CANADA'S FIRST LADY OF COUNTRYCarroll Baker was born March 4th in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia to parents Jordan (Gordon) and Ida (Iverna) Baker. She was the last child to be born and has three brothers, Fordan, Truman, and Willis, and two sisters, Barbara and Rosemary.
She was raised in a small fishing village, Port Medway, Queens County and she refers to herself as Queen's County's daughter. Her lifestyle was very humble and the family was not unlike other families in the village. Food and clothing were the necessary things in life and lack of money did not allow for going to the movies or any other forms of recreation deemed unnecessary.
Her days were filled with going to school and listening to music. The one luxurary that was afforded the family was a television and the family spent many evenings watching their favorite programs on the two channels available at the time.
Music filled the Baker household and her father was a musician who played the fiddle at old time dances. Her sister Rosemay and brother Fordan played in the small family band, and it was not uncommon to have the house filled with musicians who came from near and far to jam at the Baker household on many weekends. She loved to listen to her family and her uncle Ira, her father's brother, who would join them and play the stand up bass guitar, while her father, sisters and brothers sang and played various instruments.
Being the youngest she was not included in the sing alongs until her brother Fordan caught her playing his guitar one afternoon. He could not believe she was playing as no one had taught her how to play. Her mother quickly boasted to him that Carroll didn't need anyone to teach her because it just came naturally. When questioned by her brother how she came to learn to play she simply stated that she would often watch him and rememberd what he did and sat down one day and played the guitar. He was also impressed with her singing voice and could not wait to tell the rest of the family about his discovery.
It wasn't long after that she was included in the family gatherings and was singing harmony with the rest of the family. The music was old time country and bluegrass music, and it was this muic that she honed the hamony skills that are so unique and so distinctly her own. However, country music was not her music of choice, preferring to listen to rock and roll and would often sing Beatle songs, Connie Francis, and Brenda Lee songs. She was madly in love with John, Paul, George and Ringo, Paul being her favourite, and to this day is an avid Beatle fan.
Carroll would go to the dances with her parents and she loved to watch her mother step dance who was always the life of the party. Her mother was also an amateur actress who appeared in small theatre productions in the area and Carroll always had the best seat in the house wherever they went. Her seat was at the back of the stage and consisted of two chairs put together, a blanket, and a pillow.There she would fall asleep until the music was over and her father carried her out to the car while she remained fast asleep.
Carroll attended elementary school in Port Medway and neighbouring Mill Village, and high school in Liverpool at Liverpool Regional High School. She was an average student but excelled in English literature, Languages, English and French while attending high school, and fared well in Geography and art.
After working at various jobs, her father finally settled down working for Irving Oil as a contractor building breakwaters, ferry slips and service centres throughout the province and parts of New Brunswick. Carroll and the family would often rent homes in various parts of the province where her father was working at the time, but she preferred to be at home with her friends in Port Medway.
By the time Carroll reached her early teens, her brothers and sisters were all living in Oakville, Ontario and the big house that her father built seemed empty and lonely. Her mother missed her other children and while visiting Ontario one summer, her father was offered a job to manage and oversee Metro Marine in Oakville and it didn't take her mother long to convince her father to move there so the family could all be together again. The three of them packed up and moved to Ontario, and Carroll's life was about to change significantly.
In 1966 she meant a handsome frenchman named John Beaulieu. They dated for a year, were engaged for a year, and then married in Oakville at St. Dominics Catholic Church. Her happiness came to an abrupt end when she and her husband returned from their honeymoon to find out that her father was in hospital with terminal cancer and his life expantancy was one to six months. He lived five months and passed away leaving a great void in her life. Not only did she lose her father, but the family with the exception of her sister Barbara and family, moved back to Nova Scotia leaving her feeling quite lost and alone.It was because of this lonliness that she would often write songs and play her guitar and sing at parties of friends that she and John had made since their marriage.She remains friends with one of her best friends at the time Patricia {Pat} Storey, and although most of the others have moved away, she still tries to keep in contact with them whenever possible.
It was through one of their friends that she was encouraged to get up and sing at a local bar in Oakville with the band and the rest they say is history. She worked with the band on weekends and then was invited to do a live radio show at the Hayloft Jamboree in Markham, Ontario. It was there that a sculptor, George Petralia, heard her and convinced both she and her husband to record a song he had written. She travelled to Thunder Bay Ontario where she met Don Grashey who produced her records and managed her career from the beginning until the late nineteen eighties. Mr Grashey along with his partner Chuck Williams were the driving forces behind the lady with the big voice, filled with the emotion that only seasoned perfomers were supposed to have. Mr. Grashey would often comment that feeling was something that you either had or you didn't. It could not be learned he would say and boast that she had more feeling in her voice than anyone he had ever heard. Having produced many other artists and one as great as Loretta Lynn, he felt qualified to make that statement.
Her first recording was the song that George had written, Memories of Home, backed by one of Carroll's own compositions, Just Out of Reach. The song climbed the Canadian charts on RPM weekly and remained there for a record breaking twenty six weeks. With the success of the very first recording, Mr. Grashey contacted several record companies regarding a recording contract for her and finally settled on Columbia Records. She recorded two albums for Columbia and had limited success and finally went back to Mr. Grashey's record label, Gaiety Records.. Carroll decided to quit the music business in 1973 when she became pregnant with her one and only child. Don Grashey convinced her to take one more shot at the brass ring and off to Nashville they went to record four songs . .Her first top ten record came from that session, Ten Little Fingers, a song about a little girl, written by Don Grashey.The song was Ten Little Fingers and remains one of her most popular songs to this day. It was sent out to radio stations and included a picture of John and Carroll's newborn baby, a girl, Candace Carroll Beaulieu, born August 14th, 1973.
Thus was the beginning of an illustrious carreer that has spanned three decades and is still going strong. Comments like"The Dynamic Carroll Baker"", The senuallity of Carroll Baker"", Canada's Queen of Country Music", "Canada's county sweetheart" are just a few of the titles that many have beem bestowed upon her. She has lived up to everyone of them and one only has to see her live in concert to see why all reviews over the years have had the banner headline "Performance Speaks For Itself".
In the latter part of the eighties, her career was being guided by Ed Preston, the man who signed her to RCA Records. On his departure from RCA, to president of Tembo, Records, she joined him at Tembo Records and continued her success story with the guidance of Mr. Preston until her husband John took over managing duties.
Carroll is still very much in demand and still performs in concert, at fairs, festivals, and has added Casinos to her list of venues.
