  The youngest of six kids, Bruce Murray was born into a musical family in Springhill, Nova Scotia, and is the younger brother of Anne Murray.He took piano lessons as a child, and was the regular organist at church by the time he was 11. Like his famous sister, he initially had dreams of becoming a teacher, and attended St Francis Xavier University. After graduating in 1974, he tried to follow in his sister’s footsteps by also auditioning for the TV show, “Singalong Jubilee,” which gave Anne her start. When that didn’t work out, he attended the University of British Columbia for a year, then moved to Toronto. There, he signed with Balmur Music, the publishing company that not only handled his sister, but also the careers of Frank Mills and John Allan Cameron. He released his self-titled debut album in ’76 on Quality Records, with Anne and Bob Morten co-producing. It spawned two singles – “From Now On” and a tender rendition of Boz Scaggs’ ballad, “We’re All Alone,” complete with a small orchestra. Although things were looking up when his version cracked the top 40, it was quickly knocked off the charts when Rita Coolidge also recorded it. He toured with Olivia Newton-John, as well as on his own, for the next year or so across Canada and Australia, and returned with his sophomore album in 1979, THERE’S ALWAYS A GOODBYE, produced by Bob Gallo. Attempting to broaden his sound, the first single was a disco version of the doo-wop classic, “In The Still Of The Night,” b/w the non-lp song “Who What Where When Why,” written by Rupert Holmes. But for all intents and purposes disco was dead and the single went nowhere. Incidentally, his sister Anne also recorded a version of the song a few years later, though not a disco song. He followed it up with “I’ll Never Stop Singing My Song,” but that too failed to make enough of an impression to keep the label execs happy. For the next few years, he mostly appeared as a guest musician on others’ projects, including doing duets with Anne, and toured as part of her back-up band. His third and final album came in the form of TWO HEARTS in 1984, after signing a new deal with Capitol Records. Produced by John Hug and recorded in Toronto and LA, it featured a bevy of talent as contributing artists, including Anne and Diane Brooks on background vocals, Peter Cardinali (Sass Jordan, Rick James, Teena Marie, Rik Emmett) on bass, and guitarist Richie Zito, whose credits at that point included the likes of Cheap Trick, Eddie Money, and The Cult. But the only single, “Hiding From Love” tanked when it was released as a single, and Capitol excused themselves from any further obligations. After appearing among the cast of dozens that made up Northern Lights, contributing to the African famine relief song, “Tears Are Not Enough,” he upgraded his studies, moved back to Nova Scotia, and and became a high school science teacher.
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