Beloved Maliseet bluesman Gary Sappier dead at 49
Gary Sappier — an award-winning musician, husband, father of four and proud member of Tobique First Nation — died on Tuesday.
He was 49.
Sappier was known for high-energy blues performances at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, the Larlee Creek Hullabaloo, the East Coast Music Awards and many other large and small venues across North America and the world.
"He played his music for everyone," said lifelong friend Brad Sappier. "No matter what the crowd was, he played a song he knew, or something he had of his own."
"He was a very funny man, very comical, he liked to do impressions and was always joking around," said another lifelong friend, Juno-nominated guitarist and singer Hubert Francis of Elsipogtog First Nation.
Always playing music
Growing up on the reserve, Francis recalled, Sappier was a kid with a "big heart" who followed in the footsteps of his father, Gary Sappier Sr. — a talented bassist and keyboard player.
"As soon as he started walking, his father started influencing him. His father was always playing music," Francis said.
He could also be found "ripping around the reserve on his new dirt bike with his hair on fire," Brad Sappier said. "We were all quite envious of him."
"Whatever you did with Gary was a story you would share with a lot of people and get good laughs out of it."
By the time Sappier was a teenager, he was playing drums and guitar and getting his first gigs at block parties on Tobique First Nation.
"He was a rocker," Brad Sappier said. "His music evolved over time, and he got more into solo work. He played with a lot of guys around here.
"He knew that he had something of his own that he wanted to contribute to the world."
Performed in Afghanistan, South America
In 2003, he released the album The Gary Sappier Experience.
The same year, he received his first ECMA nomination for for Aboriginal Recording of the Year for the song "South Train."
He knew that he had something of his own that he wanted to contribute to the world. - Brad Sappier, lifelong friend
In 2006, Sappier was one of 15 artists chosen from across the country to play for servicemen and women as part of a Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour, which provided show tours to Canadian Forces personnel serving in isolated locations.
He also opened for high-profile acts like Trooper and Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.
He recently performed at the Indigenous Games in French Guiana, according to Hubert Francis, as part of a cultural exchange between North American and South American indigenous groups.
"He showed us just how much of a musician he aspired to become," Brad Sappier said.
Francis said Sappier had found his musical niche showcasing his talents as both a vocalist and guitarist.
"He did the blues, he did rock and roll, but deep in his heart he was a romantic. He sang the slow ones for himself — to let out his feelings," Francis said.
Unknown illness
Sappier was hospitalized on Jan. 14 after suffering for several weeks from an unspecified complaint.
He passed away on Tuesday morning. His cause of death is not yet known.
Sappier's legacy reaches far beyond the community of Tobique, Brad Sappier said.
In addition to his wife, Megan, and four children — Hannah, Kipp, Macey and Ben — Sappier will be mourned by the "many communities, on reserve and off, where he touched a lot of people," Sappier said.
"His passion for New Brunswick aboriginal artists and the support he provided for them — how do you replace that?"
