Mary Lou Collins

Mary Lou Collins was a St. John’s, Newfoundland vocalist whose career carried her from local radio discovery to national television, major Canadian nightclubs, and the Canadian Talent Library recording catalogue. One of Newfoundland’s early female pop and jazz vocalists to reach a national audience, Collins began singing as a child and was reportedly discovered by VOCM broadcaster Uncle Harry Brown when she was about ten years old. By the mid-1950s she had already made recordings, placing her among Newfoundland’s earliest child recording artists.

Collins developed quickly within the St. John’s music scene, where local jazz musician Ralph Walker was among those who encouraged her early growth as a singer. After exhausting the limited professional opportunities available in Newfoundland, she moved into the mainland Canadian club and television circuit. By the mid-1960s she had relocated to Toronto, where her voice and stage presence quickly attracted attention. Her Canadian television appearances included Juliette, Tommy Hunter, Wayne and Shuster, and CBC variety programming. In 1966 she was featured in CBC’s first colour special, filmed on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition, and she was also seen by American audiences through appearances connected with NBC-TV’s Johnny Carson Show.

Her nightclub work placed her in some of the leading rooms of the period, including the Royal York and Skyline Hotels in Toronto, The Americana in Puerto Rico, The Shoreham in Washington, and The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. She was also booked for the Canadian National Exhibition Grandstand Show, a major showcase that placed her alongside the type of international entertainers who dominated the large-scale variety circuit of the 1960s.

In 1967 Collins recorded her self-titled album for the Canadian Talent Library, issued by RCA Victor as CTL-1086. The album presented her as a polished pop-jazz vocalist, interpreting theatre, film, and popular standards including ‘Walking Happy,’ ‘The Shadow of Your Smile,’ ‘Wish Me a Rainbow,’ ‘If He Walked Into My Life,’ ‘This Is All I Ask,’ and ‘Old Devil Moon.’ Arrangements were by Jimmy Dale and Maury Kaye, with production by Lyman Potts, engineering by Bill Giles, and recording supervision by Johnny Burt. The album was also issued in stereo as CTLS-1086 and later through RCA Camden.

Collins also recorded for CBC Radio Canada’s transcription service. Her CBC Radio Canada LM 28 material, recorded with the Ricky Hyslop Orchestra, included ‘I Will Wait for You,’ ‘Yesterday,’ ‘Small World,’ ‘Quiet Room,’ ‘My Cup Runneth Over,’ and ‘If I Fell.’ The session shows her range beyond the Canadian Talent Library album, placing her voice in a broadcast setting with one of CBC’s most accomplished orchestral arrangers and conductors.

Although her recorded catalogue appears to be small, Mary Lou Collins occupied an important place in the Canadian entertainment world of the 1960s. She bridged Newfoundland’s local radio era, Toronto’s nightclub and television scene, CBC variety programming, and the national transcription networks that carried Canadian performers across the country. Her surviving recordings document a singer with a clear, controlled voice and a repertoire rooted in jazz, theatre song, and sophisticated popular standards.

-Robert Williston