Bob Turcotte

Pot of Song

Bob Turcotte - Bob was born in Montreal in 1944 and was first noticed while singing Immaculate Mary in a crowd of his grade one classmates. Thus singled out he clammed up in public until the age of 20. PTSD came early for Bob.

He has been a “serious” collector of songs since Ricky Nelson’s Poor Little Fool in 1958. He remains an unrepentant folk-singing flower-child. He’s a minstrel of sophisticated jazz, folk, calypso, reggae, pop and golden oldies.

He directed a popular Brampton guitar-based choir from 1976 to 2001 arranging music and voice for liturgy and also writing original songs. Bob also played guitar and sang, beginning in 1975, with The Caribs, a large, popular, Brampton group performing Caribbean folk music in the style of Trinidad’s famous La Petite Musicale.

After 25 years in manufacturing management since 1967, Bob returned to teaching in 1992. He taught chemistry and guitar classes and directed a vocal jazz ensemble.

Since 2008 he’s been in the Brampton Folk Club and also with Folk On The Inside, a small group that jam with residents at Brampton’s Ontario Correctional Institute. Recently he has performed more often with the Folk Club.

For six years he has been performing solo on Mondays at Brampton Civic Hospital in the Atrium, then upstairs for a combined group of Complex Care and Active Rehab patients plus a larger seasonal show in December. On Wednesdays he visits and plays for palliative patients in their rooms. Experienced, he can skillfully engage a musical audience of any size.

In 2002 Bob won a CBC contest to write a song for the Leafs. The prize was a trip for two to Raleigh, N.C. to see game 5 of their second round with the Carolina Hurricanes. He was interviewed by Andy Barrie of CBC’s Metro Morning before and after the game, the third time a song of his was featured on CBC Radio.

The Leafs Song on YouTube is a fun starting point to check out some of Bob's compositions. Most of them are there as videos in the uploads section. The link to the Leafs Song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH4ymtaoq_0

He can be contacted for solo performances by email: mytiturk10@yahoo.com