On September 17th, 2023, a day before what would have been her 84th birthday, the statue of Rosalie Trombley, Windsor pioneer radio broadcaster, was unveiled at Windsor Riverfront.
Rosalie Trombley (1939-2021) was the legendary music director of AM Top 40 radio station CKLW, also known as “The Big 8,” who became known as “The Lady with the Golden Ear” for her gift to identify hit songs and launch the career of rookie musicians. Trombley worked as the music director during the 1970s when the station was one of the top five in North America and was one of the first female music directors.
Trombley received many recognitions in her lifetime and was inducted into the Motor City (Detroit) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Week Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Windsor artist Donna Jean Mayne initiated the idea to commemorate Trombley in a statue; she drew the conceptual drawing and got approval from the Windsor city council, which commissioned it together with St. Clair College.
Mayne sculpted the Mary Ann Shadd Cary statue that was dedicated in May 2022 at the University of Windsor downtown campus, which is a 10-minute walk from this statue.
The life-size bronze statue depicts Trombley smiling, leaning on a limestone sculpture in the shape of eight. It faces the Riverfront Festival Plaza – a site of many music festivals – and across the Detroit River, at the nearby City of Detroit.
Many attended the unveiling ceremony, including the artist Donna Jean Mayne, members of Trombley’s family, Windsor’s mayor and city council members, local CKLW figures, and Burton Cummings, the lead singer of The Guess Who, whose career was launched by Trombley.
Following the ceremony was the opening of a temporary commemorative exhibition at the Chimczuk Museum.
This post is also available in:
Español
This post is also available in:
Español
