Tommy Banks (musician)

The Honourable Tommy Banks OC AOE FRCMT(hon)
Senator for Alberta, Canada
In office April 7, 2000 – December 17, 2011
Appointed by	Adrienne Clarkson
Preceded by	Ron Ghitter
Personal details
Born	Thomas Benjamin Banks (1936-12-17)December 17, 1936 Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Died	January 25, 2018(2018-01-25) (aged 81) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Residence(s)	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Profession	Pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and former senator

Thomas Benjamin Banks OC AOE FRCMT(hon) (December 17, 1936 – January 25, 2018) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator.

Family

Ida Heller was born in Golden Prairie Saskatchewan to a solid farm family of German immigrants. Her parents emigrated to Canada with a number of children – Ida’s older siblings – and settled in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan, where Ida got to school often by horseback in the summer, and by horse-drawn sled in the winter.

On their retirement from active farming, the parents and family (minus one brother who stayed on the farm) moved to Medicine Hat Alberta where Ida finished her schooling, and went to work for the Royal Bank of Canada. In 1956 Ida decided to move to Edmonton, where she resumed employment with the Royal Bank. Ida then moved to operate the Edmonton office of MUZAK in its early years.

The advertising business called next, and Ida moved to work in the Edmonton offices of McConnell, Eastman, then one of Canada's major advertising agencies. In 1957 Ida joined Orion Musical Theatre and performed in several of the stage shows in Edmonton and Calgary. She was a chorus member and then a vocal soloist. There she met Orion’s musical director Tommy Banks, who drafted her into a vocal quartet and simultaneously began a three-year courtship, finally convincing her to take a chance. The vocal quartet performed on a live national television program on October 2nd, and they were married on October 3rd, 1959.

In July 1960, Toby, their first daughter was born; followed by their son Tom Jr., and daughter Jill. The loss of Toby in 2001 was a devastating event in the family’s life. Tom Jr. and Jill are both proud members of the teaching profession.

In 1969, Ida took over the ownership and management of Banks Associated Music Ltd., a talent agency that had been started years earlier by Tommy, who had found it necessary to leave it because of other business. The company had struggled under an uneven succession of managers; and when the then-most-recent one left, Tommy was bemoaning the necessity of training yet another manager.

Ida made the company into the busiest and largest talent agency between Toronto and Vancouver. At its peak, the agency’s staff of nine represented more than two hundred artists in engagements from the Lakehead to Victoria.

Ida was involved for years with Beta Sigma Phi, serving as president for two terms. She served on the board of Edmonton Musical Theatre, which had been formed by her dear friend the late Dr. Dasha Goody. She contributed her time and energy to many worthwhile community undertakings; all while running her agency, almost single-handedly raising three children, and maintaining many close friendships. Ida and husband Tommy were co-chairs for Northern Alberta (with Mr. and Mrs. Lougheed for Southern Alberta) of the successful CKUA Radio Network fundraising campaign.

Ida has now retired from the talent agency business, with a view to spending some time to smell flowers, and travel more frequently with her peripatetic husband.

Education

The school of which Tommy was a most proud graduate was that of hard knocks. He made it with flying colours to the middle of grade eleven at which point he decided incorrectly (when one is fourteen, one thinks one knows best) that, given the career path on which he was intent, there was nothing further of any use to be learned from the public school system. Tommy Banks received honorary diplomas and degrees rather than obtaining them through traditional education..

Television and musical career

Banks was the host of nationally - and internationally - syndicated and network television programs, including “The Tommy Banks Show” (1968-1983), “Somewhere There’s Music”, “What’s My Name”, “ Love and Mr. Smith”, “Celebrity Revue”, “Symphony of a Thousand”, “Tommy Banks Jazz”, etc.

He provided musical direction for the ceremonies of the XI Commonwealth Games, EXPO ’86, the World University Games, the XV Olympic Winter Games, and for countless radio and television shows. He produced and/or conducted command performances for Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family, and for President Ronald Reagan. He was a member of the A. F. of M., ACTRA, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (U.S.), the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Banks made his jazz-playing debut in 1950 in the touring band of saxophonist Don (D. T.) Thompson. He played jazz throughout North America, Western and Central Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. In 1983 his quintet became the first jazz band to tour in continental China since the 1949 revolution.

Banks led his own groups and performed in various venues across Western Canada and the United States, including leading a jazz quintet at Expo 67. He produced and directed musical ceremonies at international events and took on acting roles in film and television. Tommy Banks was appointed to the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts during the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney's administration and later served as a policy adviser to the Board during the Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien's administration.

Before being called to the Senate of Canada, Tommy Banks served as chair of the Music Committee of the Board of Governors of Alberta College; he was founding chairman of the Alberta Foundation for the Performing Arts; chair of the Music Program at Grant MacEwan Community College; of the Edmonton Concert Hall Foundation; of the Instrumental Jazz Division of MusicFest Canada (North America’s largest music festival organization); of the B. & B. Foundation for the Theatrical & Musical Arts of Alberta; member of the board of the CKUA Radio Network Foundation; Honorary chair of the Alberta Heart Fund; an Honorary member of Cosmopolitan International and of Rotary International (of which he was a Paul Harris Fellow).

