Husband and wife duo Bernie and Red perform in Abbotsford on Sunday, Nov. 29 as part of their 50th anniversary tour.
The comedy and music team perform at 2 p.m. at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, with proceeds going to the Abbotsford branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Bernie and Red met as teenagers in Liverpool, England, and subsequently married. Bernie worked as a salesman and Red was a stay-at-home mother of two.
They were looking for adventure, a rural lifestyle, fresh air and open spaces and so they moved to Canada, where they began to take music and entertaining seriously.
Prior to that it was just a few songs sung by Red to Bernie’s guitar accompaniment at family gatherings, but they soon found that the Canada of the 1970s was fertile ground for their unusual mixture of music and comedy.
Their entertainment gigs initially had to fit in with Bernie’s cow-milking schedule, but before long, Bernie quit milking cows, and the couple began performing full-time. They were soon travelling worldwide via their cruise ship performances.
This 50th anniversary tour has seen them perform throughout North America. By the end of this year, they will have completed more than 50 concert dates in 2015.
In January, they’ll be off again for their annual winter tour, which includes dates in Arizona, California and Texas. Their anniversary show has a 50-year theme.
“We’ve chosen songs that have special memories for us, but nothing is really obscure. These are songs that all people of a certain age will know,” Bernie said.
They have also accumulated hours of comedy routines and stories over the years, and are constantly writing new material, much of which will be featured at the performance.
Tickets for the show are $10. For more information, call 604-853-1711 or visit bernieandred.com.