MARLENE BEAUDRY was born in Alliston, Ontario, and later moved to Toronto to pursue her career as a Country music performer. She was \u201cdiscovered\u201d by music producer\/promoter Ben Weatherby while she was performing on the Toronto night club circuit (Edison Hotel \/ The Caribou Club, etc.) during the late 1960s, and he produced her early career recordings, released on the famed Arc Records label.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cmaontario.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ontarios-country-music-pioneers-marlene-beaudry-2-300x296.jpeg\")
Marlene Beaudry entered the recording scene in 1968 with immediate airplay success on her cover of Jeannie C. Riley’s smash hit, \u201cHarper Valley PTA\u201d. It was the lead single from her Arc Records debut album of the same name. Oddly, Marlene gets to sing only four of the ten songs on her debut package, which also features Pop hits of the day, including \u201cMrs. Robinson\u201d, \u201cHurdy Gurdy Man,\u201d and \u201cMony, Mony\u201d – all delivered by unidentified vocalists.<\/p>\n
A follow-up album, \u201cCountry Reflections\u201d (Arc-790), was filled with Marlene Beaudry\u2019s renditions of Country favourites, including reprises of her \u201cHarper Valley PTA\u201d, \u201cNobody But A Fool\u201d and \u201cTouch My Heart\u201d recordings from the debut release.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cmaontario.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ontarios-country-music-pioneers-marlene-beaudry-1-297x300.jpeg\")
A third album, \u201cWoman Is Boss\u201d (Arc-812), released in 1969, was a continuation of Marlene Beaudry\u2019s success with her cover versions of Nashville\u2019s hits of the day, as well as two songs penned by Canadian songwriters: the album\u2019s title track, \u201cWoman Is Boss\u201d, was written by Eric Robertson, and \u201cPride In Mind\u201d by G. Lowe. Marlene Beaudry also teamed up with East Coast legend Dick Nolan (\u201cAunt Martha\u2019s Sheep\u201d) for two duet albums: the 1969 \u201cDuets\u201d and a follow-up \u201cCountry Hits\u201d album, both on the Arc Records label.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cmaontario.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ontarios-country-music-pioneers-marlene-beaudry-4-300x241.jpg\")
Marlene Beaudry with duo recording partner Dick Nolan<\/p><\/div>\n
Marlene Beaudry\u2019s single releases on Arc Records included \u201cHarper Valley PTA\u201d, \u201cPride In Mind\u201d, and \u201cRoses, Rain & Yesterday\u201d – the latter song, written by Harlan Howard, was not available on her albums. She also had four of her recordings featured on the Arc Records Various Artists album \u201cMore Country Hits\u201d, including \u201cStand By Your Man\u201d, \u201cThe Girl Most Likely\u201d, \u201cFlattery Will Get You Everywhere\u201d, and \u201cYour Squaw Is On The Warpath\u201d.<\/p>\n
After touring extensively in Ontario, Quebec and throughout the Maritimes. Marlene Beaudry quietly exited the music world. Thankfully, she provided us with a solid catalogue of material to keep her name among Canadian Country Music\u2019s early pioneer artists.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MARLENE BEAUDRY was born in Alliston, Ontario, and later moved to Toronto to pursue her career as a Country music performer. She was \u201cdiscovered\u201d by music producer\/promoter Ben Weatherby while…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1250],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ontario-pioneers-2026","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n