Colleen Susan Peterson (November 14, 1950 – October 9, 1996) was a Canadian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

and folk singer, who performed both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Quartette.

Career

Peterson began performing in coffeehouses in Ottawa in 1966. She won an RPM Gold Leaf Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1967 and, in 1968, joined Bruce Cockburn, David Wiffen, Richard Patterson and Dennis Pendrith in a later version of the folk band 3's a Crowd. She then joined the band TCB that recorded an album on the

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

label. She left after that. In 1970, she was cast in the Canadian production of '' Hair''. She subsequently moved to Kingston in 1971, forming the band Spriggs and Bringle with Mark Haines. She then relocated to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

in 1974, and released her first solo album, ''Beginning to Feel Like Home'', in 1976. She had a hit single on the '' Billboard'' country charts with "Souvenirs", and won a Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1977. Following her 1978 album ''Taking My Boots Off'', Peterson did not record new material for several years, although she appeared on two albums by the

Charlie Daniels Band Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Dev ...

in 1980 and 1981. She continued to perform, however, touring with

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1 ...

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and

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, a ...

, hosting television specials and appearing on ''Spirit of the Country'' and ''

The Tommy Hunter Show Thomas James Hunter, CM, O.Ont (born March 20, 1937) is a Canadian country music performer, known as "Canada's Country Gentleman". Career In 1956, he began performing as a rhythm guitarist on the CBC Television show, '' Country Hoedown''. ' ...

'', and working as a backing vocalist for

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

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, Janie Fricke and

Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before beginning work as ...

. Artists such as

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, Ronnie Prophet and

Sylvia Tyson Sylvia may refer to: People * Sylvia (given name) *Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive *Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cred ...

also recorded Peterson's songs. In 1986 Peterson released the single "I Had It All", which was a hit on the Canadian country charts and launched the most successful phase of her career. She released the album ''Basic Facts'', her first in ten years, in 1988, and had a string of ten hits, including "No Pain, No Gain", which hit No. 1 on the Canadian country charts in 1991. In 1993, she joined Tyson,

Caitlin Hanford Caitlin Hanford is an American and Canadian country and bluegrass singer and a music teacher. She is a member of the group Quartette and also the band The Marigolds.Cindy Church Cindy Church (born 1958) is a Canadian country and folk artist. Church released three studio albums on Stony Plain Records and was nominated for Best Country Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1995 and 1996. She is also a member of the award ...

for a one-off concert at Toronto's Harbourfront, and the four later also appeared together on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined belo ...

's '' Morningside'' and on '' A Prairie Home Companion'' in the United States. Due to favourable audience response to the collaboration, they continued to work together, adopting the name Quartette and releasing their first album in 1994."Quartette brings Christmas to Morinville"
. ''St. Albert Gazette'', November 25, 2015 Anna Borowiecki

Death

Peterson toured and recorded with Quartette until 1996, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Unable to perform with the band during her cancer treatment, she chose her friend and collaborator

Gwen Swick Gwen may refer to: * Gwen (given name), including a list of people with the name * '' Gwen, or the Book of Sand'', a 1985 animated film * Gwen (film), a 2018 horror film * Tropical Storm Gwen, several storms with the name Acronyms * AN/URC-117 ...

to fill in for her, and died in Toronto on October 9 of that year. She is buried in Little Lake Cemetery in Peterborough, Ontario.

Tributes

Peterson was inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995. Additionally, she was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2003, the

Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award The Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award is an annual Canadian award, presented to the year's best song by an emerging singer-songwriter from Ontario in the genres of roots, traditional, folk and country music. The award, created in memory of Canad ...

, an award for young emerging songwriters, was created in her memory. In 2004, her friend and songwriting partner Nancy Simmonds worked with several musicians to produce a new album, ''Postcards from California'', from unreleased demos she had recorded with Peterson in the early 1990s.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External Links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Colleen 1950 births 1996 deaths Canadian women country singers Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners Musicians from Peterborough, Ontario Deaths from cancer in Ontario Quartette (band) members 20th-century Canadian women singers