Peter & Mary (Peter Jansen & Mary Kingsley)

Websites:  https://www.peterandmary.net/index.php
Origin: St. Albert, Alberta, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Show stylists like Peter and Mary don't come along every day. Featuring their impressive talents as singers and multi-instruments in a wide variety of formats, the popular entertainers have packed houses around the world. They've gained a solid reputation for their vibrant theme-based shows, and have been offered return engagements at virtually every venue they've ever performed.

Boasting a repertoire that numbers an estimated 3500 songs, Peter and Mary make audiences everywhere feel right at home, continually adding regional songs from along their extensive travels to their dynamic shows, each specially tailored for both children and their families and for more mature audiences.

Peter and Mary's association goes back many years, when both were managing successful independent careers in the U.K.

Peter's first professional band was a 7-piece rock, rhythm & blues combo that drew rave reviews for its groundbreaking sound as it toured throughout the U.K. A singer-saxophonist by the name of Davey Jones (later to become David Bowie) fronted the group. He went on to tour with the N.A.T.O. forces in Europe, performing with stars such as Bob Hope, Allan Sherman, Dakota Staton, the Supremes and the Shirelles. He formed a number of groups over the years, from country bands featuring six-part vocal harmonies to folk duos, jazz ensembles, and more. His many credits include a stint writing and performing jingles for the 'pirate' Radio Caroline, transmitted from a ship anchored off the U.K. coast. Peter has recorded multiple sessions as a solo artist and as leader of various groups.

Mary's career began as a singer-guitarist, performing at folk clubs in Southwest England. She went on to sing in cabarets, production shows, theatrical sketches and children's shows, and performing pantomime with touring theatre companies as both Leading Lady and Principal Boy. Mary has also taught sports and coordinated variety shows, as well as extensive work as a resident commre. In between seasonal contracts, Mary performed club dates at home and in Germany, appearing solo and with her backing band.

The spring of '74 found Peter and Mary performing in Bermuda at the same time. They found themselves sitting in on one another's gigs on their nights off, finally deciding to team up on a permanent basis and relocating to Canada in 1975.

Since that time the two have built a long list of performance credits, including festivals, trade fairs, community concerts, conventions, major resort hotels, and multiple cruise-ship contracts. They have released two popular CD's, Flying High for Kids, and Sweet Rocky Mountains.

In recent years the two have taken their music to young audiences in classroom settings, presenting shows with musical themes that cover topics such as Canadian history and environmental friendliness.

Peter & Mary a genuinely desire to foster communication through themselves and their music with different peoples of the world. Deeply involved with fund-raising projects for orphans and others in the slum areas of Nairobi, Kenya, they have visited the area and performed for the children. The two also contribute their time and energy to self-help projects teaching irrigation and basic agriculture in Third World countries, and have presented a series of fund-raising concerts under the auspices of the Canadian Hunger Foundation in Ottawa.

Avid environmentalists, for a period of 15 years the two organized Canada's largest environmental festival, the annual Earth Day Festival in Edmonton, Alberta. The project is still close to their hearts.

It is possible that you may have already heard the music of Peter & Mary. From the rocky coast of Newfoundland to the calm of Vancouver Island, across the British Isles, throughout Europe and in Kenya, Africa, over the pond to the the island of Bermuda, and throughout North America, their story has been one of continuous successful appearances and return engagements for this popular duo.

It may have been at the arrival of H.M. the Queen and Prince Philip for the Alberta Centennial, during the Canada Day celebrations in Fairmont, or at the First Night festival in Edmonton. It might have been at a Medieval banquet in 15th Century costumes at the Banff Springs Hotel, or in 20's attire complete with banjos and a '26 Model T at Edmonton's Klondike Days. Perhaps it was during cocktails at Minaki Lodge in Northern Ontario, for an evening of wild Irish/English party music, or maybe at Expo '86 in Vancouver.

It could have been at a Trade Fair in Fox Creek or on the mainstage at Whoop-Up Days in Lethbridge, or perhaps you saw their strolling musical act in Montana or Idaho at a summer fair. Was it in Las Vegas at the International Ventriloquists Festival, or in New Orleans with a Traditional Jazz band? Or maybe at one of their inspiring school performances, or one of many community concerts to headline a 'fun' night with Peter & Mary.

You might have seen one of their evenings of international music at the famous Royal York in Toronto, or one of their ethnic concerts featured as part of Cultural Festivals from coast to coast.

Their popular recordings of both original and other music frequently receive airplay on the more discerning of radio stations, while their faces are familiar to many television viewers.