Myrna Lorrie
Myrna Lorraine Petrunka (born August 6, 1940), known professionally as Myrna Lorrie, is a Canadian country singer/songwriter/musician.
Thunder Bay connections
Myrna Lorraine Petrunka, known professionally as Myrna Lorrie, was born on August 6, 1940, in Cloud Bay, Ontario, and is associated with Fort William. She first sang publicly at age 11 on the Fort William radio station CKPR, on a program called School of the Air; its host, Jack Masters, gave her her own radio show, Harmony Trails, when she was just 12.
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Thunder Bay BandWiki
According to the Thunder Bay BandWiki (citing The Canadian Encyclopedia), Myrna Lorrie (born Myrna Lorraine Petrunka, Cloud Bay, near Thunder Bay, c. 1941) began singing at age 12 on CKPR radio in Fort William (now Thunder Bay). At 14 she recorded "Are You Mine?" with Buddy DuVal; released on the Abbott label and written by Lorrie, DuVal, and Don Grashey, the song became a major country music hit in both Canada and the United States in 1955. She toured with Hank Snow and others throughout the 1950s, then stepped back from her career until 1963.
The Myrna Lorrie Show, launched in 1964, was a leading touring troupe in Canadian country music for five years, during which time singles such as "Tell Me Not to Go," "Turn Down the Music," and "Changing of the Seasons" (all released on Columbia) were popular. Lorrie appeared as a guest performer on numerous CBC TV country programmes, including Don Messer's Jubilee (1966–68), and served as co-host of CBC Halifax TV's Countrytime (1970–74, with Don Tremaine) and the nationally syndicated Toronto series Nashville Swing (1977–81, with Tom Kelly and Tom Bresh in turn).
Though less active in the 1980s, she released the cassette Blue Blue Me (Sibley SIBC-8901) in 1989; the title track was a hit in Canada that year, followed by "Sometime" in 1990. Her other recordings include the LPs Myrna Lorrie (Harmony HE-90055) and It's Countrytime (CBC LM-87/MCA 7009). She received Juno Awards as best female country singer in 1970 and 1971, the 1977 Big Country Award for outstanding performance by a female singer, and in 1989 was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.