LaRena Clark

LaRena LeBarr Clark (1904–1991) was a Canadian traditional singer and folksinger.

Early years Clark was born near Pefferlaw, Ontario, Canada in 1904 near Lake Simcoe. Her father and grandfather were hunters and guides. Her mother Mary Frances Watson was also a singer. She frequently identified herself as a "ninth generation Canadian." She also performed at the Madoc Music Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and others in Canada and the United States in the late 1960s. In 1967 she and her husband built a model Canadian pioneer farmstead and toured it around the province as part of Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967. In the late 1970s she set out to record 25 albums of traditional Canadian folk and popular songs, working with a local radio station CHAY-FM, as well as recording half hour television programming in Owen Sound.

Personal life Clark was married three times and during her first two marriages she bore six children. While working there, she met Gordon Clark, a veteran, and the two married in 1947. The couple were living in Ottawa in 1961 when she met folklorist Edith Fowke, who collected and recorded her songs.

Select recordings

Additional resources Fowke, Edith and Jay Rahn. A Family Heritage: The Story and Song of LaRena Clark. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1994.