Ian Tyson is one of Canada’s great folk, and later country, music heroes.
A rodeo rider and graphic artist as a young man, he took up the guitar during a time of recovery from an injury. He went on to have a career that has spanned seven decades.
Tyson sang his first concert in the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver in 1956, when he was a member of the band the Sensational Stripes. After moving to Toronto to work as a graphic artist, Tyson began performing with Sylvia Fricker – later Sylvia Tyson – and the two formed the duo Ian & Sylvia, which went on to perform together for more than 15 years, releasing 13 albums of both folk and country music and touring all over the world.
Following their divorce, Tyson hosted a national television program in Canada, the Ian Tyson Show, which was also known as Nashville North. At this time Tyson gave up his folk roots, moving over to country music.
In 1989, Ian Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
SING THE NORTH are performing a version of Four Strong Winds that was arranged for SATB chorus and piano by composer and publisher, Dr Larry Nickel, owner of Cypress Choral Music, who also publish Four Strong Winds.