Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan performing at Winterlude 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.
Background information
Birth name	Murray Edward McLauchlan
Born	(1948-06-30) June 30, 1948
Origin	Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Genres	Country, Folk, Rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1972–present
Labels	True North Capitol

Murray Edward McLauchlan, CM (born June 30, 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.

Biography

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he immigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old. At 17, he began playing at coffeehouses in Toronto's Yorkville area and later attended Central Tech as an art student before deciding to become a full-time musician. He is best known in Canada for his Canadian smash hits "Farmer's Song" and "Down by the Henry Moore", which was about a sculpture in front of Toronto's city hall, where students met in the '60s and early 1970s. McLauchlan has had success in the pop, adult contemporary, country, and folk-music fields, with such songs as "Child's Song," the Juno Award-winning "Farmer's Song" (1973), "Hurricane of Change" (also 1973), "Do You Dream of Being Somebody" (1975), and "Whispering Rain" (1979).

In 1987, McLauchlan appeared on the children's television show, Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show singing his Juno-Award-Winning Farmer's Song. He appeared in Season 4 of The Elephant Show on the "Urban Cowboy" episode.

McLauchlan hosted the highly rated CBC Radio program Swinging On a Star from 1989 to 1994.^[1]

McLauchlan has held a commercial pilot license (CPL) with Instrument flight rating (IFR) and endorsements for multi-engine aircraft and seaplanes for decades. During a performance in the 1980s, McLauchlan commented to audiences, half-jokingly, of "giving this music thing a little more time" ^[2] before giving it up and returning to flying for a living.

In the late 1990s, McLauchlan was flying commercial airplanes as a "bush pilot" in Northern Canada. In 1986 he starred in a television special called Floating over Canada, in which he piloted a Cessna 185 float plane across Canada.^[1] This special was broadcast on U.S. public television on PBS, as well as in Canada on CBC.

In 2004 McLauchlan helped form a group known as "Lunch At Allen's" featuring McLauchlan, Marc Jordan, Cindy Church and Ian Thomas. Formed as a result of meeting in Toronto for lunch at Allen's restaurant after McLauchlan's heart bypass surgery. Three CDs have been released as a result of this collaboration: Lunch at Allens (2004), Catch the Moon (2007) and More Lunch at Allens (2010).

During the summer of 2016, he was performing with singers Marc Jordan, Cindy Church and Ian Thomas in the group Lunch At Allen's, in a number of towns and small cities in Ontario, Canada.^[3]

Awards

McLauchlan has won 10 Juno Awards throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and been nominated for a total of 23 Juno awards.

In 1993, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

In 1998, Penguin (Viking Books) released his autobiography The Ballad of Murray McLauchlan: Getting Out of Here Alive.

In 2001, McLauchlan was the recipient of the National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards held in Toronto.^[4]

McLauchlan will be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in September 2016.^[5]

Family

He is married to Denise Donlon and they have a son, Duncan (b. March 1992).

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• Canadian rock
• Music of Canada

References

1. 1 2 Murray McLauchlan - The Canadian Encyclopedia
2. ↑ Festival of Friends concert at Gage Park, Hamilton, Ontario
3. ↑ Doolan, Susan (June 10, 2016). "Lunch At Allen's brings talented musicians back to Barrie". Barrie Examiner. Barrie Examiner. Retrieved June 13, 2016. Their approach to a concert is like a band, not as a singer-songwriter event. They all play on each others’ songs and sing and harmonize together. 
4. ↑ https://www.socan.ca/about/awards/2001-socan-awards
5. ↑ "The CCMA Announces 2016 Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees". Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016. 

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Murray McLauchlan.

• Murray McLauchlan at The Canadian Encyclopedia