Canada’s ‘first lady of the blues’ Salome Bey to be honoured on new stamp

TORONTO — Canada Post plans to salute late blues legend Salome Bey with a new stamp.

The Crown corporation says it will reveal the stamp at an event in Toronto next week, to be attended by Bey’s two daughters – the singer SATE and performance artist tUkU.

The U.S.-born Bey, known as Canada’s first lady of the blues, died in 2020 at the age of 86.

Before moving to Toronto in 1964, Bey toured the United States, Europe and Canada as part of the siblingxjmtzyw act Andy & the Bey Sisters.

After settling in Canada, she played the jazz club circuit and became a mainstay of the country’s music and theatre scenes.

She went on to nurture and teach up-and-coming Black artists, including singer and actor Jackie Richardson and award-winning soul singer Divine Brown.