TRURO, N.S. — Frank MacKay, best known in the Truro area for his vocal supremacy with the former Lincolns band, has died.
MacKay, who went on to become one of Nova Scotia’s most famous vocalists and stage performers died Wednesday night while recovering from heart surgery at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.
“He was just great,” said longtime friend Rod Norrie.
As one of the founding Lincoln members, it was Norrie who invited MacKay to join the band in the early 1960s after an impromptu performance one evening at the old Pleasant Street Hall in Truro where the Lincolns first developed their fan base.
Born in New Glasgow, MacKay came to Truro at age 11 and he joined the Lincolns at age 15.
“In September of 1961 I was an introverted young "Mackerel Snapper" trying desperately to keep up with a new and fast-changing world,” he wrote in a memoir published August in the Truro News, prior to a reunion performance last September at the Royal Canadian Legion in Truro.
“We were lucky to do that,” Norrie said. “It was a good reunion. We all had a good time.”
MacKay soon became a full-fledged member of the Lincolns throughout most of the 1960s as the band toured far and wide throughout the region. They became a regular hit with long-standing Friday night performances at the legion before MacKay went on to further national fame as both a singer and stage performer.
