| Al Cherny | |
| Birth Name: | Alexander Peter Chernywech |
| Birth Date: | 1 November 1932 |
| Birth Place: | Medicine Hat, Alberta |
| Death Place: | Mississauga, Ontario |
| Genre: | Country |
| Occupation: | Fiddler |
| Instrument: | fiddle |
| Years Active: | 1951-1989 |
| Past Member Of: | The Sons of the Saddle |
Alexander Peter Chernywech (November 1, 1932[1] – August 25, 1989) recording as Al Cherny, was a Canadian fiddler. He studied with Frank Nowak and played country music on CHAT-FM.
Cherney won the Canadian Old Time Fiddlers' Contest in Ontario, under the novelty class from 1959 to 1961 and the open class in both 1960 and 1961.
In the early 1970s, he was a leading studio musician, recording with musician like Gary Buck, Dick Damron, Tommy Hunter, Jesse Winchester and Sylvia Tyson. He released more than ten studio albums and received an RPM Big Country Award for Top Country Instrumentalist in 1978.
From 1964, until his passing in 1989, Cherny was a regular, featured musician on the CBC's The Tommy Hunter Show. Cherny met Tommy Hunter when he worked at CKNX in Wingham, Ontario.
He was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. He also performed regularly on The Tommy Hunter Show, until his death in 1989,[2] of lung cancer.[3]
| Year | Album[4] | |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | North American Fiddle Champion (Plays Contest Winning Tunes) | |
| 1965 | Plays Old Tyme Fiddle | |
| 1967 | On Stage With Al Cherny AKA Al Cherny | |
| 1968 | Golden Slippers | |
| 1969 | Blue Ribbon Fiddle | |
| 1972 | Fiddle Magic | |
| 1974 | Rural Roots | |
| 1975 | "The Big Fiddle Sound" Of Al Cherny | |
| 1975 | Fiddle Country | |
| 1978 | Country Club Hits of Al Cherny (Compilation) | |
| 1988 | Al Cherny's Fiddle Party (Compilation) | |
| 1988 | A Tribute to Al Cherny (Compilation) | |
| 2002 | The Lost Recordings - Live |
| Year | Single | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| CAN Country [5] | ||
| 1972 | "Shannon Waltz" | 46 |
| "Mr. Bojangles" | 45 | |