Cd Isle...CDs by BC island recording artists

Portrait of Valdy by

Valdy has been entertaining audiences in Canada and a dozen other countries since the late 1960s. The singer, songwriter and guitar player is an icon in the Canadian folk music scene with 13 albums and two Juno Awards behind him.

Born Valdemar Horsdal in Ottawa, Valdy has sold almost half a million copies of his albums and has seven Juno nominations and four Gold albums to his credit. He has travelled the length and breadth of Canada, and toured abroad from Denmark to Australia. For five years in a row he has been invited to perform at the prestigious Kerrville Festival in Texas.

Today Valdy lives with his wife Kathleen on Salt Spring Island, where he is a frequent performer at charity events and benefits. He is also the sound man at events of the Salt Spring Folk Club, an organization he helped found a few years ago.

* 14 albums, 22 singles, 4 Gold Records, nearly half a million units sold worldwide.

* 2 Juno awards, 7 Juno nominations (Country Male Vocalist & Folksinger).

* "Songwriter of the Year" and CARAS awards in Folk/Bluegrass categories.

* Host of "BC Music Project" music video show, winner of the 1989 Gold Ribbon Talent Development Award.

* TV talk show guest (Open Mic w/ Mike Bullard Feb.'01, Canada AM Feb.'01) and occasional guest/host

*Twice was a panelist on the popular Front Page Challenge

* CBC simulcast (TV w/ Radio 2 stereo), an hour-long TV special "Folksinger Deluxe with a Side of Fries".

*Lead role on "The Beachcombers", minor roles in 2 movie features.

*Valdy has toured and still does tour in America, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Valdy is an oft-invited performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.

*Song writing workshops. Movie sound tracks, TV and film scores. CD producer. Slash burning.

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Valdemar Horsdal was a Dane born in Ottawa. He began playing guitar as a teenager and later learnt piano and orchestration in Victoria. In the mid-sixties he was with The Town Criers. He later played for a Montreal-based band, The Prodigal Sons, but they don't appear to have made it onto vinyl. By the mid-seventies he was one of Canada's most successful folk singers (second to Gordon Lightfoot), having signed to A&M distributed Haida Records in 1972 and enjoyed a string of hits.

He still records today in a career that has spanned 20 years and included collaborations with the Hometown Band and singer/songwriters like Max Bennett and Bob Ruzicka. Later albums, particularly Hot Rocks in 1977, dealt with environmental issues.