Gryfe, Barbara

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Origin: Toronto, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Barbara Gryfe: A Canadian Sunshine Pop Prodigy

Barbara Gryfe was a Toronto-born vocalist whose youthful poise and early acclaim led to one of the most endearing sunshine pop albums ever produced by CBC Records. A natural performer from a young age, Gryfe began singing professionally at age 11, appearing alongside British entertainer Tessie O’Shea in A Christmas Carol. At 13, she won a city-wide singing contest at Massey Hall for the United Appeal, besting over 500 contestants. She also took top honors in Richard Tucker’s Search for Talent contest.

Throughout the 1960s, Gryfe became a familiar presence on CBC radio and television, appearing regularly on programs such as Juliette, Malka and Joso, In Person, The Russ Thompson Show, Alarm Clock, and Afternoon Show. In 1968, at the age of 16, she performed Ottawa songwriter John Marier’s “Colours of the Rainbow” at the inaugural CBC Song Market national finals. The song won top prize and helped propel her to further prominence.

The following year, still only 17, Gryfe recorded her debut album What the World Needs Now, released jointly on CBC and Dominion. Produced by Dave Bird and engineered by Ian Jacobson, the album featured rich orchestral arrangements by Rick Wilkins. What the World Needs Now offered Gryfe’s interpretations of soft-pop standards by Bacharach & David, Jimmy Webb, Jackie Trent & Tony Hatch, and others, along with selections in Hebrew — a nod to her cultural roots. While critics noted that her voice was more soothing than sensational, the album’s lush arrangements and heartfelt tone earned it cult status among collectors, prompting a 2018 reissue on 180-gram vinyl by Majikbus Entertainment, along with a co-operative full feature at CitizenFreak.com.

The album includes three Hebrew-language selections: “Evening in Roses (Arif Shosha Shoneem)”, “Jerusalem of Gold”, and “Reunion With The Reserves”, making it a rare example of a Canadian pop release integrating liturgical and cultural repertoire. Among its most significant tracks is “Colours of the Rainbow,” the same composition Gryfe had performed to win the CBC Song Market the year before.

In early 1971, Barbara Gryfe was listed among the initial artists signed to Boot Records, the newly launched label created by Jury Krytiuk. Alongside acts like Stompin’ Tom Connors, Stevedore Steve, and Humphrey and the Dumptrucks, she was positioned for continued recording — and in 1972, she released a duet single with Irish vocalist Sean Dunphy, backed by The Hoedowners. Issued as Boot 2706, the 7-inch featured “The Great White Horse” backed with “Sunday Morning Christian”, marking her final known commercial release.

As of a 2009 obituary for her mother, Barbara was noted to be living in Israel, continuing her life and presumably her musical practice away from the spotlight. Her brief recording career remains preserved through What the World Needs Now and her Boot Records single — a youthful, string-laden gem from the golden age of Canadian broadcasting.
-Robert Williston