26 Facts About Ian Tyson

Ian Dawson Tyson was born on 25 September 1933, in Victoria, British Columbia to George and Margaret Tyson.

Ian Tyson's father George was an insurance salesman and polo enthusiast who emigrated from England in 1906.

Ian Tyson took up the guitar while in hospital recovering from a broken ankle sustained in a rodeo accident.

Ian Tyson graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958.

From 1970 to 1975, Tyson hosted a national television program, The Ian Tyson Show, on CTV, known as Nashville North in its first season.

In 1980, Ian Tyson became associated with Calgary music manager and producer Neil MacGonigill.

Ian Tyson decided to concentrate on country and cowboy music, resulting in the well-received 1983 album Old Corrals and Sagebrush, released on Columbia Records.

In 1989, Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ian Tyson has been a strong influence on many Canadian artists, including Neil Young, who recorded "Four Strong Winds" for Comes a Time.

In 2006, Ian Tyson sustained irreversible scarring to his vocal cords as a result of a concert at the Havelock Country Jamboree followed a year later by a virus contracted during a flight to Denver.

Ian Tyson was nominated for a 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award for Solo Artist of the Year.

The album includes a song about Canadian hockey broadcasting icon Don Cherry and the passing of his wife, Rose, a rare Tyson cover written by Toronto songwriter Jay Aymar.

Sylvia joined Ian Tyson to sing their signature song, "Four Strong Winds", at the 50th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival on 11 July 2010, in Orillia, Ontario.

Ian Tyson has written a book of young adult fiction about his song "La Primera", called La Primera: The Story of Wild Mustangs.

In 1978, Neil Young recorded "Four Strong Winds", and Ian Tyson used the royalties for a down payment on a cattle and horse ranch.

Ian Tyson started playing regularly at Calgary's Ranchman's Club around this time.

In 2018, Ian Tyson made concert appearances in British Columbia and Alberta.

Ian Tyson's website indicated that in 2019, he was to make two concert appearances, one in Calgary and the other in Bragg Creek, Alberta.

Ian Tyson died at his ranch near Longview, Alberta, on 29 December 2022, at the age of 89.

Ian Tyson became a Member of the Order of Canada in October 1994 and was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006.

In 2003, Ian Tyson received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

Ian Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, with Sylvia, in 1992.

Ian Tyson was inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame, with Sylvia, in 2006.

Ian Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.

The song "Four Strong Winds", written by Ian Tyson, was named as the greatest Canadian song of all time by the CBC-Radio program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version in 2005.

The album is titled after a song of Ian Tyson's, which itself is a tribute to Charles Marion Russell.