Charlie Chamberlain (14 July 1911 in
Bathurst, New Brunswick
Bathurst () is a city in northern New Brunswick with a population of 12,157 and the 4th largest metropolitan area in New Brunswick as defined by Census Canada with a population of 31,387 as of 2021. The City of Bathurst overlooks Nepisiguit Ba ...
, Canada – 16 July 1972) was a featured entertainer on
Don Messer's Jubilee, which ran from 1957 through 1969 on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
.
He died in Bathurst, New Brunswick, the town where he was born, only two days after his 61st birthday. At the time, he had been appearing with Don Messer on independent TV station
CHCH-TV
CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero (company), Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
, who picked up the show for some four years after it was cancelled by the CBC in 1969.
Life
Chamberlain's mother became a widow early on, and to support her around the home, he began working in the lumber woods at the age of eight. Despite his young age, he was an extroverted individual, eager to entertain in that environment.During WWI, he allegedly sang to the soldiers on passing trains. While riding a train himself, a friend of Don Messer's heard Charlie singing, and put him in touch with the fiddler who was looking for a vocalist. Charlie Chamberlain performed pretty much exclusively with Messer for the rest of his career.
Chamberlain is most often recalled as an incredible character, a huge man with huge appetites, who was notoriously generous, and quite freely shared his money with friends and neighbours. During the sixties, when
Don Messer's Jubilee was one of the highest rated TV shows in Canada, Charlie also worked pumping gas at a service station in Lakeside, NS.
Career
Chamberlain was known as Messer's "Singing Lumberjack," and his vocal work is featured on many of the albums released by ''
Don Messer and His Islanders''. Chamberlain is remembered as a showstopper, famed for his signature bowler hat and shillelagh.
Discography
Solo records
* Charlie Chamberlain Sings Irish Songs, Apex, AL1619
* With My Shillelagh Under My Arm (LP), Point Records, P-319
Collaborations with Marg Osburne
* By Request Favorite Sacred Songs with Marg Osburne And Charlie Chamberlain, Rodeo Records, with
Marg Osburne.
* They Never Grow Old, Point Records, P-318 MG-251-252, 1967.
* ''Favorite Sacred Songs''. 1970. Rodeo RO6M-1267
* ''Beyond the Sunset''. 196?. Point Records
* ''They Never Grow Old''. 1973. MCA Coral
* ''He: Songs Of Reverence: Volume 2.'' 196?. Apex
* ''Best of Marg and Charlie''. 1973. MCA Coral, CBT 35006
Awards
* Inducted into the
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
* Recipient (posthumously) of the ECMA
Stompin' Tom Connors
Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, Order of Canada, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country music, country and folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited wi ...
Award.
References
External links
Charlie Chamberlain at CCMA Hall of FameIsland Lives – Charlie Chamberlain on PEI
*http://www.islandlives.ca/fedora/repository/ilives%3A85365-p_101/OCR/OR
*https://www.discogs.com/artist/2390349-Charlie-Chamberlain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Charlie
1911 births
1972 deaths
Musicians from Bathurst, New Brunswick
Canadian country singers
20th-century Canadian male singers
Singers from New Brunswick