In Loving Memory Handsome as can be... "Johnny's granddaughter, April*Dawn" Born and raised in Latchford, Ontario, Johnny began playing the fiddle and entertaining audiences throughout Northern Ontario. When World War II began, Johnny enlisted. While in the army he began to do a weekly radio show on CHOV in Pembroke. Johnny then returned to the Sudbury area, settling with his family in Valley East. He worked for INCO retiring in 1980. During the years Johnny brought much joy, laughter and comfort to many people by sharing his God given talents. In spite of his ongoing battle with Rheumatoid Arthritis he continued to love life and live it to the fullest. Still as handsome as can be... In loving memory of my Pepere,Johnny Bruneau, 78 years young. Beloved husband of Edith (Blais) Bruneau of Sudbury. Cherished and loving father of Jeffrey (Brenda), Daniel (Rachel) and Gayle all of Sudbury. Jennifer of Capreol, Linda Farrell (Adrien) of Rockland. Special Dad to Sue. Treasured Pepere of Curtis, April, Courtney, Allison, Paulo, Connor, Shawna and Joseph. Dear son of Maurice and Marie-Anne Bruneau, both predeceased. Dear brother of Laurence (husband Gerry Kennedy), Marie Claire (husband Bill Blake) both of Windsor. Rita (husband George Lebel predeceased) of Val Caron. Predeceased by sisters Tilly (husband Maurice Vaillancourt), Laura (husband Pierre Filiatrault of Windsor), Therese (husband Bud Huffman predeceased). A special, "Uncle Jackie" to several nieces and nephews. The Winners' Circle - 2000 - CHELMSFORD FIDDLE & STEPDANCE COMPETITION Novelty: Johnny Bruneau, 5TH place In Latchford, as a boy, Johnny first played on an Eaton's mail-order fiddle purchased by his father and before his twelfth birthday was performing at dances in the area. And play he does! Johnny Bruneau and his Northern Ridge Runners draw capacity crowds wherever they go. Success followed upon success until Johnny had his own TV Show - The Northern Hoedown. This programme caused Johnny Bruneau to become the most popular musician in Northern Ontario, a privilege he enjoys to this day. This is Johnny's first International Artist album. On it we have included many of the songs that Northern Ontario TV viewers and more recently 'North country night-clubbers' enjoy hearing him do. Tracks: Boil The Cabbage Down, Angler’s Jig, Memory Waltz, Possum and the Coon, Maritime Polka, Martha Camp, Mississippi Sawyer, Cathy With The Raven Black Eyes, Willy’s Jig, Walter’s Waltz, Casa Loma Hornpipe, Mountain Pie Breakdown In January 1993, Northern Life columnist Mick Lowe wrote about Sudbury’s King of the Fiddlers. The following is an excerpt from that article. It was a helluva fate for a fiddlin’ man: the fingers, which once flashed like quicksilver over the strings, ravaged by rheumatoid arthritis. But, like the rest of us stuck in the Rock for another Sudbury winter, the King of the Fiddlers couldn’t—he simply wouldn’t—say die. And so it was that 50 or so of his friends, admirers and musical peers ventured out on a cold Wednesday night to gather at Civic Square for an evening warmed with memories and tributes to a remarkable man. He played the long-gone venues-—the Co-op in Hanmer, the Hillcrest and Open Door in Val Caron, Sudbury’s Nickel Range and Lasalle Theatre, CKSO Television’s Showcase, and The Northern Hoedowners, sponsored by Salada Tea. He played with our best — Flo MacKenzie and the Pilons, Sid Yates, Ricki Lamoureux, Roger Trudel, Bernie Finner, Stan and Clay Eisenhower, Ron Shepard, Andy Leihman, Bert and Freda Collins, Jett Landry — and he played in and with bands like Stan and the Valley Boys, Hoot and Cy, Larry Pilon and the Country Kings, the Reed Family and the Blezard Valley Boys. He was there in 1954, when Basil Scully launched Showcase, a half-hour live six-day a-week-show on CKSO TV. Johnny was a godsend, too, in the federal election campaign of 1958, when Scully found himself the Tory nominee in Algoma East, up against a not- exactly-no-name Liberal incumbent, Lester Bowles Pearson, to be exact. The boom was on in Elliot Lake and Scully could sense the importance of the place, then little more than a collection of headframes and bunkhouses. He prevailed on Johnny and the bodacious Murphy Sisters to play and dance, respectively, as part of his campaign in the uranium capital. “I’m not sure,” replied Canada’s Noble Laureate. “My opponent is touring the riding with a hillbilly band and two dancing girls.” “We didn’t win Elliot Lake, Johnny,” Scully recalled ruefully, “but we put on a helluva show.” Appearances and talent to the contrary, Johnny never quit his day job, working 25 years at the Iron Ore Recovery plant, and finally working underground as a drill fitter at Frood Mine. Does he regret never having sought fame and fortune as a full-time musician? “I never tried. I was a married man with five children, and to me Inco was steady employment—that was security. Besides, I saw too many musicians whose marriges broke up because of the business.” Most of the people who turned out to honour Johnny were over 60. Beside them, Steelworkers Local 6500 President Dave Campbell seemed but a callow youth. “My wife is from Nova Scotia, and I was trying to explain to her who Johnny is,” Campbell told the audience. “I said Johnny Bruneau is to Sudbury what Don Messer was to the East Coast.” Fulsome praise flowed long and long on Wednesday night, and a bevy of politicians turned out with plaques and speeches. But the ultimate summation of Johnny Bruneau’s lifetime achievement was spoken privately by Jeannine Gagnon, wife of tribute organizer Johnny Gagnon, near the end of the night. She took the King of the Fiddler’s crippled hands gently in her own and smiled: “Well, Johnny, you made a lot of people dance, eh?” "Dedicated to my Pepere" - April Stewart