Eleanor Collins Honoured with Stamp
Canada Post will unveil a postage stamp in honour of acclaimed Canadian jazz singer Eleanor Collins, Friday, January 21, at 10:00am PST. Collins was among one the first class of BC Entertainment Hall of Fame StarWalk inductees when the Hall was established in 1992.
Friday’s event will pay tribute to Collins’ life and career as an artist, musician and mentor with testimonials from people she influenced, as well as some she worked and performed with. Collins will also make an address.
You will be able to tune into the live stream on Canada Post’s YouTube channel here.
An in-person event was planned, but due to recent changes in health and safety protocols, the tribute will take place online.
Collins is set to take part along with special guests who were influenced by and worked with her, including Nalda Callender of the National Congress of Black Women Foundation, filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton, and musicians Sharman King, Marcus Mosely and Wendy Solloway.
“She’s a legend,” said Bronwyn Graves, Canada Post’s director of stamp services. “If you know anything about jazz music in Canada, then you know Eleanor Collins. She’s remarkable. Her music is timeless.
“Not only was she a consummate professional and an incredible musician, she also broke ground. She was featured on a CBC radio show in the 1940s, (and) she was the first female jazz artist ever to host a national television show.”
Her legacy isn’t just in Canada. When The Eleanor Show made its debut on CBC June 19, 1955, she became the first Black host on TV in North America.
Source: Vancouver Sun
On her 95th birthday in 2014, Collins was invested into the Order of Canada for being “a civic leader and pioneer in the development of British Columbia’s music industry.”
StarWalk Inductee, 1992: Eleanor (Elnora Ruth) Collins (nee Procter) was born in Edmonton on November 21st, 1919. At 15 she won an amateur contest in Edmonton and subsequently sang with Joe Macelli’s dance band, with the Three ‘E’s, and on CFRN radio. She moved in 1938 to Vancouver and performed during the 1940s on CBC radio with a gospel group, the Swing Low Quartette, and with Ray Norris’ jazz quintet. After a brief retirement 1948-52 she appeared at TUTS in Finian’s Rainbow in 1952 and 1954 and Kiss Me Kate in 1953 and made her TV debut in 1954 on CBC Vancouver’s ‘Bamboula’.
Often compared to Lena Horne, Collins was for many years Vancouver’s leading jazz and blues singer. She was the first woman and jazz singer to headline a show on national TV. She starred on CBC TV’s ‘The Eleanor Show’ (1955), ‘Blues and The Ballad’ (1960), ‘Quintet’ (1962), and ‘Eleanor’ (1964). She also sang on other CBC TV and radio variety shows, in clubs, and in concert, with Chris Gage, Lance Harrison, Doug Parker, and Dave Robbins. Collins recorded with Ray Norris (RCI 57 and 58) in 1951 and appeared on CBC broadcast albums by Gage and Robbins in the 1960s.
In later years she performed occasionally in concert and on TV – notably for Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in 1975, and at Jazz City in 1980. Eleanor Collins is a truly distinguished artist.
