Ian Tyson

Ian Dawson Tyson CM, AOE (born 25 September 1933 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for his song "Four Strong Winds". A rodeo rider in his late teens and early twenties, he took up the guitar while recovering from an injury 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, "The Sensational Stripes." After graduation from the Vancouve... more

Ian Dawson Tyson CM, AOE (born 25 September 1933 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for his song "Four Strong Winds". A rodeo rider in his late teens and early twenties, he took up the guitar while recovering from an injury 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, "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 as "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 toured all over the West. In 1989 he was inducted into the Canadian Country Music... less