Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1980 - 2022 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Textual
0.0030 linear meters, 37 folders
Photographic
Prints, b&w
7 prints : b&w ; 8 x 10 in.
1 print : b&w; 8 x 9 ¾ in.
6 prints: b&w ; 7 ½ x 9 ½ in.
3 prints : b&w ; 7 ¾ x 9 ¾ in.
2 prints : b&w ; 5 x 8 in.
14 prints : b&w ; 5 x 7 in.
1 print : b&w ; 4 ½ x 7 in.
1 print : b&w ; 4 x 5 in.
2 prints : b&w ; 3 x 5 in.
Prints, colour
8 prints : colour ; 8 x 10 in.
1 print : colour ; 4 x 6 in.
Transparencies
160 transparencies : colour ; 35mm , mounted
Audio
1 CD: audio , Runtime: 0:37:51
Graphic
11 postcards: colour ; 4 x 6 in.
Artwork
3 doodles: colour ; various sizes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lenny Stoute was a prolific writer who mainly focused on music journalism but also wrote travel articles and fiction. He was born on September 28, 1945 in Georgetown, Guyana. He moved to Montreal where his brother was for a few years as a young man and then moved to Toronto in the 1970s. He never married but had two children.
According to Stoute, he got his break into music writing in 1970 when he travelled to Detroit on assignment for a small music magazine to cover a Canadian band and ended up landing an interview with Bob Seeger. In the next fifty years he continued to write numerous articles for newspapers like The Globe & Mail, Eye Weekly, and the Toronto Star. In the 1990s he wrote a weekly column for the Star entitled Club Crawl. He wrote about all genres of music from rock to pop to hip hop. He even wrote about opera and classical music. He was known for his distinctive writing style and for championing indie artists.
Stoute also travelled widely and wrote travel articles about places such as Mexico, Paris, and Greece. He was a prolific photographer and wrote fiction. He self-published three fiction books: This Plague of Love, Getting to Human, and Lockdown, Tales from the Pandemic.
Stoute passed away on September 22, 2024 at the age of 78.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This fonds contains writing and photographs by Lenny Stoute. Stoute wrote about music, travel, and nightlife for countless newspapers and magazines as well as fiction which he self-published.
The fonds includes the following 7 series:
Series 01: Press Clippings – This series contains clippings of articles by Lenny Stoute from a variety of newspapers and magazines where Stoute’s work was published.
Series 02: Promotional Materials – This series contains some press releases for performers and branded folders for press kits. Stoute stored his articles in these.
Series 03: Writing Drafts – This series contains rough drafts of Stoute’s articles and fiction writing. Many of the drafts have hand-written revisions on them.
Series 04: Photographs – This series contains photos of musicians and of travel locations.
Series 05: Art – This series contains art postcards and that Stoute collected as well as some of his doodles.
Series 06: Published material – This series contains a commercial cd in which Stoute wrote some of the lyics and Stoute’s self-published books.
Series 7: Miscellaneous – This series contains notes, resumes and other papers.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No futher accruals expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Preservation concerns may limit access, consult archivist.
Conditions governing reproduction
Media Commons Archives does not own copyright of collection materials. Consult rights holder for reproduction(s).
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Please contact archivist for finding aid: media.archives@utoronto.ca
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Dates of creation revision deletion
Record created on March 10, 2026 by Rachel E. Beattie
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
“Veteran music critic Lenny Stoute was known for his unconventional, freewheeling style: Over a career that spanned five decades, he covered everything f rom country to hip-hop, championing (and occasionally scathing) artists in a variety of publications” by Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail (online), Oct. 2, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2026.