[Deathwatch] Ben Kerr, street singer, 75

[Deathwatch Central]

Last updated Jun 21 2005 09:56 PM EDT
CBC News

CBC NEWS – Ben Kerr, the Toronto busker best known for crooning country
and western songs at one of the city's busiest street corners, died
Friday at the age of 75.

Kerr serenaded hurried commuters at the corner of Yonge and Bloor for
two decades, no matter the weather.

At the news of his death, a simple tribute scrawled on a pillar read,
"Thanks Ben."

A perennial mayoral candidate – he ran in every election since 1985 –
the self-proclaimed "King of Cayenne" advocated the health benefits of
cayenne pepper, and was one of the city's biggest boosters.

"Toronto is the number 1 city in the world and the people in Toronto
here have to realize this."

In last year's federal Conservative Party leadership race, Kerr threw
his support behind Belinda Stronach, the former president and CEO of
Magna International Inc.

The colourful Kerr wore a "Better than Viagra" sweatshirt at the
opening of Stronach's campaign headquarters.

His quirky personality won him repeated best-busker recognition from
NOW Magazine readers. In a 2002 letter to the publication's editor,
Kerr thanked his supporters for voting for him eight years in a row.

"This, to me, is more important than winning an Oscar," wrote Kerr.


T.O. street singer dies
By VIVIAN SONG
			
Ben Kerr

He was the ageless crooner who spiced up the corner of Yonge and Bloor
Sts. with his smooth country singing.

He was the source of amused smiles from busy commuters who slowed their
pace to read his sweatshirt slogans, such as "Better than Viagra."

But Ben Kerr, better known as the King of Cayenne and for his runs for
the mayor's office, died Friday, leaving a void on the corner he's laid
claim to for dozens of years.

Peter Franke lived with Kerr for 25 years at their Jones Ave. home --
the House of Cayenne. He found Kerr's body in the basement, where he'd
been living for a few months.

Kerr, who Franke said was in his 70s, had been retaining water in his
limbs and moved to the basement because he couldn't climb stairs. He
refused to go the hospital. Instead he did what he's always done: Drink
his famous cayenne pepper cocktail.

The carrot juice, peppered with herbs and a healthy sprinkling of
cayenne pepper, was Kerr's famous cure-all -- he claimed it also added
heat in the bedroom. He chronicles the cocktail and his life in The
Cayenne Pepper Cocktail Does it All.

In his former life, Kerr did accounting and managerial work, and was
also an executive at the Toronto Harbour Commission.

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary