Toby Dancer

Toby Dancer
Born
Adrian Chornowol

1953
OriginEdmonton, Alberta, Canada
Died9 July 2004[citation needed]
Toronto
Genres
  • Classical
  • country
  • jazz
OccupationsMusic producer, pianist
InstrumentPiano
Years active1975–1990
Formerly ofThe Chinook Arch Riders

Toby Dancer (1953 – 9 July 2004, Toronto) was a Canadian pianist and music producer, best known for her work on Ian Tyson's albums Cowboyography and I Outgrew The Wagon.

Life

Dancer was born as Adrian Chornowol to Ukrainian-Canadian Edmonton Symphony Orchestra musician Walter Chornowol. Dancer was a musical child prodigy.

Dancer was the music director of local country music show Sun Country; she was also a music arranger and played piano in her sister's jazz band. She became a member of Ian Tyson's touring band The Chinook Arch Riders, and later produced two of his albums.

Dancer was the victim of a stabbing in her Rossdale home by two people in 1989; the same year, she received Cowboyography's gold record certification with knife scars still visible under sunglasses. Some time later she moved to Vancouver, where she started socially transitioning, using a new name (she apparently rejected the idea of gender-affirming surgery). During that time her heroin and morphine addictions started.

Around six years before her death, Dancer was sober and homeless; she moved to Toronto, attending the Parkdale Activities and Recreational Centre, where she performed with the centre's social worker and drummer Zepheniah James. She also became the music director and choir leader of Emmanuel Howard Park United Church, led by reverend Cheri DiNovo. She died aged 51 of an accidental drug overdose.

A 2012 bill (proposed by then-MPP DiNovo) which amended the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity in its protected categories was dubbed Toby's Act in her honour. She is also commemorated by a stained glass window in Roncesvalles United Church.

Discography

All of Dancer's discography was made before her transition and she is credited under her deadname.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dunphy, Catherine (3 December 2004). "Toby Dancer, 51: Musical genius died a drifter". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  2. ↑ STUDENT 1981 March. Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK). 1981-03-01.
  3. ↑ Nicks, Joan; Sloniowski, Jeannette (2006-01-01). Slippery Pastimes: Reading the Popular in Canadian Culture. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-88920-666-3.
  4. ↑ Cusic, Don (2011-07-29). The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles. McFarland. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-7864-6314-5.
  5. 1 2 3 Tyson, Ian (2010-10-19). The Long Trail: My Life in the West. Random House of Canada. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-307-35937-7.
  6. ↑ Saturday Night, Volume 104, Issues 7–12. New Leaf Publications. 1989. p. 85.
  7. ↑ "Meet Zepheniah James". Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre. 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  8. ↑ "FLASHBACK: Passage Of Toby's Act, A Historic Achievement For Ontario's Trans Community (June 19, 2012)". IN Magazine. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  9. 1 2 DiNovo, Cheri (2021-05-18). "Excerpt: Cheri DiNovo's 'The Queer Evangelist'". TVO Today. Retrieved 2023-05-29.