Marg Osburne

Marg Osburne
Marg Osburne
Background information
Birth name	Verna Marguerite Osburn
Also known as	The Girl from the Singing Hills
Born	(1927-12-29)December 29, 1927 Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Died	July 16, 1977(1977-07-16) (aged 49) Rockland, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Country Music, Gospel Music, Folk music
Occupation(s)	Singer-Songwriter Vocalist
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1945 – 1977
Labels	Apex Records, Coral Records (Canada), Point Records, ARC Records (Canada), Rodeo Records, Banff Records, Marathon Records, OAK Country Music, Condor
Associated acts	Don Messer

Marg Osburne (December 29, 1927 – July 16, 1977) was a Canadian country, folk and gospel singer. Recipient (posthumously) of the ECMA Stompin' Tom Connors award.

History

She was born in Moncton, New Brunswick and received her vocal training as a member of a community choir. When she was 17 her cousin made her a bet that she did not have the nerve to answer a newspaper advertisement for a female vocalist for CKCW in Moncton. Osburne answered the ad and got the job. Osburne explained in a later interview that she took the job because she "needed money to go to the Movies"

Don Messer was travelling through Moncton in 1947 and heard Osburne singing on CKCW, billed as “The Girl From the Singing Hills”. He hired her immediately to fill in for Charlie Chamberlain who was recovering from an automobile accident.

Don Messer and His Islanders were then broadcasting on CFCY out of Charlottetown, PEI thrice-weekly beginning in 1939 and the show was broadcast nationwide by the CBC.

Osburne and Chamberlain quickly became popular performers on the show and on records. The group toured each summer mounting a national tour in 1967 as part of Canada's Centennial, playing 66 shows across the country.^[1] Osburne's folk and gospel solos were also very popular and her records sold well.

1956 brought about the first appearance of The Islanders on television when CFCY radio launched CFCY-TV. When Messer made the move to Halifax in 1958, most of the band followed - including Osburne. From being occasional TV guests, the band began a summer series called The Don Messer Show on August 7, 1959 as a replacement for Country Hoedown^[2] broadcast on CBC television. The show continued in the fall as Don Messer's Jubilee. Osburne remained with the show throughout the 1960s, winning a wide audience across the country as one of the show stars, and enlarging her fan base dramatically.^[2]

After Messer died in 1973, Osburne began a second successful career as a nightclub singer, and she was extremely popular in the Western Provinces and Territories of Canada. During this period she had three hit songs for Jack Boswell's Marathon label, "Albert County Soil", "Falling Leaves", and "Blues Comin' 'Round". "Falling Leaves" is also the only song she wrote herself.

Death

Osburne continued to perform until July 16, 1977, when she collapsed during a concert in Rockland, Ontario and died before she reached the hospital, exactly five years after Charlie Chamberlain's death. She was 49 years old.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

• Sellick, Lester B., Canada's Don Messer, Kentville Publishing Co, Kentville, NS, 1969
• Large, Betty Rogers and Crothers, Tom "Out of Thin Air", Applecross Press, Charlottetown, PEI, 1989.
• Encyclopedia of Music in Canada - article on Don Messer and His Islanders, author Richard Green