Information/Write-up
Freshly transferred from a pristine original pressing on April 16, 2025 - an opportunity to experience Joyce Sullivan’s timeless voice as it was meant to be heard.
Toronto vocalist Joyce Sullivan was a defining figure in Canada’s mid-century broadcast music scene, celebrated for her warm, mellow, and superbly controlled mezzo-soprano voice. A versatile performer across classical, folk, spiritual, and jazz-pop genres, she became a familiar presence on CBC radio and television throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
Born Joyce Anna Solomon on July 4, 1929, in Toronto, she grew up in a musical household and began singing at community events as a child. She later studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music under renowned soprano Emmy Heim, and earned a music scholarship to the University of Toronto.
Her national profile began to rise in the late 1940s when she joined the acclaimed Leslie Bell Singers, with whom she performed from 1947 to 1954, appearing as a mezzo-soprano soloist in numerous concerts and broadcasts, including a 1951 CBC radio performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Her early exposure also included a coast-to-coast live CBC broadcast from a Toronto church choir, which helped launch her solo career.
By the early 1950s, Sullivan was a regular voice on Canadian radio. She was featured on Mr. Showbusiness with Jack Arthur and hosted her own popular music programs on CBC Radio. Her early television work included guest appearances on CBC’s Showcase between 1952–54 and 1956–57, eventually co-hosting the program alongside Robert Goulet from 1957 to 1959. In 1960, she was named host of a new CBC Radio program, Talk of the Town, further cementing her position as one of the network’s most trusted performers.
Sullivan’s versatility extended to acting, with television credits including Kraft Theatre, Scope, and I Spy. She also performed live at the Royal Canadian National Exhibition Grandstand Show and sang with society orchestras at Toronto’s top hotels.
In 1956, she collaborated with baritone Charles Jordan on Folk Songs of Canada (Hallmark CS-3), a pioneering exploration of traditional Canadian repertoire. She later contributed to the Canadian Folk Songs: A Centennial Collection (1967, RCI/RCA), one of the most ambitious folk music anthologies released in the country.
During the 1960s, Sullivan was a featured soloist with the Carl Tapscott Singers, contributing to the Columbia LP Great Hymns of All Time (1961) and RCA Victor’s Hymns for All Seasons (1964). These recordings highlighted her sensitive interpretations of spiritual and hymn-based material and became fixtures on Canadian religious radio programming.
In 1965, she released her first solo LP, The Songs of Joyce Sullivan, on the Canadian Talent Library (CTL). The album featured twelve of her favorite romantic ballads, arranged and conducted by Johnny Burt, Pat Riccio, and Wally Wicken. Each brought a distinct orchestral style—from Burt’s lush mood arrangements to Wicken’s show-tune flair—while Sullivan’s vocal performances displayed emotional range and technical finesse. Tracks like “Speak Low,” “Say It Isn’t So,” and “You’ll Never Know” showcased her ability to move seamlessly between jazz-inflected torch songs and more intimate pop standards.
She recorded once more in 1968 for the CBC LM Transcription Series, again with Johnny Burt conducting. Though not commercially available, this LP is considered among her finest studio efforts, offering a polished and mature portrait of her voice during her final recording years.
By the early 1970s, Sullivan had largely retired from professional performance, focusing on her family and life on the farm she shared with her husband, writer-actor John “Jack” Scott, and their four children. Though her work is often overlooked due to the limited circulation of CBC and CTL releases, Joyce Sullivan left behind a distinguished legacy—one that helped shape Canadian broadcast music in its golden age.
-Robert Williston
Joyce Sullivan: vocals
Orchestration by Johnny Burt, Pat Riccio and The Wally Wicken Quartet
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