“Never underestimate your ability to make a difference in the life of a child.”
Fred Penner’s five-decade career has taken him across the performing arts world, from Manitoba to Los Angeles and from the stage to the TV studio. He’s got four Juno awards, more than a dozen children’s albums and innumerable live shows for audiences far and wide, but for him, it always comes back to the simple maxim listed above.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a nobler cause than impacting the next generation, but why did Penner set off on that cause in the first place? The answer to that question is his younger sister, who was born with a heart murmur and passed away on the cusp of puberty. Susie, like many children with Down syndrome, loved music with a rare and unfiltered intensity, and she left a permanent impression on Penner over the course of her brief life.
“Susie showed me at a very early age how strong music can be in a child's life,” he says. “Any shows that I've done since then, have had that awareness in my being. I know how valuable music is. Susie taught me that.”
Back again
On Oct. 28, Penner returns to Whistler to put on two shows at the Maury Young Arts Centre. He’s bringing the kind of family-friendly matinee most know and love him for, as well as an after-dark show restricted to those aged 19 and up.
“The more mature crowd are kids who grew up with me in the first place, for the most part, so it's a bit of nostalgia on that point for adults to come to the show,” says Penner. “It gives me an opportunity to present some material that I would never really do in a family audience, only because it’s a little deeper in perspective, and a little more storytelling about things that people are going through.”
Back in the 1970s, a young and bright-eyed Penner cut his teeth playing the folk scene in bars, lounges and universities. His upcoming 19-plus segment in the Sea to Sky grants him and his audience a chance to revisit the era of Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell—a kind of music that has stood the test of time.
Penner has been to Whistler at least half a dozen times. He remembers how the town looked in the ’80s: slower-paced, less frantic, and absent the long traffic snakes that wind up Highway 99 on a long weekend nowadays. He also remembers the nature, specifically the Singing Pass Trail adorned with waterfalls and wildflowers.
“It's such an exceptional part of the world,” Penner says. “I love coming back there, and the people are always just delighted in live performance.”
In return, the Winnipeg native promises to give his all at every show. He believes you’re only as good as your last gig, whether you played for an audience of 20 or 2,000. If someone paid money to watch you, he says, they deserve to see your best.
Fred Penner’s Place
More than just a national treasure, Penner’s platform extends across North America. His 900-episode children’s show, Fred Penner’s Place, aired to more than 55 million viewers stateside in the late ’80s and early ’90s via Nickelodeon alongside its domestic run on CBC. He even has a holiday named after him: May 12, 1990 was Fred Penner Day in Los Angeles.
“It was pretty bizarre,” Penner recalls. “I was the first children's entertainer to play in the [now-demolished] Universal Amphitheatre, and it was just a fabulous, fabulous day. Through my contacts, my booking agency, etc., word was able to get to the Los Angeles mayor's office and they thought it was an important event, so they proclaimed it ‘Fred Penner Day.’”
In fact, Penner’s life has taken many unexpected twists and turns. Susie’s passing, along with that of his father, tore him away from pursuing economics and into the multi-talented career that turned him into a household name. Later, CBC approached him “out of the blue” about a TV pilot that would become Fred Penner’s Place, even though he had no prior experience in that area.
“I didn't have the classic five-year plan, you know: in five years, I want to have a TV series, or in five years, I want to win a Juno,” explains Penner. “There was no specific order of things for me, and most of the opportunities that have come to me have been from other people seeing something in me that perhaps I didn't see myself.”
At 76 years of age, the seasoned artist has dialed his touring schedule back a notch. He’ll do one or two gigs a month and shut things down for the winter to avoid hazardous travel conditions, and few could blame him for retiring outright. After all, he’s received both the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba in addition to many other awards—he has nothing left to prove.
Penner isn’t quite done, however. He hopes to release a new album or EP in the not-too-distant future to share what he calls “a whack of new material,” including songs he’ll play Oct. 28 at his after-dark show. Creating music for an audience is a privilege, and one he’ll never take for granted.
