Carolyn Fe is one of Montreal’s original Renaissance women. She began her career as a contemporary dancer before acting in a variety of theatrical productions, TV and movie spots. Then she found her true voice singing jazz and blues in nightclubs and at festivals across Canada.
I like to say blues icon Big Mama Thornton passed the torch to Fe in 1982 when Fe auditioned to be a dancer at legendary Montreal impresario Doudou Boicel’s Rising Sun nightclub, at the time temporarily relocated in that city’s famed Rockhead’s Paradise nightclub in Little Burgundy.
Recalls Fe, “Doudou called me to audition because he wanted to start an old-style revue but when I arrived he was busy, so I hung out at the bar while this skinny older woman in a straw hat sat onstage singing One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer. And I thought, ‘This voice is familiar!’
“After the audition, Thornton finished her set and hung out at the bar. I paid my respects but she told me, ‘Honey, you ain’t got nuthin’! You don’t know!’ She was really bitter about what had happened to her during her career. She said a bunch of expletives about how blues people ‘don’t get it. But if a few people do, then I can go to my grave with a smile on my face.’
Big Mama Thornton died on July 25, 1984, at age 58, but Fe would go on to launch her own award-winning blues act. While the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily sidelined Fe’s band, her acting career is in overdrive.
Recently relocated to Toronto (Fe divides her time between her homes in Montreal and the Queen City), she has received plenty of accolades for her stage and TV roles, including her new role (pictured at top) playing Josh’s (Josh Dela Cruz) “Lola” – his grandmother – in Nickelodeon’s all-new live-action / computer-animated interactive educational children’s TV series Blue’s Clues & You!
“It’s a recurring part,” says Fe. “What’s airing this season was filmed last season. I’m in two episodes this season and apparently will be in more next season. I’m just waiting for my schedule.
“I actually auditioned for the part the same day I was performing in a play! I got a call from my Toronto agent – during the play, I saw my cell phone buzzing. She was texting me from the audience and told me I had to audition an hour right after the show. ‘They know you probably will still be in your in your makeup and costume, whatever, but you have to do this!’ I memorized the script in the cab on the way to the audition and got the part!”
The move to Toronto has helped boost Fe’s career, even in Montreal where she is now getting bit parts on French-language Québec television.
But Fe says she cannot wait to hit the stage again with her band.
“I love to perform live,” she says. “Hopefully we’ll be back onstage at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022.”
For more Carolyn Fe, visit carolyn-fe.com.
