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Celebration of Life announced for Maple Ridge country music icon Elmer Tippe

Fans, friends, and family will be welcome at Burnett Church on Thursday, Oct. 6
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Elmer Tippe has passed away. Born in 1933, he made a tremendous impact on country music, as a radio DJ and as a musician. He was pictured here in 2011 with his son, Rick, also a musician. (Black Press Media files)

The Tippe family has set a date for a celebration of life for family patriarch – Maple Ridge country music legend Elmer Tippe.

His son Rick Tippe and the rest of the family will be welcoming people to Burnett Church to reminisce about their father and share stories about his life.

Tippe died at the age of 89 on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at Ridge Meadows Hospital from complications from pneumonia.

He was born in Saskatchewan and was playing the banjo and fiddle at the age of eight in Alberta, before moving to British Columbia. At 15 he was entertaining at the professional level with his two older brothers in a band called Ray’s Harmony Five. After a brother was killed in a car crash, he formed The Pine Mountain Boys with his remaining brother and they performed with Royal Canadian tours.

Then he started a career in broadcasting at CJJC, B.C.’s first full-time country music station in Langley before moving onto CKWX SuperCountry radio in 1975. It was there that he helped give many young, up-and-coming local musicians their real start in country music, playing their songs on air.

He recorded several albums and charted three singles during the 1970s. Some of his hits include: Closed For Repairs/Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained; Don’t Ever Turn Around; and Thinkin Back.

READ MORE: Maple Ridge country music trailblazer dies at 89

ALSO: Tippe, like father like son

He was a member of the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame in Sacramento Calif., the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame in Washington State, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, and the British Columbia Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

In 1977, its inaugural year, the BCCMA bestowed upon his father the awards for Disc Jockey of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, recounted Rick.

“So many people, he touched their lives,” said Rick.

A Celebration of Life for Elmer Tippe will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 20639 123 Ave. in Maple Ridge.


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Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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