Selected Currently-Available Recordings
Yes Indeed,	Solo piano	RRI 300-9647
For Dancers Only	Tommy Banks Big Band	RRI 300-9650
At the Montreux Festival**	Tommy Banks Big Band	RRI 300-9752
Big Miller	Banks Big Band/Quartet	CIICD 10974
The Holiday Season	Tommy Banks & Many Friends	RCD-0268
In The Middle of the Road	Tommy Banks & Many Friends	TBCD 1010
Tommy Banks's Christmas	Piano & Orchestra	TBCD 1308
Old Friends	P. J. Perry & Tommy Banks	TBCD 1312
Legacy Live*	Jens Lindemann & Tommy Banks	Ind.
Sweet Canadiana*	Order of Canada Soloists	Ind.

On Century II Records, distributed by Royalty Records.

** JUNO Award winner * JUNO Award nominee

Guest conducted

• Budapest Symphony Orchestra of the Hungarian State Radio & Television
• Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
• Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra
• Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
• Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
• Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra
• Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra
• Memphis Symphony Orchestra
• National Arts Centre Orchestra
• Regina Symphony Orchestra
• Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra
• Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra
• Toledo Symphony Orchestra
• The Toronto Symphony
• Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
• Symphony Nova-Scotia
• Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Government career

Senator Banks was appointed to the Senate by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson at the recommendation of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 2000. He represented Alberta, sitting as a Liberal. In the Senate, he served as a member of the Standing Committee on National Finance, of the Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, of the Standing Committee on National Security and Defence (SCONSAD) and on its steering committee, and as chair of the Subcommittee on Veterans’ Affairs.

In each of the 37th, 38th, and 39th Parliaments he was elected Chair of the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources. In the 37th and 38th Parliaments he served as Chair of the Alberta Liberal Parliamentary Caucus. Following dissolution of the 37th Parliament Senator Banks was named to an all-party Committee of Parliamentarians from both Houses, given the task of advising the Government on the setting up of parliamentary oversight of security intelligence matters. He served on an ad hoc basis on several additional committees of the Senate. He was vice-chair of the Caucus task force on urban issues that produced Canada's Urban Strategy - a Blueprint for Action which Report led to an important national debate.

His role was a member of a Sectoral Advisory Group, International Trade (SAGIT), which advised the Government during NAFTA negotiations. His participation in the national referendum on constitutional amendment, including his role as Alberta spokesman and involvement in the televised debate. In the latter roles he made trips to Afghanistan to meet with men and women of the Canadian Forces. His visits to legislative counterparts in Washington, D.C., London, England, Canberra, and Dubai, as well as his interactions with the heads of security agencies in those countries. His patronage of the Military Family Resource Centre and his role as co-chair of the CKUA Radio Network Capital Campaign with his wife Ida. He was a founder, together with Fil Fraser, Jennie Belzberg and the late John Poole, of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards.

Authored legislation items

• The Statutes Repeal Act, (2008)
• An Act to Amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act (2008)
• Auditor General Act (involvement of Parliament) (2010)

Sponsored legislation items

• Canada National Parks Act (2000)
• Canada National Marine Conservation Act (2001)
• Act to Establish the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (2005)
• Act to Amend the Migratory Birds Convention (1994)
• Species At Risk Act (2002)
• Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999 (2005)
• Canada Border Services Agency Act (2005)
• Act to Amend the Criminal Code (justification for detention in custody) (2010)

Death

Banks died of leukemia on January 25, 2018, in Edmonton, Alberta.

Titles, honours, and awards.

Titles

• December 17, 1936 – April 7, 2000: Mr Thomas Benjamin Banks
• April 7, 2000 – : The Honourable Thomas Benjamin Banks

As a former senator, Banks was entitled to be styled The Honourable for life.

Honours

Ribbon bar of Tommy Banks

In order, these ribbons symbolise Banks': Order of Canada, Alberta Order of Excellence, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Alberta Centennial Medal

Awards

Banks won the Sir Frederick Haultain Prize, the 1979 Juno Award for Best Jazz Album, the 1992 Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Variety Program (with k.d. Lang, for their performance at the Canadian Country Music Awards) He was also a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame. His involvement in establishing the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation in 2003, which supports annual artist awards under the patronage of the Lieutenant Governor. Banks was a recipient of the Juno Award, the Gemini Award, the Grand Prix du Disques-Canada, several ARIA Awards, and was a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame. Banks was also the recipient of an honourary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Alberta.

Banks received an ACTRA Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as an Alberta Recording Industry Award of Distinction and the 2010 SOCAN Special Achievement Award. His wife Ida and he were honorary co-chairs for Northern Alberta of the CKUA Radio Network Capital Campaign, and board members of Wellspring Edmonton.

• 1979 Juno Award - Best Jazz album: Jazz Canada Montreux 1978 (Tommy Banks Big Band with Guest Big Miller)

External links

• Tommy Banks (musician) – Parliament of Canada biography
• Tommy Banks discography at Discogs
• Tommy Banks at IMDb
• Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca