No Clowning Around In Honouring Pat Silver's Achievements

By David Farrell

Earlier this month, Toronto-based music impresario Pat Silver posted the following on Facebook:

“I'm being honoured in my hometown of Clayton, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis), being inducted at the Clayton Education Foundation Hall of Fame in on April 24 and 25. My high school produced many luminaries. Past honourees include Pulitzer Prize winners, Emmy winners, Broadway and TV producers, many consultants to U.S. Presidents, a contributor to the New England Journal of Medicine, and TV personality/Vice-President of Bravo, Andy Cohen.  I assume that I'm being recognized for my career in music.”

Her announcement immediately generated over 200 congratulatory responses, which is hardly surprising given the roots she has set down in the live and festival music scenes since she moved to Canada, from the US, in 1971.

She holds degrees in Music and Broadcasting, and her career includes serving as a radio and television producer, heading publicity and promotion at the CBC FM Radio, performing in orchestras and bands, producing and writing four albums (including one that achieved Gold), writing a best-selling book, heading her own talent agency, nominally managing two a cappella groups (Countermeasure and Beth Sholom Ruach Singers), co-founding and co-managing SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival (with son John-Michael Erlendson, BSc, MEng ) and, to the great amusement of those who know her, being a professional clown. 

She is currently vacationing in Mexico where she is teaching English to the staff where she is staying.

Eight Days A Week is not a song in her repertoire, but it captures the drive this Clayton Education Foundation Hall of Fame inductee shows in every waking moment of her life.