Albert William "Al" Simmons, (born September 5, 1948) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

children's performer from Anola,

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He began performing in the 1970s and later made guest appearances on Fred Penner's television show as well as ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. He tours regularly across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He has recorded several albums for children and won a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

in 1996. Simmons worked as a

gas jockey A filling station attendant or gas station attendant (also known as a gas jockey in the US and Canada) is a worker at a full-service filling station who performs services other than accepting payment. Tasks usually include pumping fuel, cleaning ...

steelworker Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and clerk before becoming an entertainer. He started performing in amateur shows and volunteering his services for benefit concerts. He formed a comedy/rock band called Out to Lunch and then a comedy/folk band, Kornstalk, before venturing out on his own again as a musician and

prop comic Prop comedy is a comedy genre in which performers use humorous objects, or conventional objects in humorous ways. The stages and films term "prop", an abbreviation of "property", refers to any object an actor handles in the course of a performance ...

. His best-known act was the Human Juke Box: "two bits a laff." Simmons has released three CDs, ''Something's Fishy at Camp Wiganishie'', ''Celery Stalks at Midnight'', and ''The Truck I Bought From Moe'', each of which won Parents' Choice honours and were nominated for Juno awards. ''Celery Stalks'', an ode to vaudeville, won the 1996 Juno Award for Best Children's Album. His illustrated children's book ''Counting Feathers'' was short-listed for the McNally-Robinson Book of the Year in 1997. He received a Cable Ace Award nomination for his music video "I Collect Rocks," which is also the title track of his DVD. He also voiced the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

-winning 1985 animated short, '' Get a Job''. In 1997, he wrote a song about

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

mascot

Mr. PG Mr. PG is a mascot for and monument in Prince George, British Columbia. He was first constructed in 1960 as a symbol of the importance of the forestry industry to the city. He currently stands at the junction of Highway 97 and Highway 16. He is 8. ...

. Al married Barbara Freundl in 1976. They have three sons, Karl, Will, and Brad.

References

External links

Al Simmons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Al Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year winners Canadian children's musicians Living people Musicians from Winnipeg Members of the Order of Manitoba 1948 births