Groundbreaking ‘80s Country Star Dead at 79

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Groundbreaking ‘80s Country Star Dead at 79 originally appeared on Parade.

Most performers see country music stardom as an endpoint. For one artist, though, it was just the beginning.

In an obituary from country music historian Larry Delaney (CanCountry), Billboard Canada reported that country music icon Laura Vinson passed away on Thursday.

Dubbed “The Rocky Mountain Lady” by friends in the music industry, Vinson enjoyed widespread success as a country music artist before she transitioned seamlessly to cultural artistic representation, drawing on her Native roots to write and perform music that captured the unique experience of Indigenous Canadians like her.

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Vinson’s death sparked a tidal wave of mourning from fans. One fan responded to a Facebook announcement of her death, “Her soul will live on in the mountains of Jasper and the Willmore.” They added, “I hope the Sun Always Shines [sic .] on her spirit and her family and loved ones.”

Born May 23, 1947, in her early years, Vinson credited music with keeping her community’s spirits up during harsh Alberta winters. “We got a couple of radio stations sometimes, and it seemed like everybody had a guitar. Another friend played Aboriginal hand drums and we’d swap songs.”

In the ‘70s and ‘80s her star quickly rose with 14 of her Royalty Records single releases placing on the RPM Country Charts, including multiple top entries like the popular “Sweet Mountain Music” and “'Mes Amis O Canada.” She toured Canada and Europe, opened for country music legends like June Carter and Johnny Cash, before ultimately finding her way back to home.

A descendant of First Nations people and Europeans from the years of the fur trade, Vinson was of “Mountain Métis” heritage, known for its unique customs separate from other Indigenous groups. Vinson recalled someone telling her mother, “You’re not really an Indian, you’re just half a half breed, you know?” Based on that memory, she wrote the song “Half a Half Breed”.

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The response was staggering, surprising even Vinson. “I had people come out of the audience going, ‘You’ve just told my story.’” She recalled, “One young man came backstage at a festival and he was just holding onto me crying and he said, ‘I had no idea. I had no idea.’ He was sobbing.”

Vinson continued to shift her focus from classic country to Indigenous musical representation. In 1991, she formed the band Free Spirit, and in 1996, a theater show about the Indigenous experience inspired by her popular album Voices on the Wind opened to global success, touring all across the world.

She won numerous awards, including the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alberta Women of Country Music, and in 2020, Vinson was inducted into the Country Music Alberta Hall Of Fame. Her passion, however, remained in telling Indigenous stories and using her platform for representation activism.

In a January 1, 2020 article for The AFM, Vinson voiced her confidence in her legacy, praising the rising generation of Native artists. “They have started to look at their culture as a positive thing, a beautiful thing,” she said. “It’s long, long overdue.”

Groundbreaking ‘80s Country Star Dead at 79 first appeared on Parade on Jul 21, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.