Two boys born under the northern lights will now have their names forever set in the lights of music stardom - and the feet of passersby in Vancouver.
Gary Fjellgaard and Roy Forbes were two of the first singer-songwriters to hit the national scene out of northern B.C. and after decades of acclaimed performance and composition, these two icons of the area are being inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame. Inductees are immortalized in the permanent display in the foyer of the Orpheum Theatre, and also have a plaque mounted in Vancouver's most popular promenade: Granville Street.
"It definitely is an honour to get that award," Fjellgaard told The Citizen while driving north towards his Cariboo homecountry for a concert tonight in a place befitting the making of history.
"I know my grandchildren are really excited," Fjellgaard said. "Maybe someday they can walk down Granville Street and show their kids. It's also my 80th birthday, and I'm doing a concert in Barkerville at the old Theatre Royal. What better birthday present than getting a star on the Walk of Fame on Granville Street."
Forbes will be personally celebrated next week with a concert at CBC Vancouver's outdoor stage. The Aug. 24 show is part of their Musical Nooner concert series and will bring Forbes's family, friends and fans out to hear him play in that special spotlight.
"I'm tickled and honoured to be rubbing elbows with the current and previous inductees of the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame, including early pioneers like Al Reusch and Fraser MacPherson," said Forbes, who went by the stage name (his childhood nickname) Bim at the start of his career.
Forbes is now a blues-jazz-country-folk crossover star who has produced more than a dozen studio albums (two of them with modern folk supergroup UHF along with Shari Ulrich and Bill Henderson, both of whom are also past inductees, he composed film scores, produced the music projects of other artists, taught songwriting to up-and-comers, and hosts radio shows (Snap Crackle Pop for CBC and Roy's Record Room for CKUA).
Fjellgaard was born in Rose Valley, Sask., but was raised in the Nechako-Fraser Valley. Prince George was his home and the place from which he launched his lauded music career that ended up winning Juno and Canadian Country Music Association awards and landing him in the CCMA Hall of Fame and the BC Country Music Hall of Fame.
Fjellgaard has 17 albums to his credit, including collaborations with Linda Kidder and Valdy in their duo act Contenders. Valdy is a past hall of fame inductee.
Joining Forbes and Fjellgaard in this year's induction class are guitar guru and festival impresario Doug Cox (who was a consultant on the formation of the Prince George Folk Festival that eventually became the Coldsnap Festival), rock band 54-40, theatre director and choreographer Valerie Easton, actor and critic Jerry Wasserman, film producer Kirk Shaw, musical director and performer Diane Lines, and the nighclub ownership duo of Isy and Richard Walters.
The hall of fame has more than 300 members. It is split into two categories.
The StarWalk list includes such luminaries as Michael J. Fox, Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Leon Bibb, Vicki Gabereau, Chief Dan George, Diana Krall, Spirit of the West and Randy Bachman.
The Pioneer list includes William Davis, Tom Lavin, Blu Mankuma, and Lucille Starr who was married to her Canadian Sweethearts duet partner Bob Regan and frequently collaborated with his brother Keray Regan. The Regan brothers were also from Dawson Creek and were inspiration for Forbes in his youth.
