ELMER TIPPE

Elmer Tippe was born in Eatonia, Saskatchewan, on January 21.1933.  At the age of 8 Elmer started playing Banjo & Fiddle at a little school house south of Innisfree, AB.  He was one of 10 children.  They moved to British Columbia when Elmer was 12 yrs. old and settled on a farm in Pitt Meadows, BC.

  At the age of 15 Elmer started entertaining professionally.  He played dances up & down the Fraser Valley with his 2 older brothers.  He went on to play as a sideman with other bands until in 1975 he fronted his own band called >Supercountry=.  This group became very popular & were nominated many times for awards by the BC Country Music Assn.

  Elmer has experienced most facets of the business.  In 1957, he traveled with the Royal Canadian Shows - billed as the >Pine Mountain Boys= doing their country show in a tent & sometimes sleeping in the tent.  He also toured with the Rogers Bros. in 1966 doing rodeos and fairs in Alberta with CFCW radio, then in Germany with a group of Country Musicians (Dick Damron, Roy Warhurst, John Berg & Hank Smith) for the Alberta Government exchange program.  Over the years Elmer has shared the stage with many major artists, either entertaining on the same billing or MC=ing the event.

  Through out his music career, Elmer always had a day job.  From working on the farm to working as a disc jockey.

  Elmer was already a well known singer, fiddler when Joe Chesney of CJJC in Langley thought the popular Tippe would help attract listeners to the new Country Music format. So in 1966 an incredible broadcasting career began.  After 9 yrs at CJJC Elmer moved to CKWX in Vancouver.  He started on the >All Nighter= but soon moved to the >Noon to Three= slot.  Elmer=s AMy Door is Always Open@ policy made for very entertaining radio.  If an artist had a new record he could stop by and talk about it on air and Elmer would play it.

 It didn=t matter if it was a local artist or the likes of Mel Tillis, Dick Damron, or Chet Atkins, Elmer treated them all the same, showing the same honesty and respect towards all of his guests.

One of his accomplishments that he is most proud of is a feature that he called AWhere the Bands Are@.  As he often talked about where Elmer Tippe & Supercountry had played he thought it only fair to give the other bands the same exposure.  Soon every band in the Vancouver area would phone Elmer to tell him where they were playing to get on his feature.  Elmer retired in 1991 after 25 years in radio.

Elmer has many Awards to his credit:  BCCMA=s first Male Vocalist, Country Music Broadcaster - 7 times, Hall of Fame - 1988, Country Music Person of the Year- 1991 and was inducted into the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame in Sacramento, CA - 1993 , Pioneer of Western Swing Hall of Fame, Seattle, WA 1996, CCMA Broadcaster=s Hall of Fame 2002 and Ridge Meadows Hall of Fame 2004 - his home town.

Elmer is very proud of his family, wife Alice, children Rick, Melanie, & Guyle, grandsons Tyler, Cameron, Brett, Trent, Nathan & Dylan.

It was a very prideful moment when his son Rick Tippe won the BCCMA Male Vocalist award 25 yrs after Elmer first won it. Rick won it 8 years running. Also, his grandson=s Brett & Trent (The Johnson Brothers) have been nominated by the BCCMA in 3 different categories over the past 2 years.

Elmer still does his music when Rick is in town doing a performance and asks his father to come out and join him.  Also, Brett & Trent keep their Papa busy by asking him to join them on stage as well.

Elmer has spent the last 10 years vacationing in Yuma, Arizona where he is a favorite with his fiddle and fine Ray Price style vocals.