Wednesday, June 22, 2005

BEN KERR - The King of Cayenne Pepper, Toronto, Canada

I heard that busker extrodinaire, king of cayenne pepper, and constant candidate for Mayor of Toronto, died a few days ago. Anyone who has emerged from the subway at Yonge and Bloor has heard Ben sing and play. He was a fixture in Toronto, one of our great characters, and he will be missed.

The following is from the obit in the Toronto Star. "2005-06-22 01:00:01  [Obituaries]
Like all good cowboy songs, the ballad of Ben Kerr starts slow, stays that way and ends in tears. Kerr with his trusty guitar was a fixture on the same corner of Yonge and Bloor Sts. for nearly 20 years. He died Friday in the east-end attic he called home at age 75. Christian Cotroneo reports."

2 comments:

zydeco fish said...

Oh yeah, that guy. I have heard him sing many times. In later years he gave up the guitar and relied on some sort of karaoke setup. He reminded me of Stoppin' Tom Connnors.

mister anchovy said...

Here is the obit from
CBC