Sylvia Tyson

Sylvia Tyson, CM (born 19 September 1940) is a Canadian musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster.[1] She is best known as part of the folk duo Ian and Sylvia, with Ian Tyson. Since 1993, she has been a member of the all-female folk group Quartette.[2][3]

Tyson was born Sylvia Fricker in Chatham, Ontario.[4] She was the second of four children;[5] her father was an appliance salesman for the T. Eaton Company, and her mother was a church organist and choir leader.[6] At a young age Fricker decided to become a singer; although her parents tried to discourage her from pursuing a career as an entertainer, she left Chatham in 1959 to perform in Toronto.[5]

From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson.[7][8] The two met after a friend of Tyson heard her sing at a party and let Ian know about her; Tyson had been performing in Toronto clubs as a solo artist, but after he and Fricker met, they decided to work together as a duo.[9] Their full-time collaboration began in 1961 and would continue for a decade.[10] From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she and Ian Tyson also fronted the country rock band Great Speckled Bird.