Tommy Hunter obit

Tommy Hunter, 'Canada's Country Gentleman,' dead at 89

Celebrated musician died Thursday of natural causes, manager confirms

 

He was not on the list.

"Canada's Country Gentleman" Tommy Hunter, the celebrated musician whose professional career spanned from the 1950s into the early 2010s, has died.

The singer and guitarist died Thursday of natural causes, entertainment promoter and manager Brian Edwards confirmed to CBC News.

Hunter was 89.

Born on March 20, 1937, in London, Ontario, Hunter got an early start as an entertainer. He began taking guitar lessons at around nine years old, which soon led to him booking gigs, playing in churches and eventually landing on the radio.

He joined CBC's Country Hoedown in 1956 as a rhythm guitarist before making his biggest mark: hosting The Tommy Hunter Show, which debuted as a radio show before transitioning to television. That series ran for 27 years, going off the airwaves in 1992.

A mainstay in the Canadian broadcast and music landscape, its near-three decade run was among the most successful in North America — and even extended to U.S. viewers via a Nashville Network syndication.

Throughout its history, it attracted the star-powered names of Gordon Lightfoot — who had earlier made his mark as a dancer on Country Hoedown — along with Loretta Lynn, Anne Murray and Johnny Cash.

Hunter's early-career finds also helped build what would later become household names: including Garth Brooks, a 14-year-old Shania Twain (then known as Ellie Twain) and even CBC's The World This Hour longtime anchor Tom Harrington as a child.

Larry Mercey credited much of his group's success to appearances on The Tommy Hunter Show. He was a member of the Mercey Brothers, a Juno-winning Canadian country group active for 30 years until 1989.

"Tommy Hunter was a very great country show," he told CBC News, "and he really helped a lot of careers, there's no doubt about it."

He said he would miss Hunter.

"I think he was loved across the country, really," he said. "He was very much loved in the country music scene."

Hunter toured across Canada

Both before and after The Tommy Hunter Show concluded, Hunter toured across the country; most notably with his backup band, The Travellin' Men — a name borrowed from his show's theme song, Travellin' Man.

But when CBC cancelled his TV program, he was devastated. In an interview with CBC News decades later, he recalled how television executives told him over dinner that they would be ending The Tommy Hunter Show with a series of specials.

"I didn't hear 'specials,' all I heard was [that] they're going to cancel the show," he said. "I felt like I had failed, the whole thing. What did I do wrong?"

But it wasn't the end for Hunter. He continued to perform until his 75th birthday in 2012, ending his professional career with a long farewell tour. After stops across the country, he played the final concert in his hometown.