Fred Penner documentary explores family history that inspired 40-year career

A new locally produced documentary delves deep into the life of legendary Manitoba family entertainer Fred Penner, and the thing that heavily influenced his music — his early family life.

This is My World starts in 1946, when Penner was born, and takes the viewer through his tumultuous childhood, when he lost his sister and father within a year.

"It's an emotional turn that I don't always show to an audience," he said on CBC's Weekend Morning Show on Saturday.

"It's not difficult for me to talk truthfully about my upbringing and the challenges that I went through and how I've arrived at this point in my life after 40-plus years of being on the road," though Penner said those conversations are generally reserved for friends.

When he was a teenager, Penner's beloved sister Susie, who had Down syndrome and a heart condition, died at the age of 12. 

"Susie and I had ... a very unique kind of relationship," he recalled.

"There's an energy, a purity, a love that comes, particularly it seems to me, with children with Down syndrome that is just beautiful and unique and has no ego involved with it at all. So I learned something very important from Susie in my teen years when we were together and she was growing up."

He was also inspired by her love of music.

A year later, Penner's father died at the age of 62. He had battled alcoholism for many years, and wasn't always present when Penner and his four siblings were growing up.

"Those were pretty hard transition times for me, certainly as a young man trying to figure out where my path would go," he said.

At one point, the singer-songwriter said he contemplated a career in civil service, but didn't enjoy being in the classroom enough to pursue additional higher education.

"Music was just something that I did [as an] extracurricular [activity], but it was not, even at that point in my early 20s, going to be a career choice," Penner said.

"Then the music just evolved from there."

Penner's career has been prolific. On top of his 12 children's albums, he composed the music for the children's show Tipi Tales, hosted a documentary and did 900 episodes of the hit CBC-TV show Fred Penner's Place. 

He's a two-time Juno winner, to boot.

After more than 40 years on the road, Penner has come to see himself as a communicator to the whole family, not just to children.

"[It's about] understanding the value that comes from bringing a message or a good song or a thought into a life perspective, something that ... the parents and kids can listen to, can adopt and adapt into their own lives," Penner said.

Aaron Floresco's documentary on Fred Penner is streaming now on FUSE TV.