Sylvia Murphy
Canadian singer (1931–2021)
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Biography
She was the oldest child of Celia (née Zoddickson) and John Murphy. Her mother was from a Belarusian Jewish family and her father was of Irish Catholic descent, but both were natives of Liverpool, England. They met in Montreal after both emigrated there separately.[1]
Murphy got her start in nightclubs, and then was the featured singer on the radio programs Coca-Cola Refreshment Time and Club O'Connor with Billy O'Connor. She moved to television with a break on Cross-Canada Hit Parade and later became the singer for Jack Kane's Orchestra on the Jack Kane Show, Music Makers[2] and Music '60. She was also a regular performer on the Wayne and Shuster Hour.
She was married first to Mark Simon, son of a Montreal cigar manufacturer, and then to broadcaster and author Charles Templeton. Her children with Templeton were comic-book artist Ty Templeton and internet entrepreneur Brad Templeton. Templeton also became stepfather to her children with Simon, TV host and director Deborah Burgess; and prominent tax attorney Michael Templeton, a partner at McMillan LLP. She later married William C. Tate, GM of Garrett Manufacturing Limited, a leading aerospace manufacturer. They had a son, Bruce Tate.[1]
Murphy died on February 24, 2021, after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. She was 89.[3]
