Stompin’ Tom Connors

Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, was one of Canada's most prolific and well-known country and folk singer-songwriters. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, Connors is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has released four dozen albums, with total sales of nearly 4 million copies. Connors died at age 77 in his home in Ballinafad, Ontario on March 6, 2013.

His songs have become part of the Canadian cultural landscape. Three of his best-known songs, Sudbury Saturday Night, Bud the Spud and The Hockey Song, are played at various games throughout the National Hockey League; the latter is played at every Toronto Maple Leafs home game.

Typically writing about Canadian lore and history, some of Connors' better-known songs include "Bud the Spud", "Big Joe Mufferaw", "The Black Donnellys", "The Martin Hartwell Story", "Reesor Crossing Tragedy", "Sudbury Saturday Night" and "The Hockey Song" (often incorrectly referred to as "The Good Old Hockey Game"); the last is frequently played over sound systems at National Hockey League (NHL) games.

Throughout his years, Tom never lost touch with Gaëtan Lepine, the bartender he befriended in Timmins and the two co-wrote many songs together. These songs are featured in 250 Songs by Stompin' Tom: Including All the Words and Chords.

During the mid-1970s, Connors wrote and recorded The Consumer, an ode to bill-paying that became the theme song for the popular Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) consumer affairs program, Marketplace. For the first few seasons, Connors appeared in the opening credits of the program, before "The Consumer" was replaced as the theme — initially by an instrumental background version and ultimately by another piece of music entirely.

In 1974 Tom had a series running on CBC Television in which he met and exchanged with folks from all across Canada. Stompin' Tom's Canada was co-produced with the CBC, and consisted of 26 half-hour episodes.

The song that Tom wrote the fastest was "Maritime Waltz", which was completed in 12 minutes.