Shirley Matthews (1942 – January 2013) was 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 ...

pop singer. Matthews sang in a church choir and at high school dances prior to embarking on a career in music. She worked in a

Bell Telephone The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundre ...

office while singing nights at the Club Bluenote in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

.Shirley Matthews
in the Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia Her debut single, "Big Town Boy", was a major hit in Canada in 1964, selling over a million copies. She won the

RPM Gold Leaf Award Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1964. Later singles failed to duplicate "Big Town Boy"'s success. "Big Town Boy" debuted on 1050 CHUM in Toronto on 2 December 1963, the same day as

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' "

She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded by English rock band the Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record i ...

". In 1967, she married, taking the name Shirley Vedder, and quit the music industry, eventually becoming the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of a chain of

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

and sports fitness clubs. On January 8, 2013, Matthews died in Toronto, Ontario.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Shirley 1942 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Black Canadian women singers Canadian women pop singers People from Essex County, Ontario