This summer, don't be surprised if you open your mailbox and find Bryan Adams gazing out at you.
Starting tomorrow, the Vancouver rocker will appear on a special set of postage stamps celebrating four musicians who have made an impact on the Canadian music industry.
Joining Adams on the tiny 32-millimetre-by-32-millimetre stage will be singer-songwriter Stompin' Tom Connors, French-Canadian rocker Robert Charlebois and Acadian songstress Édith Butler.
Connors said in a statement he was "delighted, humbled and overwhelmed" by this "stamp of approval" and Butler, whose great-grandfather was a postmaster, gleefully called the honour "the biggest thing that ever happened to me."
As for Charlebois, the Quebec chanteur who turns 65 tomorrow, the postal homage makes for a wonderful birthday present. "I [wish]my parents would be alive to see that because when I started 40 years ago, I never thought I would land on a stamp," he said in an interview The 54-cent stamps will be printed using lithography in nine colours and issued in booklets of eight or sheets of four, with the latter sold in CD-shaped packages. The images will feature monochrome photographs of the singers illuminated by spotlights, Canada Post said in a press release, in order to "reflect the stardom of these 'living legends.'"
A special "cancel" has been issued for the commemorative stamps in the shape of a microphone (a cancel is the postal marking that defaces a stamp to prevent its re-use).
"[We]chose artists that really paved the way and set their foot on the path of where Canadian artists are today," said Canada Post spokeswoman Nicole Lemire. "This stamp issue is really being released to draw attention to the great Canadian recording artists who haven't just had impact on Canadians, but individuals around the world."
This year's stamps will be available at post offices across Canada, as well as through direct order from the National Philatelic Centre. This is the second time Canada Post has issued a set of recording-artist stamps; in June, 2007, a collection was released featuring Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka and Anne Murray. Lemire said the 2007 issue proved immensely popular, with six million printed and several products selling out.
This year's print run will only have four-million stamps however, partly because Canada Post chose not to issue permanent-rate stamps this time around. Permanent rate stamps are always worth the current rate, regardless of their initial retail rate.
It's also no secret that people are using the post office less and less these days, and Canada Post reported a 2 per cent decline in letter mail for 2008. Stamp sales make up about 1 per cent of total revenue for the Crown corporation, Lemire says. (Stamp prices increased to 54 cents from 52 cents in January of this year. Each one-cent increase brings in $30-million a year, according to a panel report released by the government earlier this year).
Landing a gig on a postage stamp might even be harder than winning a Juno. Canada Post receives hundreds of stamp suggestions every year, with only about 20 to 25 themes chosen annually, Lemire says. A 13-person committee then sifts through the options, meeting three times a year before making a final decision. For this collection, only musicians who were officers or members of the Order of Canada were considered (their insignias will also be featured on the stamps). The current stamp advisory committee, appointed by Canada Post's board of directors for a three-year term, includes author/illustrator Nick Bantock and Lilly Koltun, the curator of the Canadian Portrait Gallery.
Once selections are finalized, the stamp committee approaches a few graphic-design companies to cram a picture, text, stamp denomination and other visual elements onto the tiny paper canvases, before settling on an image. In total, the process takes about two years from when a stamp is suggested to the time it rolls of the presses, Lemire says.
Charlebois hopes the commemorative stamps will encourage people to send more letters. He'll be stocking up on his stamps and using them for future correspondence.
"I probably will send all my postcards with my own face on it, especially to my friends in Belgium and Switzerland," he says with a boisterous laugh. "They're going to faint, they won't believe their eyes!"