The pair became a full-time musical act in 1961 and married four years later. In 1969 they started performing as The Great Speckled Bird. Residing in southern Alberta, Tyson tours all over the west. 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 that same song for American V: A Hundred Highways (2006). Judy Collins recorded a version of his popular song, Someday Soon, in 1969.
A tribute CD to Ian Tyson, The Gift, was released in 2007 on Stony Plain Records featuring "Someday Soon" done by Doug Andrew with Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar (Buddy played in Great Speckled Bird), "Four Strong Winds" recorded by Blue Rodeo, plus another 13 of Tyson's best known songs done by major folk and country artists.
He has a son, Clay, himself a performer, from his marriage to Sylvia Fricker Tyson.
In Paul Brandt's song "Alberta Bound", he makes a reference to Ian Tyson singing a lonesome lullaby.
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