MUSIC

Catalina Arts and Media is a Canadian publishing company that represents both visual artists and songwriters.  It is home to the legacy music catalogue owned by the late Brian Chater which was acquired shortly after his death in September 2013.  This catalogue contains the work of many notable songwriters and artists from the time when the Canadian music industry was beginning to emerge and gain international recognition during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  The catalogue is a collection of publishing companies, the oldest of which is Summerlea Music and its counterpart Winterlea Music, one set up at each of the two performing rights societies CAPAC and PROCAN that existed prior to their merger to form SOCAN.  Others fall under Avenue Road Music Group and include Castlewood Music, Melville Music, Melbrooke Music and Roehampton Music.

 

Many of the songs were published by Summerlea Music and recorded on the Much Records and Sweet Plum labels that were part of the Much Productions enterprise that CHUM radio set up in 1970 in anticipation of the Cancon regulations that came into effect on January 18, 1971.  Summerlea Music was established by Brian Chater and Bob Hahn in 1968 in Montreal and became the publisher under Much Productions.  The assets of Much Productions, including Much Records and Sweet Plum were acquired by Brian Chater from CHUM upon CHUM’s dissolution of Much Productions in early 1975.  There are many songs that were also published by Summerlea Music prior to its connection to CHUM, including those recorded by The British North-American Act for their only album “In the Beginning…” and The Five Bells for their album “Dimensions”. 

 

While the major portion of this catalogue consists of the work of Canadian legacy songwriters and artists, it will also include the work of a few songwriters who are currently active.   

 

ART

The visual art represented is the work of Arlene Dalton, a currently active artist who has built up a substantial portfolio of work over many years.  Reproductions of many pieces in the portfolio will be available for sale in a variety of formats that will include wearable art and items to enhance home décor, as well as numbered fine art giclée prints.

 

​Catalina Arts and Media is proud to represent the songwriters and visual artist whose incredible talent is embodied in the musical works and visual art that form this collection.

​

MANAGEMENT

Catalina Arts and Media is owned and managed by Mary Ellen Chater.  Born and raised in Peterborough Ontario, Mary Ellen cultivated an early interest in music by studying piano and participating in secondary school music groups in which she played the clarinet.  She was accepted into the Faculty of Music and the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in 1975 and completed a successful first year.  After returning to Peterborough for summer break, personal circumstances did not allow her to return to London, so she remained in Peterborough and continued her academic studies at Trent University. A further move, this time to Scarborough late in 1978 was followed by a hiatus of a few years after which Mary Ellen then continued her academic pursuits at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough College where she was able to combine her academic credits from both UWO and Trent within their newly created Cooperative Programme in Arts Administration lead by D. Paul Schafer, in which she majored in music.

 

Upon graduation from the University of Toronto in 1987, Mary Ellen began working at CAPAC (now SOCAN) in the Canadian Repertoire Department where she administered claims for live performance royalties on behalf of Canadian songwriters.  Shortly after the creation of SOCAN, she was offered the position of (corporate) Administrative Assistant which involved considerable research into the use of music and assistance with submissions for tariff hearings before the Copyright Board of Canada.  It was through this position that she met her future husband, Brian.

 

After gaining over eleven years’ experience in the administration of performing rights in music, Mary Ellen began a career as a conference program producer working across a wide variety of industries on many important developments, providing education to executives as they unfolded.  Among the areas she covered were developments within Canada’s entertainment and telecommunications industries for which she recruited several of her former contacts to speak about ongoing challenges and the digital disruption experienced within Canadian music, film and television production, distribution and copyright.

​