Ian Dawson Tyson was born in Victoria on September 25, 1933, was raised in Duncan B.C. He made his singing debut at the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver in 1956 playing with a rock and roll band, The Sensational Stripes. He graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958.

He was a rodeo rider most of his teens into his early 20s, seeing him take up the guitar while recovering from an injury he sustained from a fall and truly never looked back. After graduation, Tyson moved to Toronto where he began a job as a commercial artist. There he performed in local clubs and in 1959 began to sing on occasion with Sylvia Fricker. By early 1959 Tyson and Fricker were performing part-time at the Village Corner as Ian & Sylvia. The pair became a full-time musical act in 1961 and married three years later.

Then in 1969, Ian and Silvia formed and fronted the group The Great Speckled Bird while residing in southern Alberta and toured all over the world releasing 13 folk-rock and country albums. From 1970 to 1975, he hosted a national television program, The Ian Tyson Show, on CTV, known as Nashville North in its first season. Ian divorced Sylvia in 1975 and returned to Southern Alberta to farm and train horses but also continued his musical career on a limited basis. He was an iconic singer-songwriter whose significant contribution and influence changed the path of country music history.

Ian will forever be remembered as a passionate parent to son Clayton Dawson Tyson who was born in 1966, and to his daughter, Adelita Rose, who was born in 1987, and will be fondly acknowledged as a music pioneering troubadour with a strong influences on many Canadian folk-rock artists, including Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Doug Andrew, Buddy Cage, Paul Brandt, Brett Kissell, Blue Rodeo, and Neil Young; just to name but a few, that has much success recording his “Four Strong Winds” plus, you can’t forget Someday Soon and You Were on My Mind among the other 13 of Tyson’s best-known songs which were also recorded by major folk and country artists.

Four Strong Winds was deemed one of the most influential songs in Canadian history, and named the greatest Canadian song of all time. Songs, Navajo Rug and Summer Wages were also recognized as Western Writers of America’s Top 100 Western Songs of all time.

Tyson was a Member of the Order of Canada, Alberta Order of Excellence, and The Governor General’s Performing Art Award recipient. Further, was an inductee into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, The Canadian Music Hall of Fame, The Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, was a recipient of the Charles M. Russell Heritage Award, and the legendary Mariposa Hall of Fame.

Tyson was also an Author of well-known young adult fiction books, and his memoir, The Long Trail: My Life in the West. In recent years, the musician struggled with a voice lost to a cyst on his vocal chords, one he recovered sufficiently to record the album Carnero Vaquero in 2015, and in 2017, Tyson, released a single, You Should Have Known.

Sadly, Tyson died at his ranch near Longview Alberta, on December 29, 2022, at the age of 89. According to his manager Paul Mascioli, he suffered from several ongoing health issues, including a heart attack and open heart surgery back in 2015.

Godspeed, and much love to his family and fans worldwide.