Jeanne Beker and Paul Hardy are co-curating the exhibition Obsession: The Unscripted Life of Jeanne Beker, which will debut at Glenbow in 2026 when the museum reopens at the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture. /Phil Crozier photo
These days a real Canadian entertainment pioneer is living just a few minutes down the road in Northumberland.
Jeanne Beker’s career in show business started when she was a teenager studying acting and mime before a stint as radio reporter for CBC.
Beker then moved to Toronto for a slot on CHUM Radio. What happened next was the beginning of what can only be described as a moonshot.
The NewMusic hit television transforming how Canadians saw new artists, not just hear them. Always in motion, Beker later switched gears and began what would be a 27-year run as the host of Fashion TV.
Now in her early 70s Beker hosts ‘Style Matters’ on the Shopping Channel and has published her third memoir ‘Heart On My Sleeve.’
Beker reflects on recent history and what she calls the most extraordinary year of her life; navigating a breast cancer diagnosis. Beker says throughout she was reminded about the power of positivity.
After going public with her diagnosis, Beker says she was blown away by how the public embraced her and her openness.
Beker’s newest memoir published this fall is ‘Heart On My Sleeve.’ She says it was a risk using what she calls the lens of wardrobe for storytelling, but it worked.
A reader-friendly format, the book can be opened at any chapter for a short, complete and insightful story on fashion and it’s impact on our lives.
Born in 1952, Beker’s worldview stands on a foundation built by her family.
Beker’s parents are Holocaust survivors and unlike many who lived through that horror told their stories.
Beker says her mom would even go to high schools to talk to students about that painful history.
While Beker’s light is the one that shines so publicly, she tells us her inner energy was and is still fuelled by her sister, “the cool one,” says Beker.
Beker has hobnobbed with entertainment and fashion icons her entire career and in doing so has become an icon herself. But Beker doesn’t see herself or her interview subjects that way saying she’s always been adamant about exposing the humanity beneath the artistry.
Admitting she’s a great sentimentalist, Beker isn’t shy about being nostalgic. She says the music and fashion of her life and the people whose lives she has shared with listeners and viewers, comes through in her latest memoir.
Because Beker’s career has spanned several exciting decades of entertainment, fashion and design she says it’s hard to nail down a favourite interview.
Beker says she sometimes still needs to pinch herself. And there’s still much more to look forward to.
Calgary’s Glenbow Museum is undergoing a $200-dollar renovation. When it reopens in 2026, one of the first major exhibits will be a retrospective of Beker’s career. A production Beker will will co-curate.
Beker remembers her sister telling the younger version of herself: “You really are going to make it some day, just never take no for an answer.”
Beker says when we face a barrier, we should be relentless and try a new way of breaking through.
