Toby Dancer
Toby Dancer | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Adrian Chornowol |
| Born | 1953 |
| Origin | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | 9 July 2004 Toronto |
| Genres | classical music, country, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | record producer, pianist, arranger |
| Instrument(s) | piano |
| Years active | 1975–1990 |
| Formerly of | the Chinook Arch Riders |
Toby Dancer (1953 – 9 July 2004, Toronto) was a Canadian pianist and music producer, best known for her production and stylistic influence on Ian Tyson's Cowboyography and I Outgrew The Wagon albums.
Life[edit]
Dancer was born as Adrian Chornowol to Ukrainian-Canadian Edmonton Symphony Orchestra musician Walter Chornowol. Toby was a musical child prodigy, playing piano in Edmonton's Harmony Kids store aged 10.[1]
Toby tied her career to music, becoming a music director of a local country music show Sun Country, a music arranger, and playing piano in her sibling's (who later also transitioned to female[1]) jazz band.[2] She became a member of Ian Tyson touring band The Chinook Arch Riders,[3] and later produced his two albums, being credited by him as the person who "brought a unique sound to the album [Cowboyography] (...) We never captured that sound again".[1][4][5]
Toby was a victim of stabbling in her Rossdale home by two First Nations[5] people in 1989, and the same year received Cowboyography gold record certification with knife scars still visible under sunglasses.[6] Some time later she moved to Vancouver, where she started social transition under a new name (apparently rejecting the idea of SRS). During that time her heroin and morphine addiction started.[1][5]
Around six years before her death, Toby arrived sober and homeless in Toronto's Parkdale Activities and Recreational Centre, where she performed together with the centre's social worker and drummer Zepheniah James.[7] She also became a music director and choir leader of Emmanuel Howard Park United Church, after confiding in her situation and identity with the church's reverend Cheri DiNovo. She died aged 51 of an accidental drug overdose.[1]
In her memory, a 2012 bill (proposed by then MPP DiNovo) which amended the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity in protected categories was dubbed Toby's Act.[8][9] Toby is also commemorated by a stained glass window in Roncesvalles United Church.[9]
Discography[edit]
All discography pre-transition and credited under deadname.
- Liam Clancy – Farewell To Tarwaithie, 1975 (instruments)
- Tim Feehan – Sneak Preview, 1981 (instruments)
- Ian Tyson – Old Corrals & Sagebrush, 1983 (writing and arrangement)
- Ian Tyson – Ian Tyson, 1984 (writing and arrangement)
- Stewart MacDougall – Clean Slate / Up To Me, 1985 (production)
- Ian Tyson – Cowboyography, 1986 (instruments, production, writing and arrangement)
- Gabrielle Bujold – C'est Bien Toi, 1987 (production)
- Gabrielle Bujold – Seule à rêver, 1988 (instruments, production, writing and arrangement)
- Gabrielle Bujold – Private & Confidential, 1988 (production)
- Gabrielle Bujold – Après Lui, 1988 (production)
- Bob E. Lee West and The Mainstreet Band – This Old Freight Train / You're Just A Call Away, 1988 (production)
- Gordon Cormier & Loretta Cormier – Headin' Home, 1988 (instruments)
- Ian Tyson – Old Corrals And Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics, 1988 (writing and arrangement)
- Ian Tyson – I Outgrew The Wagon, 1989 (instruments, additional vocals)
- Ian Tyson – Irving Berlin (is 100 yrs old today), 1989 (production)
- Big Miller And The Blues Machine – Live At Athabaska University, 1990 (instruments)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Catherine Dunphy (2004-12-03). "Toby Dancer, 51: Musical genius died a drifter". thestar.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-23. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
- ^ STUDENT 1981 March. Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK). Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK). 1981-03-01.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Nicks, Joan; Sloniowski, Jeannette (2006-01-01). Slippery Pastimes: Reading the Popular in Canadian Culture. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-88920-666-3.
- ^ Cusic, Don (2011-07-29). The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles. McFarland. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-7864-6314-5.
- ^ a b c Tyson, Ian (2010-10-19). The Long Trail: My Life in the West. Random House of Canada. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-307-35937-7.
- ^ Saturday Night, Volume 104, Issues 7–12. New Leaf Publications. 1989. p. 85.
- ^ DG (2023-03-14). "Meet Zepheniah James". Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre | PARC. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
- ^ "FLASHBACK: Passage Of Toby's Act, A Historic Achievement For Ontario's Trans Community (June 19, 2012)". IN Magazine. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
- ^ a b "Excerpt: Cheri DiNovo's 'The Queer Evangelist'". www.tvo.org. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
External links[edit]
- Toby Dancer discography at Discogs
- 1953 births
- 2004 deaths
- Canadian classical pianists
- Canadian jazz pianists
- Canadian country musicians
- Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
- Canadian women record producers
- Canadian transgender women
- Canadian transgender musicians
- Transgender women musicians
- LGBT record producers
- Homeless people
- Accidental deaths in Canada
- Drug-related deaths in Canada
- 20th-century Canadian LGBT people
- 21st-century Canadian LGBT people