Ian Tyson Biography, Net Worth, Cause of Death, Wife, Children, Age, Family

Ian Dawson Tyson was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote a number of modern folk songs, including “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon,” and performed as Ian & Sylvia with partner Sylvia Tyson.

Ian Tyson Career

He was born in Victoria to British immigrants and grew up in Duncan, British Columbia. He began playing the guitar while recovering from an injury sustained in a fall as a rodeo rider in his late teens and early twenties. Wilf Carter, another Canadian country artist, has been mentioned as a musical influence.

In 1956, he made his singing debut at the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver, and he was a member of the rock and roll band The Sensational Stripes. In 1958, he graduated from the Vancouver School of Art.

Tyson moved to Toronto after graduation to work as a commercial artist. He began singing in local clubs and occasionally with Sylvia Fricker in 1959.

By early 1959, Tyson and Fricker were performing as Ian & Sylvia at the Village Corner on a part-time basis.

In 1961, they became a full-time musical act and married three years later. They formed and fronted the band The Great Speckled Bird in 1969.

The Tysons, who lived in southern Alberta, toured all over the world. Throughout their time together, the couple released 13 albums of folk and country music.

Tyson hosted The Ian Tyson Show on CTV from 1970 to 1975, which was known as Nashville North in its first season. Sylvia Tyson and the Great Speckled Bird made frequent appearances on the show.

Tyson began working with Calgary music manager and producer Neil MacGonigill in 1980.

Tyson decided to focus on country and cowboy music, which resulted in the well-received 1983 album Old Corrals and Sagebrush, which was released on Columbia Records.

Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. I Outgrew the Wagon, And Stood There Amazed, and Eighteen Inches of Rain were his next cowboy albums.

Tyson credited Adrian Chernowol with developing a distinct sound for his platinum album “Cowboyography,” a style that he maintained throughout his recording career.

On the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version, listeners chose his song “Four Strong Winds” as the greatest Canadian song of all time in 2005. There was a lot of pressure on him to be named the Greatest Canadian, but he fell short. He influenced many Canadian musicians, including Neil Young, who recorded “Four Strong Winds” for Comes a Time.

In 1967, Bob Dylan and the Band recorded “One Single River” in Woodstock, New York. The recording is available on the previously unreleased Genuine Basement Tapes, vol. I.

Tyson’s vocal cords were permanently scarred as a result of a concert at the Havelock Country Jamboree in 2006, followed a year later by a virus contracted on a flight to Denver.

Despite this, he received widespread acclaim for his 2008 album From Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories. He was nominated for Solo Artist of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Tyson was appointed to the Order of Canada in October 1994 and to the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006. Tyson received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2003.

In 1992, he and Sylvia were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 2006, Ian Tyson and Sylvia were inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame, and in the year 1989, he was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ian Tyson Cause of Death

Ian Tyson died on December 29, 2022, at the age of 89, at his ranch near Longview, Alberta. According to his manager, Paul Mascioli, he has a history of health problems, including a heart attack and open heart surgery in 2015.

Ian Tyson Age

He was 89 years old. He was born on September 25, 1933.

Ian Tyson Wife and Children

Tyson had two marriages. Both marriages were annulled.

His first marriage, to his musical partner Sylvia Fricker, ended amicably in 1975. Clay, their son, was also a musician before pursuing a career modifying racing bikes.

After his marriage to Sylvia ended in 1975, Ian returned to Southern Alberta to farm and train horses while also pursuing a limited musical career.

Ian Tyson married Twylla Dvorkin in 1986. Adelita Rose, their daughter, was born around 1987. Tyson’s second marriage ended in divorce in early 2008, after he and Dvorkin had separated for several years.

Ian Tyson Net Worth

Ian Tyson had an estimated net worth of $5 million.