Eleanor Collins (born Elnora Ruth Procter; November 21, 1919) is a Canadian jazz singer, television host and civic leader. She is known as the Canadian First Lady of Jazz.

Early life

Elnora Ruth Procter was born on November 21, 1919, in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta. Her parents were of Black and Creole Indian heritage and were originally from the state of Oklahoma. They were drawn to the area by a 1906 advertisement to purchase a quarter section () of land for $10, among more than 10,000 black homesteaders who did so. As a girl, she sang and played hymns, religious songs, and anthems, and was involved in Shiloh Baptist Church in Edmonton, a congregation formed by those recent immigrants.

Music and media career

At age 15, she won a talent contest in Edmonton. She then sang with Joe Macelli's dance band, and the Three Es, and on CFRN. In 1938, she relocated to Vancouver and began performing with the Swing Low Quartette, a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

group that consisted of Collins, her sister, Ruby Sneed, along with Edna Panky and Zandy Price. They performed on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

from 1940 through 1942. In 1945, she began singing with Ray Norris' jazz quintet on ''Serenade in Rhythm'', also on CBC Radio; a program that ran for several years and was broadcast to troops overseas. After a brief retirement from 1948 through 1952 she appeared at Theatre Under the Stars in '' Finian's Rainbow'' in 1952 and 1954 and ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-stag ...

'' in 1953, and in a staging of '' You Can't Take it With You''. In 1954 she began on the CBC Vancouver TV program ''Bamboula: A Day in the West Indies'', marking the first interracial cast in Canada, and the first variety series produced in Vancouver. She was invited by CBC to star in ''The Eleanor Show'', that ran from June 19 to September 11, 1955, making her the first woman, first person of colour, and first jazz singer to headline a show on national TV, predating the '' Nat King Cole Show''. That was followed by ''Blues and the Ballad'' and ''Eleanor Sings the Blues'', both in 1960, ''Were You There?'' in 1961, and ''Quintet'' in 1962. She starred in her second television program, ''Eleanor'', that aired from February 1 to March 2, 1964, with the Chris Gage Trio providing musical backup. She also appeared on many radio and television programs through the 1960s and 70s on both CBC and CTV, remaining in Canada despite offers to move to the U.S. In addition to singing on TV and radio variety shows, she performed in clubs and in concert with Chris Gage, Lance Harrison, Doug Parker and Dave Robbins. Often compared to Lena Horne and

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, she recorded with Ray Norris in 1951 and appeared on CBC broadcast albums by Gage and Robbins in the 1960s. The only recordings she made were for the CBC. She continued to perform through the 1970s, was a music director at the local

Unity Church Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is an organization founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in 1889. It grew out of Transcendentalism and became part of the New Thought movement. Unity is known for its '' Daily Word'' devotional publi ...

, and performed for Canada Day celebrations in 1975, before 80,000 spectators on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

. In later years she performed occasionally in concert and on TV including at the Jazz City International Jazz Festival in Edmonton in the 1980s and on ''Jazz Canada'' with the Tommy Banks orchestra and the ''Jazzland'' radio program. She later sang at the Vancouver nightclub Richard's on Richards with saxophonist

Fraser MacPherson John Fraser MacPherson CM (10 April 1928 – 27 September 1993) was a Canadian jazz musician from Saint Boniface, Manitoba. MacPherson moved to Victoria, British Columbia, as a child. He learned piano, clarinet, and alto and tenor saxophones ...

and took part in a tribute show for longtime CBC Vancouver's ''Hot Jazz'' host Bob Smith, and in a January 2016 memorial service for Leon Bibb. She has also performed with Dizzy Gillespie,

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...

and Phil Nimmons.

Civic life

She married Richard Collins in 1942 and remained married for 70 years. Together they moved to

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

in 1948 with her four children, Rick, Judith, Barry and Tom. As the only black family in the neighbourhood, her neighbours started an unsuccessful petition to prevent them from moving in. Her children were bullied at school. Collins in turn, volunteered at the school and began teaching music to

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

. The family was included in the video documentary ''Hymn to Freedom: The History of Blacks in Canada'' in 1994. She moved to Surrey in the early 1990s. She was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

on her 95th birthday: November 21, 2014, and reached her 100th birthday in 2019.

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

honoured her with a commemorative stamp on January 21, 2022.

Honours

* Distinguished Centennial Pioneer Award – 1986 *

BC Entertainment Hall of Fame The BC Entertainment Hall of Fame in Vancouver was founded on 24 July 1992 to honour British Columbians that have made outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Star Walk inductees are featured with a plaque on the Walk of Fame on ...

Star – 1992 * BC Black Historical Society Award * Alberta Black Cultural Research Society Award * ACTRA Sam Payne Award – 2006 *

– 2014 * Black Canadian Awards Lifetime Achievement Award – 2014 * Commemorative stamp – 2022

References

External links