The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix (IPF| FIP) is pleased to announce Canadian legendary musician Tom Wilson (Tehohahake) will receive the 2024 IPF | FIP Lifetime Achievement Award in Music during a special presentation at the IPF | FIP Awards Ceremony and Concert Gala, on September 28, 2024, King Edward Hotel in Toronto.

The IPF | FIP Lifetime Achievement Award in Music is presented annually to a musical artist, duo or group, in recognition of their social activism and benevolent support of humanitarian interests and causes through their art. Mr. Wilson is a celebrated Canadian musician, famed storyteller and visual artist. He is best known as a five-time Juno winning Canadian musician with multiple gold records. In 2023, he was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada.

As an adult Mr. Wilson learned of his indigenous roots and to help bring honour, love, respect and shine a light back on the culture he was introduced to later in life, he established the Tom Wilson Bursary in 2020 to support year one indigenous students from Ontario secondary schools completing an undergraduate program in any faculty.

In his memoir Beautiful Scars, a national bestseller published by Penguin/Random House, Mr. Wilson reveals the impact of discovering his Indigenous heritage. Shane Belcourt's 2022 documentary film Beautiful Scars premiered at the 2022 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination. The world premiere of the musical adaptation of Beautiful Scars was staged in Spring 2024 by Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario.

A veteran of the Canadian music scene, Mr. Wilson has been a writer and performer for many years and is best known for his eclectic musical style. Musically, Mr. Wilson is best known for his work with Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Lee Harvey Osmond, the latter receiving a 2020 Juno Award for the album “Mohawk”.

In 1989 Mr. Wilson became the founder of the popular rock band Junkhouse. The band quickly grew in popularity and in 1993 signed a recording contract with Sony Music Canada. Lead by Mr. Wilson, Junkhouse skyrocketed in the 90s, producing three albums before disbanding. The style and success of Junkhouse has been an inspiration to many young Ontario artists. Following on his earlier success, Mr. Wilson subsequently recorded his first solo album Planet Love (2001) for Sony Music.

It was also during this time that Mr. Wilson started dedicating more of his time and energy to his second passion, painting. His art show “Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs” premiered at the Art Gallery of Burlington and his permanent collection is featured at the Beckett Fine Art Gallery in Hamilton. His brightly coloured paintings have been displayed in galleries in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and across North America.

His work “The Mystic Highway” was commissioned by CARAS for a 30’ x 30’ reproduction legacy piece adorning John Street in Hamilton, Ontario. The painting pays homage to the rich history of Hamilton musicians and performers from past. Indeed, Mr. Wilson’s work as a visual artist has found its way into many prestigious private and public collections around the world.

In 1999, as a result of their shared love and admiration for one of Canada’s great musical treasures, the late Willie P. Bennett, Mr. Wilson along with Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden formed what would soon become the highly acclaimed roots music supergroup Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. The Rodeo Kings have produced ten albums and have toured throughout North America and Europe.

While Mr. Wilson created solo albums, Planet Love and Dog Years (2006), it was with his collaboration with producer and Cowboys Junkies founder Michael Timmins that he found and settled into a new voice. The result is Mr. Wilson’s genre defining, alter personae Lee Harvey Osmond which has become the soundtrack and the voice for the art of Tom Wilson.

Mr. Wilson has written for and recorded songs with Sarah McLachlan, City and Colour, Jason Isbell, Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Matt Andersen, Mavis Staples and The Rankin Family. His band Junkhouse scored eleven top-ten hits in the 90's, and his iconic, Americana-fuelled Blackie and the Rodeo Kings has performed on stages from The Grand Ol Opry to Massey Hall.

The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix is honored to list Mr. Wilson among its annual lifetime achievement honorees as a testament to his multifaceted contributions to the arts in Canada, and notably as an iconic musician, as well as for his advocacy of Indigenous communities in Canada by invoking ancestral wisdom while addressing pressing issues of our time and bridging past and present through his artistry.