Toby Dancer


Toby Dancer 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. 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 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.
  • Liam Clancy – Farewell To Tarwaithie, 1975
  • Tim Feehan – Sneak Preview, 1981
  • Ian Tyson – Old Corrals & Sagebrush, 1983
  • Ian Tyson – Ian Tyson, 1984
  • Stewart MacDougall – Clean Slate / Up To Me, 1985
  • Ian Tyson – Cowboyography, 1986
  • Gabrielle Bujold – C'est Bien Toi, 1987
  • Gabrielle Bujold – Seule à rêver, 1988
  • Gabrielle Bujold – Private & Confidential, 1988
  • Gabrielle Bujold – Après Lui, 1988
  • Bob E. Lee West and The Mainstreet Band – This Old Freight Train / You're Just A Call Away, 1988
  • Gordon Cormier & Loretta Cormier – Headin' Home, 1988
  • Ian Tyson – Old Corrals And Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics, 1988
  • Ian Tyson – I Outgrew The Wagon, 1989
  • Ian Tyson – Irving Berlin , 1989
  • Big Miller And The Blues Machine – Live At Athabaska University, 1990