Stompin' Tom Connors Biography Home | add famous canadian | edit person

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Tom's youngest years were spent living hand-to-mouth with his mother, until he was taken from her and placed in the care of the Children's Aid. From there, he was adopted into the Aylward family of Skinner's Pond, PEI, where he lived until he began his hitchhiking career at the age of 15.

Tom traveled to almost every corner of Canada throughout the next 13 years - from the rocky coastline of Newfoundland to the arctic desolation of the Yukon - and a hundred thousand points in between. He could rarely be found without his guitar; even when he had a "real" job (which never lasted long), he would still write and sing songs about the people he met and the places he visited.

Money was a scarcity for Tom during this period in the 1950's and early 1960's; it may also have been his big "break", when he found himself a nickel short of a beer at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ontario. The bartender, Gaet Lepine, agreed to give Tom a beer if he would play a few songs. These few songs turned into a 13-month contract to play at the hotel, a weekly spot on the CKGB radio station in Timmins, eight 45-RPM recordings, and the end of the beginning for Tom Connors.

Tom's recording career picked up in 1969 when he signed with Dominion Records; over the next two years, he released 6 original albums, a compilation album, and a 5-album set of traditional music. He subsequently left Dominion Records to help form Boot Records - a company that would see 10 more original albums by Tom and a myriad of recordings from many other Canadian artists.

The album "Gumboot Cloggeroo", released in 1979, would be Tom's last. In a fit of frustration and disappointment, Tom returned all six of his Juno Awards, as a statement of protest against the Americanization of the Canadian music industry. This began Tom's self-imposed exile from the music industry - a music industry that would not embrace his homespun and fiercely patriotic brand of music.

Tom has never been a quitter; his dogged persistence and spirit to succeed rose in 1986 with his formation of A-C-T Records - a new label that would record and promote Canadian music. Tom began touring and releasing records again in 1988, and his signing with EMI Canada would eventually allow for the complete re-release of his entire catalogue of music. Tom would also receive the Order of Canada, an Honourary Doctorate of Laws from St. Thomas University, the key to the city of Peterborough, Ontario, and countless other honors.

To date, Tom has put out 20 albums of original material, several children's books, an autobiography (with a second-one coming), a movie, a television series, and countless memories for the Canadians that he has touched with his verses of Canada.

A partial list of his recorded works includes:

• 1967 The Northlands' Own Tom Connors
• 1969 On Tragedy Trail
• 1970 Bud the Spud and Other Favourites
• 1970 Stompin' Tom Meets Big Joe Mufferaw
• 1970 Merry Christmas Everybody
• 1971 Live at the Horseshoe
• 1972 My Stompin' Grounds
• 1972 Love & Laughter
• 1973 Stompin' Tom and the Hockey Song
• 1973 To It and at It
• 1974 Across This Land with Stompin' Tom Connors [live]
• 1974 Stompin' Tom Meets Muk Tuk Annie
• 1975 The North Atlantic Squadron
• 1975 The Unpopular Stompin' Tom Connors
• 1976 Stompin' Tom at the Gumboot Cloggeroo
• 1985 Stompin' Tom Is Back to Assist Canadian Talent
• 1994 Fiddle and Song
• 1995 Stompin' Tom and the Moon Man Newfie
• 1995 Northlands Zone
• 1995 The Unpopular Stompin' Tom Connors
• 1996 More of the Stompin' Tom Phenomenon
• 1996 Once Upon a Stompin' Tom
• 1997 Believe in Your Country
• 1997 Long Gone to the Yukon
• 1997 The Confederation Bridge
• 2002 An Ode For The Road
• 2004 Stompin' Tom & The Hockey Mom Tribute

    Compilations

• 1971 The Best of Stompin' Tom Connors
• 1972 Stompin' Tom Connors Sings 60 Old Time...
• 1973 Northlands Zone
• 1976 Stompin' Tom Sings 60 More Old Time Favorites
• 1978 Pistol Packin' Mama
• 1978 Bringing Them Back
• 1990 A Proud Canadian
• 1993 Dr. Stompin' Tom, Eh?
• 1993 K.I.C. Along with Stompin' Tom
• 1998 25 of the Best Stompin' Tom Souvenirs
• 2001 And the Moon Man/Unpopular
• 2001 Sings Canadian History
• 2006 Live Concert (DVD)