The Billboard Canada FYI Bulletin: Stan Rogers Remembered In New Collection

Stan Rogers Remembered

Stan Rogers is the focus of a new book and 5-disc album collection released on the Borealis imprint, now owned by Linus Ent. Known for songs such as “Northwest Passage,” “The Mary Ellen Carter” and “Barrett's Privateers,” the Canadian folk icon was killed in an air disaster 40 years ago, but his legacy continues with Stanfest, the annual Stan Rogers Folk Festival held in Canso, Nova Scotia, and a Canada Post stamp issued in 2021 in honour of the singer-songwriter who sang about fishers, farmers, explorers and, of course, privateers.

Curiously, he has never been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, Rogers was posthumously named into Canada’s Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The book of sheet music is packaged together with 49 recordings from three albums on five vinyl discs including the re-release of For The Family first issued only months after his passing, and for the ever vinyl edition of his Coffee House to Concert Hall and Home In Halifax. Be warned, the limited 1K-run edition is not inexpensive. On the IDLA website, it rings in at $249.99, on Bandcamp it’s $259.99 and Amazon.ca has it at $289.99.

New Choir Brings Cheer To Kids Suffering The Blues

SING! Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival has implemented a vocal arts program in Toronto to bring kids together with an ensemble of Top Gun vocal coaches. Among them: are Jeannie Wyse and Joseph Angelo from the Randolph Academy. Rev. Latoya Hall-Downer is a gospel vocal artist, minister and choir director, and this past summer Melanie Durant, trained at the Royal Conservatory and collaborator with artists such as Kardinal Offishall, Choclair and Common. Billboard Canada FYI columnist Bill King is one of the orchestrators of the initiative. He narrates the following video.

SOCAN Foundation Names 4th Annual Black Music Award Winners

Created to recognize black music creators in Canada, the annual offers five winners a $10K purse to develop their careers with additional support offered by SiriusXM.

They are:

DVBLM (pronounced “Double M”), a Torontonian with noticeable Caribbean roots.

Liza, an Ethiopian-Canadian working in the neo-soul arena.

Myles Castello, a GTA-based alt-R&B singer.

NAIIM, a Montreal-born artist who blends rap, pop and R&B while embracing his Somaliland and Canadian roots.

Savannah Ré,a three-time consecutive Juno Award winner in the Traditional R&B/Soul Recording category.