Stompin'Tom Connors

1936-2013

Charles Tom Connors was born on 9 February 1936.  Known by his stage name “Stompin’ Tom,” he was an award-winning Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. He wrote over 600 songs and released more than four dozen albums over the course of his career.  Connors was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. When his mother was jailed for stealing groceries, Connors was put into the care of Children’s Aid, spending a brief period at St. Patrick’s Orphanage in Silver Falls, New Brunswick before being adopted by Cora and Russel Alyward from Skinners Pond, Prince Edward Island. He ran away when he was thirteen and hitchhiked back to Saint John where he worked, attended school, and lived in boarding houses. It was in Saint John where Connors bought his first guitar and began writing songs. At the age of fifteen, Connors began a thirteen-year hitchhiking odyssey across Canada in search of work. It was not until 1964 that Connors’ musical career officially began with a performance at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ontario. Due to poor acoustics at the Maple Leaf and other Ontario hotels where Connors played, he began stomping his foot on the stage to help keep rhythm. Three years later, during a performance at the King George Tavern in Peterborough, Ontario on 1 July 1967, this habit earned him the nickname “Stompin’ Tom”.  In 1967 he released his first album, The Northland’s Own Stompin’ Tom Connors. He won the Juno Award for Male Country Singer of the Year from 1971-1975 and won Best Country Album for his album To It and At It in 1974. He co-founded Boot Records & Morning Music Publishing in 1971 and founded A-C-T records in 1986 with the goal of promoting Canadian artists. St. Thomas University gave Connors an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) in Spring 1993. Connors died on 6 March 2013.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Saint John

Archival Material

• EMI Music Canada
  ⌄
  Location

  University of Calgary Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  F0215-S0001-SS0002

  Date Range of Material

  1969, 1989-2012

  Extent

  approx. 50 cm of textual records

  approx. 107 photographs

  2 negatives

  49 slides

  16 videotapes

  80 videocassettes

  22 films

  14 digital audio tapes

  1 digital video

  13 reel-to-reel

  47 audio cassettes

  5 CD-Rs

  1 poster

  1 plaque

  Scope and Content Note

  The Stompin' Tom Connors files located in the President's Office, Business Affairs, National Promotions, National Marketing, A&R, EMI Canada Head Office Artwork, and EMI Canada 50th Anniversary series include: correspondence with Connors, artist agreements, payments, press clippings and kits, tour itineraries, promo schedules, photographs, videos, production masters, track list and check sheets for albums Connors made with EMI Canada. Also includes a platinum album awarded for sales of over 100,000 unites of A Proud Canadian album.