Hank Karr (b. 1939)

Hank Karr was born in Wishart, Saskatchewan. He immigrated to Ketchikan, Alaska in 1964 to begin his music career at the Yukon Club. When he was in Vancouver later that year, he was persuaded by Al Oster to go to Whitehorse. He met his future wife, Pam, there. At the end of his contract, they travelled to Oregon and then, in 1967, to Anchorage. He represented the Yukon at the Montreal Expo in 1967 and recorded two albums before returning to Whitehorse where he and some partners leased the Copper King. After 1973, Karr went to play at the Yukon Inn and then the Klondike Inn, and the Hank Karr Band eventually became Hank Karr and Gold Fever. The band played in almost every Whitehorse bar and is a perennial favourite at the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1982, the album Paddlewheeler And Other Northern Ballads, with songs by Al Oster, was released by the CBC Northern Service.¹⁾ Les McLaughlin produced the album. Al Oster helped Karr develop his distinctive sound and Al wrote most of the songs that Karr recorded. Hank Karr’s Yukon Book of Memories came out in 2006, once again with the help of Les McLaughlin who suggested the video. The pair spent fifteen days touring the Yukon and getting shots. Meanwhile, Karr continued his day job, a bus route for the city, a job he started around 1990.²⁾

Hank and Pam Karr were chosen Mr. and Mrs. Yukon 2019 by the Yukon Order of Pioneers. They represented the organization at the Sourdough Rendezvous and throughout the year.³⁾ In September 2019 Hank Karr was the recipient of the Western Canadian Music Alliance Heritage Award. The award is presented to a person who has made significant contributions to the music industry over the course of their career.⁴⁾