He was raised on a farm, the youngest of 11
children. "I never really wanted to become a musician.it
was sort of forced on me by the Depression days," said
Messer. He honed his violin skills by performing for his uncles,
cousins and neighbours until he got good enough to leave.
His radio career started in 1930 on the kerosene lamp circuit.
They played a lot of kitchen parties and barn dances - sometimes
with no pay at all. By the early '30s, when Messer wasn't
on the radio he was plying his trade on the road. They would
drive hundreds of miles in their own cars, with their own
vehicles to do their own set up and strike. And they would
drive nearly all night or into the next morning to do the
same thing over again. He was consumed with making a living
and playing the fiddle was the only way to do it.
By the early 1960s, CBC-TV's Don Messer's Jubilee was a huge
hit with big ratings and high popularity. But it wasn't Messer's
personal appeal that kept viewers hooked on Jubilee every
week. It was his charismatic stars like Marg Osburne and Charlie
Chamberlain. The sudden cancellation of the show in the spring
of 1969 is as much a part of Down East music folklore as Messer
himself.
Almost immediately a petition from fans all over Canada was
started - more than 30 feet long - to try and save the show.
But Messer couldn't put down the fiddle - an independent station
in Hamilton, Ontario, offered to pick up his act. But in 1972,
his hard-living, hard-drinking sidekick Charlie Chamberlain
died. The ratings never recovered. A year later, at the age
of 63 - while in his music room preparing for his fourth season
in Hamilton - Messer died of a heart attack. He had done over
30 national tours and been broadcasting for more than 40 years.
He left behind a musical legacy that is still with us today.
Original Air Date - February 6, 2001
Links
More
about Don Messer
Don
Messer and His Islanders - Virtual Exhibit (Nova Scotia Archives)
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