Sylvia Tyson

Biography

Sylvia Tyson, (née Fricker; born 19 September 1940) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and broadcaster. She is best known as part of the folk duo Ian & Sylvia, with Ian Tyson. Since 1993, she has been a member of the all-female folk group Quartette.

Early life

Tyson was born Sylvia Fricker in Chatham, Ontario, the second of four children. Her father was an appliance salesman for the T. Eaton Company, and her mother was a church organist and choir leader. At a young age Fricker decided to become a singer. Although her parents tried to discourage her from pursuing a career as an entertainer, she left Chatham in 1959 to perform in Toronto.

Ian and Sylvia

From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson. The two met after a friend of Ian's heard her sing at a party and let Ian know about her. Ian had been performing in Toronto clubs as a solo artist, but after he and Fricker met, they decided to work together as a duo. Their full-time collaboration began in 1961 and continued for a decade. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she and Ian Tyson also fronted the country rock band Great Speckled Bird.
Sylvia Tyson wrote her first and best-known song "You Were on My Mind×You Were on My Mind1989 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracksA1Pepere's Mill3:20A2Slow-moving Heart3:55A3Rhythm of the Road3:25A4Walking on the Moon3:45A5Thrown to the Wolves3:05A6The Night the Chinese Restaurant Burned Down5:35B1You Were on My Mind3:03B2Sleep on My Shoulder2:35B3Trucker's Cafe2:55B4River Road3:15B5Last Call4:15B6Le Moulin a Pepere3:20B7Reprise0:50" in 1962. It was recorded by Ian & Sylvia in 1964. The song has been covered extensively, but first became a hit single in the mid-1960s for the San Francisco-based folk-rock band We Five, and also for the British pop singer Crispian St. Peters.
Fricker married Ian Tyson on 26 June 1964. During their years together, they recorded 13 albums.
The Tysons were divorced in 1975. During their marriage, they had one child, Clayton Dawson Tyson.

Later career

After the Tysons separated and stopped performing together in 1975, Sylvia started a solo career. She released two albums on Capitol Records, Woman's World in 1975 and Cool Wind from the North×Cool Wind From the North1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Good Old Song3:18A2Cool Wind From The North3:05A3Poor Old Rose3:51A4Tumble-Down Woman1:50A5River Road3:56B1Poor Fool3:22B2In My Hour Of Darkness2:40B3I Can't Learn To Love You (All Over Again)3:06B4Honey Hair2:46B5Love Is A Celebration3:03 in 1976. In 1978, she established an independent record label, Salt Records. With the label she released the albums, Satin on Stone×Satin on Stone1978 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Piece Of My Heart3:51A2Sweet Survivor3:13A3May You Never3:18A4Pleasure Cruise2:50A5Close To The Bone4:08B1Richland Woman4:07B2Green Rocky Road3:58B3Love Is A Fire3:12B4Woman In Love2:51B5Boatman Row4:03B6Flower Child3:20 in 1978 and Sugar for Sugar in 1979.
Sylvia Tyson contributed offstage to the Canadian music scene as a board member of FACTOR and the Juno Awards. With Tom Russell, she was an editor of the 1995 anthology And Then I Wrote: The Songwriter Speaks (ISBN 9781551520230). In 2011, she wrote her first novel, Joyner's Dream.
Sylvia joined Ian to sing their signature song "Four Strong Winds" at the 50th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival on 11 July 2010 in Orillia, Ontario.
In 2012, Tyson and singer-songwriter Cindy Church wrote a campaign song for the Alberta Party, a centrist political party in Alberta.
On 3 November 2023, at the age of 83, Tyson released what she states is her last album, titled At the End of the Day×At The End of The Day3 November 2023 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Sweet Agony3:392I Never Got Over You3:023Leaves in the Storm3:024Not Quite Rain2:505Now Tell Me That You've Got the Blues3:316Long Chain of Love4:037Generous Heart4:198Cynical Little Love Song3:029No Crowd, No Show3:3810Angels in Troubled Times3:5511At the End of the Day3:3912Janet's Garden3:15. It would earn her an eighth and final Juno Award nomination in 2025, in the category of Traditional Roots Album of the Year.
She confirmed her retirement in 2025, and said that her all-female country-folk supergroup Quartette had decided to call it quits in 2024, after working together for 30 years.

Awards and recognition

Sylvia Tyson was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994.
She was nominated eight times for a Juno Award, the first being in 1987 as Country Female Vocalist of the Year. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame inducted Ian & Sylvia as a duo in 1992. In 2003, Sylvia Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
In July 2019, it was announced that Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame individually, not as a duo. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said that "the duo's 1964's hit, Four Strong Winds, has been deemed one of the most influential songs in Canadian history". The CBC report also referenced the song You Were on My Mind, written by Sylvia Tyson, as well as her four albums (1975–1980).
Tyson was inducted into the Chatham-Kent Cultural Hall of Fame in 2022.