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Salome Bey

Published December 1, 1995 in Features
Salome Bey, Women's Blues Review, Toronto 1987. Photo by Barbara Isherwood.

Salome Bey, Women's Blues Review, Toronto 1987. Photo by Barbara Isherwood.

Salome Bey

Christmas Blue is the release by Salome Bey and the Relatives on a new label, Rainbowhirl Music Inc (RMI). The album also features Salome’s daughters Jacintha Tuku and Saidah Baba Talibah and was produced by Orin Isaacs. Salome will be starring in a CBC-TV special, Salome Bey’s Christmas Soul on Friday, December 22.


Salome Bey is the first African Canadian music person to make an impact on me during my childhood in Goderich, Ontario. I remember seeing her perform powerful excerpts on CBC-TV from the Dora Mavor Moore Award winning play Indigo. I remember her as an emotive, sincere singer. Many years later, I met Bey after a phenomenal Toronto performance of her fantastic play Madame Gertrude. One of the things that struck me then was her commitment to young people. Today Bey continues her commitment to youth by involving them in her work. She continues to share the wonderful gifts of her creativity with Canadians and audiences worldwide.

Bey’s latest offering is her exciting new CD, Christmas Blue, produced on Bey’s brand new record label, Rainbowhirl Music Inc. (RMI). The name comes from an original Bey dramatic work called Rainbowhirl, for which she hopes to find investors to fund the production in the near future.

Christmas Blue is required material for any collection and was produced in partnership with many young people and established musicians who have worked with Bey over the years. Christmas Blue features fine renditions of standard holiday favourites and intriguing Bey originals. Backed by her band The Relatives, Bey, with producer Orin Isaacs and arranger Washington Savage, has given us a strong, full-bodied album, combining Blues, Gospel, R&B, Soul and Jazz, that highlights her incredible vocals along with many other fantastic Toronto performers. “I’m just making my statements. I give to the songs that feeling (Blues feeling). I am especially excited that I got to do five of my own compositions and then interpretations of standards (I always wanted to record). For example, I wanted to have a certain feeling on Silent Night. I got to do O Holy Night with my daughters Tuku and Saida.”

A consummate performing artist, Bey has consistently transcended narrow descriptions of her creativity in music, theatre, television, or literature. Yet she continues today as a reigning monarch of the Blues in the fine tradition of Ma Rainey, Jodie Drake, Alberta Hunter and many others. “There’s so many people that are the first lady of the Blues. I don’t think I’m old enough yet. But even if I was 80 there are still so many ladies of the Blues that just to be included in that group is nice.”

Bey demonstrated her gift for performance early by winning a talent contest at the Apollo club, which she entered without her parents consent at age 14. Her father however wasn’t as excited about her success as the young Bey prodigy and didn’t allow her to receive her prize, a week of performance at the famous Apollo Theatre. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Bey gave up law school several years later to dedicate her life to performance and writing. She performed in local clubs with the vocal group she formed with her brother and sister, Andy and the Bey Sisters. They were popular, touring North America and Europe, even drawing early attention from the legendary Sam Cooke.

Upon arriving in Toronto in 1964, Bey quickly became a bright light in the local jazz circuit, making her theatre debut at the Global Village in Blue S. A. and Justine. In the early 70’s Bey won the prestigious OBIE Award as Best Actress for her Earth Mother role in the New York version of Justine which was called Love Me, Love My Children. A favourite at Jazz festivals worldwide Bey continues to dazzle audiences on stage and screen. She has made numerous recordings and has been a frequent guest for many TV specials, countless concerts and festivals around the world. A Grammy Award nominee, Bey has won many awards over the years including the Toronto Arts Awards, but she continues to be motivated by the simplest inspirations. She is an artist inspired by the beauty, trials, and the struggles of life.

Bey is long overdue for a renaissance of interest in her music and her theatrical productions. Whether performing originals or standards in Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Pop or Blues music, Bey enriches our lives with the special interpretation that is her own. On Friday, December 22, 1995 CBC-TV will broadcast the Salome Bey Christmas Special featuring Bey and guests Maureen Forrester, Billy Newton-Davis, Molly Johnson, Jackie , and the Faith Chorale Gospel Choir.

-Marva Jackson

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