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Agenda host Steve Paikin discovers Ellie Maxwell at Kagawong Market, invites her to TVO debut

EVANSVILLE—Steve Paikin, host of the TVO show The Agenda can now count himself lucky, just like all those who have heard the voice of 16-year-old Evansville singing sensation Ellie Maxwell.

“I was attending one of the weekly farmers’ markets held in Kagawong (in 2024) when I could hear this voice singing. She sounded so much like Ella Fitzgerald. When I found out where the voice was coming from and that it was Ellie that was singing, I was thinking, ‘more people need to hear this kid sing,’” Mr. Paikin told The Expositor.

Mr. Paikin and his family spend the summers in their Island home in the Kagawong area.

Ellie and her mother Mary Mendes De Franca appeared in a taping of The Agenda with Steve Paikin which aired December 19. As part of the show, Ellie sang an original song, ‘Lucky,’ which outlines her story of being adopted by her parents (Mary Mendes de Franca and Steve Maxwell), having been abandoned by her birth mother as a baby in South Africa and how she was adopted by her new family and moved to Evansville on Manitoulin Island.

“I think about that still, I don’t know what would have happened to me,” Ellie said in the interview with Mr. Paikin. “I wouldn’t have my brothers and sister who I love, parents that love me so much and the home I have. I have so much gratitude and love for my parents.”

“It was pretty neat being on the show and how this all came about,” said Mary. “Steve (Mr. Paikin) has a place in Kagawong and he was at a farmers’ market in Kagawong in 2024. Steve (Maxwell) was with Ellie, who was busking, and Mr. Paikin said he could hear someone singing, but he couldn’t see who it was.”

Ms. Mendes de Franca explained, “The Agenda does a musical show ever year.” Steve wanted Ellie to be on the show, and he contacted us in the fall and told us the show would have to be taped in Toronto.” 

Due to copyright laws and the cost it would be for TVO to pay to have Ellie sing an Ella Fitzgerald song on the show, “I told him (Mr. Paikin) Ellie has a couple of original songs that she has been working on,” said Mary. 

“Ellie and I went to the TVO studios in November for the interview,” said Mary. “It was a wonderful experience,” she said, noting the almost 18-minute interview delved into the story of Ellie and the Maxwell family adopting her and how she came to live on Manitoulin Island.

“It is an uplifting story,” said Mary. Mr. Paikin, “is a very skilled interviewer, and the film crew was great. (Mr. Paikin) is so great in what he does, you forget there are camera crews around. It was like the interview was taped in our living room.”

In the interview Mary explained, “Ellie came to us in the fall of 2008 from South Africa to live with Steve and I and her four siblings, three boys and a girl (including Robert, Katherine Joseph and Jacob). Ellie is 16 years old now. It was a really good interview, and Manitoulin Island is mentioned on the show.” 

Mary told Mr. Paikin, “Ellie came into our lives in 2008 at the end of what seemed to be a long adoption process. I had retired from my nursing job and Steve and I had been hearing about the strong need for adoptive parents and how many abandoned babies there are throughout the world.”

Mary and her husband Steve decided they wanted to adopt a child from South Africa. “All of us were excited about including a baby from South Africa into our family,” Mary told Mr. Paikin. She quipped, “Although our daughter Katherine said if we brought in another boy she would run away.”

It took two years of paperwork and the process of adoption that the family was able to officially adopt Ellie. “We received a photo of Ellie from the wonderful adoption agency we were working when she was just a few months old. She had been abandoned by her biological parents in a small village in South Africa at an auto repair shop. They had taken her in, and advertisements were put in the local newspapers asking if the parents would come forward. Ellie ended up going to an orphanage.”

“The adoption was finalized and we had to go to South Africa to pick her up, and made arrangements for someone to take care of the rest of our children,” said Mary. “Ellie was a perfect match for our family.”

Ellie told Mr. Paikin that when she was old enough, she wanted to know who her birth parents were. “I have such a wonderful family, and they love me, and I love them so much. And Manitoulin Island is so much fun to live on,” said Ellie. “The winter is cold, but the people on Manitoulin are so kind.”

As for when the family discovered Ellie was such a talented singer, Mary said it was recognized “as soon as she started speaking. One of our sons, who is musically inclined, said ‘she is absolutely on key and pitch’ in her singing. We were able to find a retired music teacher. He took Ellie on when she was about eight to help develop her voice, but later he said ‘Ellie needs more support than I can give her.’ When COVID started, we found a wonderful vocal teacher, Charmaine, from the US who Ellie was able to work with via Zoom.”

When he first heard Ellie singing last summer Mr. Paikin noted she was singing ‘from the great American song book.’ She was singing Ella Fitzgerald and from other performers from the past. He asked where she got her interest in music of Ella Fitzgerald and other talented singers. 

“My interest came from my dad. Every evening after supper he would play jazz,” said Ellie. “I got to know the songs, and I would sing or dance along. When I got my first iPod I copied all his jazz songs to my list,” she said, noting she loves musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand.

In coming to terms with being abandoned by her birth parents, she had received a poem written by her aunt. “It is a beautiful poem, and I thought I can do something with this. We contacted my producer Rick Cameron, and recorded ‘Lucky.’”

After hearing Ellie sing the song ‘Lucky’ on the show Mr. Paikin stated, ‘Oh my goodness, Ellie you are so amazing.’

He asked Mary what she thinks when she hears her daughter singing. “I tear up. It makes all the long adoption process and concerns we had before bringing Ellie into our family disappear. It makes it all worthwhile to hear her voice and know the person she has become.”

Ellie said when she sings she is hoping to touch the listener and stir up emotions in them. “I want to bring joy to people,” she stated. 

As for whether she is hoping for a career in singing, Ellie stated, “Yes, I’m working on it.” She said to reach her goals she needs to be steadfast in practicing every day and noted that her parents are such an inspiration to her every day.

Article written by

Tom Sasvari
Tom Sasvarihttps://www.manitoulin.com
Tom Sasvari serves as the West Manitoulin news editor for The Expositor. Mr. Sasvari is a graduate of North Bay’s Canadore College School of Journalism and has been employed on Manitoulin Island, at the Manitoulin West Recorder, and now the Manitoulin Expositor, for more than a quarter-century. Mr. Sasvari is also an active community volunteer. His office is in Gore Bay.