Canadian children’s entertainer Fred Penner returned to perform in Vancouver this week.
Penner released his debut album, The Cat Came Back, more than four decades ago. Since then, Penner has released 13 albums, starred in the CBC Television show Fred Penner’s Place and headlined the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Now, he’s performing at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival on Granville Island.
“My task in life is to be honest and truthful to myself and to create music that I hope will inspire and connect with an audience,” said Penner. “I’m still doing that.”
Musician Fred Penner reflects on four decades as an entertainer and recording artist.
The festival started Monday and runs until June 2. Tickets for Penner’s performances have already sold out. Next, he will be performing at the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival, which starts June 6.
On Monday, Penner sat down with CBC’s Amy Bell, guest host of On the Coast. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Have you seen your role change over time?
I believe that what I’m doing now is as constant as it’s ever been. I’ve changed a few songs here and there and some of the themes can alter slightly. But they are still about the bottom line of understanding, of communication, of positivity, of love, of home and all of the values that are really fundamental to the development of any family. Those things never change, regardless of the technologies.
What does it feel like to have been entertaining for so long that you might have had an impact on a family over multiple generations?
It blows my mind, because that’s never something that I think any performer can assume. I do what I do because it feels good. I came into this because of my sister, who was born with Down syndrome, and the power of music that she shared with me.
With a new record, TV show, book and baby, children’s musician Fred Penner somehow juggles it all in 1985.
So I do my best to honour that, and if people come back and say, “You connected with me through this song or that one,” then all the more power. Beyond that, it’s none of my business in an odd sort of way.
What’s it like when you’re on the stage? You make music, but there’s a different element when you’re performing it live.
It’s the best, being up there and taking an audience through my musical process. I’ve got an opening, I’ve got an ending and the middle tends to take care of itself. I have a series of songs I’m planning on doing, but if the audience sort of needs to go another direction, if they need to relax a bit more or come up a bit more, then I’m a spontaneous performer, so I can change. I can shift gears. They feed me — that’s the bottom line. They really do give me such delight.
You used to film some of Fred Penner’s Place downstairs [at the CBC Vancouver building]. Would you ever do another TV show?
I’d still be doing it if CBC hadn’t decided to cancel it. It was a shock. But they were higher powers that decided I had had my run.
We had a good time and some beautiful guests from the musical world across the country. I was really proud of what we brought to the audiences across North America. The show aired on Nickelodeon for 3-4 years.
The show may be for children, but you didn’t dumb it down. There was a respect for children that you showed.
That was really the key to the whole thing. It’s not about getting out there and jumping up and down and waving your hands and you know, and being silly and giddy.
It’s about being focused and looking at the one child and asking them questions and feeling the feedback that’ll come from an audience, even through a virtual television screen.
After your Vancouver shows, what’s next? Where are you going?
I’m going back to Winnipeg to do a festival there. I’m living on Vancouver Island now, and at the end of July I’m playing in Ucluelet. I’ve been asked to do the halftime show for a B.C. Lions game on August 18. It’s just a 10-minute set, so I’ll just get up there and do some of my standards and hopefully get the audience to participate. But that’s a gig that I haven’t done very often.