Eric Nagler

Eric Nagler (born June 1, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American-born musician and television personality known primarily for his work on Canadian children's television series such as The Elephant Show.

Biography

Initially, Nagler was a folk musician in the United States, and in 1966 he marched through Mississippi with Martin Luther King Jr., encouraging people to register to vote.^[1] He married fellow musician Martha Beers in 1966 and due to their opposition to the Vietnam War they moved to Toronto in 1968, Nagler as a conscientious objector to the war. In 1972, Nagler returned to the United States to stand trial for draft evasion; he was acquitted.^[1] Around 1971, Eric and Martha owned a guitar/folk-music store on Avenue Road in Toronto called the Toronto Folklore Centre. The couple divorced in 1977. Nagler was remarried to Shelley McCarthy in 1985 and according to his personal website currently resides near Shelburne, an hour north of Toronto, Ontario, and home of the Annual Canadian Championship Fiddling Contest.

In 1991–1996, he had a children's TV show called Eric's World, which aired on the Canadian provincial networks (TVOntario, Knowledge Network, SCN, and Access) and Family Channel.

Instruments

Nagler plays a variety of instruments, often homemade or improvised, in the skiffle style. In addition to common traditional instruments such as the banjo and fiddle, and singing, he uses simple instruments such as washboard, spoons, jaw harp, and slide whistle (and provides instructions on making them on his record Fiddle Up a Tune), together with more exotic instruments, such as the psaltery. Most unusual is his "Sewerphone", made of 10 feet of ABS plastic and the agitator from a clothes washer, and functions similarly to a tuba, as described in his "My Lovely Sewerphone" (Come On In! 1985).

Awards and recognition

• 1982: Award for Excellence, American Library Association for the album Fiddle Up a Tune
• 1986: nomination, Juno Award for Best Children's Album, Come On In
• 1990: nomination, Juno Award for Best Children's Album, Improvise with Eric Nagler
• 1994: nomination, Juno Award for Best Children's Album, Can't Sit Down
• 1995: nomination, Juno Award for Best Children's Album, Eric's World Record

Discography

This is a partial listing

• 1971: contributed to High Winds, White Sky by Bruce Cockburn
• 1973: The Gentleness in Living (Swallowtail)
• 1977: A Right and Proper Dwelling (Philo)
• 1982: Fiddle Up a Tune (Elephant) (producer Paul Mills)^[2]
• 1985: Come On In (Elephant) (producer Paul Mills)^[2] – nominated for Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year in 1986
• 1989: Improvise with Eric Nagler (Oak Street/Rounder) – nominated for Juno Award of 1990
• 1992: Can't Sit Down – nominated for Juno Award of 1994
• 1994: Eric's World Record – nominated for Juno Award of 1995

Filmography

• 1984–1988: The Elephant Show
• 1991–1996: Eric's World

Bibliography

• 1989: Eric Nagler makes music, co-writer Diana Buckley (McGraw-Hill Ryerson) ISBN 0-07-549777-8

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eric Nagler.

• Eric Nagler official website
• Eric Nagler at the Internet Movie Database
• Julia M. Rubiner, ed. (2006). "Nagler, Eric". eNotes.com: Contemporary Musicians vol. 8. Thomson Gale. Retrieved 2007-07-08. 
• Come On In!, review of disc