Salome Bey (October 10, 1933 – August 8, 2020)While ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' gives her year of birth as 1939, other sources say she was born in 1933 or 1944. was a U.S.-born Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and actress who lived in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, from 1966. In 2005, she was made an honorary Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 2022 she was honoured by Canada Post with a commemorative postage stamp for her contributions to Canadian music and theatre.

Biography

Born to a middle-class black family in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Bey formed a vocal group with her brother

Andy Bey Andrew Wideman Bey Jr. (October 28, 1939 – April 26, 2025) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Bey had a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice. Raised in Newark, New Jersey,Adler, David R"Andy Bey" ''JazzTimes'', April 25, ...

and sister Geraldine Bey (de Haas), known as Andy and the Bey Sisters, performing in local clubs and touring North America and Europe. After moving to Toronto in 1964 and playing the jazz club circuit, she became known as "Canada's First Lady of Blues". Bey appeared on Broadway in '' Your Arms Too Short to Box with God'', for which she was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for her work on the cast album. She put together a blues & jazz cabaret show on the history of black music, ''Indigo'' – which earned her the

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

for outstanding performance. The show was later taped for TV networks. Bey recorded two albums with

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

, and released live albums of her performances with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

. She was part of the Canadian supergroup Northern Lights which performed the charity single " Tears Are Not Enough" in 1985. Bey can be seen in the music video for the song singing the line "Every woman, child and man" with Mark Holmes of Platinum Blonde and

Lorraine Segato Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956, in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to ...

The Parachute Club The Parachute Club was a Canadian band formed in Toronto in 1982. They released three top 40 hits in Canada between 1983 and 1987, including "Rise Up", "At the Feet of the Moon" and "Love Is Fire" (which featured guest duet vocals from John O ...

. She received the Toronto Arts Award for her contributions to the performing arts in 1992, and the

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Award for lifetime achievement from the

Black Theatre Workshop Advert, date=July 2019 Black Theater Workshop (BTW) is a non-profit theater company headquartered in Montreal. It is one of the most enduring Black English-speaking professional theater companies in Canada. It was founded by Clarence Bayne and Art ...

of Montreal in 1996. Beginning in her early sixties, Bey began showing signs of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. As of 2011, her illness had progressed to the point that she could no longer perform. Bey was a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.

Personal life and death

She married Howard Berkeley Matthews on April 7, 1964; he was most noted for partnering with Dave Mann, Archie Alleyne and

John Henry Jackson John Henry Jackson (1938 - December 11, 2018) was an American-Canadian football player and restaurateur.Morgan Campbell"John Henry Jackson was a quarterback, restaurateur and pioneer" ''Toronto Star'', December 13, 2018. Football career Born in ...

in The Underground Railroad, a

soul food Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...

restaurant in Toronto. They had three children, including the singer

SATE Satay ( , in the US also ), or sate in Indonesia, is a Javanese dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. Satay originated in Java, but has spread throughout Indonesia, into Southeast Asia, Europe, America, and be ...

, formerly known as Saidah Baba Talibah, and singer/performance artist Jacintha Tuku Matthews (tUkU). Matthews died in August 2016 at the age of 80, and Bey died August 8, 2020, at the age of 86.John R. Kennedy
"Canada's First Lady Of Blues Salome Bey Dies"
''

iHeartRadio Canada Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc.. The company owns stations across the countr ...

'', August 9, 2020.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Salome 1933 births Canadian people of African-American descent American emigrants to Canada 20th-century Black Canadian women singers 20th-century Canadian women singers Canadian blues singers Canadian women jazz singers Canadian jazz singers Canadian gospel singers Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Members of the Order of Canada Singers from Toronto Singers from Newark, New Jersey 2020 deaths Black Canadian actresses 21st-century Black Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers