Promoter to Canadian stars pens book
40 years on the road included many memorable trips to the Okanagan Valley
Concert promoter Brian Edwards knew by March 2020 his travelling days were going to be reduced dramatically after the coronavirus pandemic started to spread in Canada.
“I had a pop music tribute group on the road. I had Charley Pride ready to start a Canadian tour and all of a sudden, our plans were turned upside down,” Edwards said from his Peterborough, Ont., office of Rocklands Entertainment.
No one could accurately forecast how long the pandemic would last, so Edwards went to work on a book where he shared the writing with Ed Arnold, an Ontario journalist.
The book, The Promoter, is about the Edwards plunge into a music career that has reached its 40th milestone in 2020. He presented more than 5,000 concerts, touching every Canadian province and at least 35 of America’s states. He travelled more than three million miles.
In tremendous show of trust and loyalty with artists, his lineup of stars has included Wilf Carter, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells and her husband Johnnie Wright, Charley Pride, Tommy Hunter, Frank Mills, Rita MacNeil, Stompin’ Tom Connors and Red Green.
Edwards reached deeply into British Columbia, taking concerts into 36 communities.
“My first visit into the Okanagan was with Kitty Wells and Wilf Carter in 1984. It was a trip I’ll never forget. The night before, a bad snow storm forced us to cancel a show in Saskatoon. We flew to Penticton, sold out two shows the same day in the high school theatre and then turned around and went back to Saskatoon to make up our cancelled date.
“My first trip to Kelowna was in 1992 with Charley Pride. The Kelowna Community Arts Theatre has been a happy home for us. Two of my friends were Walter Gray and Bob Hall, who promoted Country Hoedown concerts shows in years gone by, made enough money to become media moguls in radio and television. Walter was twice elected mayor of Kelowna twice. He was at the last show I did in Kelowna.”
The lessons he learned from the early days have stood him in good stead. Most of shows start at 7 p.m., ideal for the seniors who dominate his crowds. He is usually at the
concession stand before the show and then organizes the autograph sessions with the entertainers afterwards
Edwards enriched his book with much detail about all his associates. But mostly, he examined the unique values, the generosity and the sentimentality of his artists.
Edwards and Pride began working together in 1992 and reached the exclusive stage in 2004. Pride died Dec. 12 at the age of 86. Some of his concerts, scheduled early in 2020, had been rescheduled for November, 2021. “His loss was such a horrible blow to me but when I think back, what a good friend and good man he was,” said Edwards.
“In 1992, Jackie Sharp of Edmonton got caught up in a ticket-selling mix-up and paid $932 for two third balcony seats. Her son wrote to Charley’s website. Charley wasn’t very happy. We made a special trip to Edmonton and I called a media conference outside of the Rexall store where she worked. Charley gave her two front row tickets and an envelope of money to cover what she’d spent and said the system was absolutely wrong. That was Charley, through and through.”
Hunter was a 27-year veteran on Canadian TV and after his show was cancelled by the CBC in May, 1992, he hooked up with Edwards and they toured until Hunter retired from singing in 2012. They’d done over 1,000 shows together.
“We were in Regina one day and a lady fell outside the theatre on her way to the show. After the second show, Tommy went to the hospital where the woman was sitting in the emergency ward, all bandaged up. It
was a magic moment for her. Tommy did that often. Never once did we call the media for publicity reasons. He did so much kind stuff that people didn’t witness.”
Another of the most interesting Canadian characters was Stompin’ Tom Connors, who worked with Edwards from 1998 until he died in March, 2013.
“The Hockey Song was one of his trademarks. When Maple Leaf Gardens closed down in 1999, they asked Tom to sing his song. When Wayne Gretzky went into Hockey’s Hall of Fame, Tom sang again. … At the Gretzky dinner, Tom sang ‘Someone roars, Gretzky scores.’
“One year, Queen Elizabeth came to Canada. Buckingham Palace was a little worried about Tom wearing his back hat in the presence of the Queen. Nobody ever stopped Tom from doing that. He goes into the lineup and whatever the Queen said to him, he just about fell over and the Queen laughed and laughed. Then he told her a joke and she just about fell over. All the while, the hat never left his head.”
Edwards doesn’t know whether any promoter can follow in his footsteps.
“Nobody else will like the long hours, being on the road and sleeping in hotels. They just don’t. They’re not into that. To me, it’s been a great journey. I’ve worked with the greatest people in the world. If we cannot safely return to our industry, I will have no regrets.”
The book is available by calling 1-800-4657829 or visiting rocklandsentertainment.com.