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Stompin’ Tom Connors was a prolific music maker almost until the end of his life, say two of the men who will eulogize him at a public memorial next Wednesday.
Connors, who died Wednesday at the age of 77 at his Halton Hills, Ont., home, last toured in August 2011 and released his last album,
in September 2012. His long-time tour promoter Brian Edwards, who first met him as a fan when he was just eight years old before their professional relationship began in 1988, said Connors told him he’d been suffering from “the fatigue syndrome” for the last four or five years.
But when Edwards visited Connors at his home two weeks ago he could tell he was close to dying.
“What prepared me for it more than anything was his attitude towards the whole thing,” he said. “You go to sit down with somebody, very rarely, do they start to working out funeral arrangements. He helped me prepare when I was in the middle of talking to a guy that knew exactly what he wanted and had his wits about him, that certainly helps. He had an attitude, ‘ I have no problem with dying. Don’t you sweat it ’cause everything’s going to be fine.’ I found it very uplifting. I left my house thinking I was going to be on my hands and knees and I left with a totally different attitude completely.”
Former music EMI Music Canada president Deane Cameron, said he last spoke to Connors last week and knew the end was near.
Cameron, along with Edwards, Adrienne Clarkson and Ken Dryden, will be among those delivering eulogies at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.