Touche

One of the West Coast’s few disco entries into Canadian music history was Touché, a studio project assembled by Martin Shaer in early 1979.

The singers were Vancouver native Rosalind Keene (ex of New Space Band, Home Cooking), and a pair of Edmonton natives – Nancy Nash, who had already released a solo album the year before, and Mary Saxton, who along with being in Southbound Freeway and Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, also had released a pair of solo records.

They were teamed up with producer Brian Griffiths, whose Griffiths Gibson Productions was most noteable for producing commercial jingles. Recorded at Vancouver’s Little Mountain Studios, the studio sessions included a venerable who’s who of the industry – Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams‘ songwriting partner), Howie Vickers (Collectors, Valdy, Chilliwack), guitarist Bob Buckley and David Sinclair on keyboards (both of Body Electric and Straight Lines), Joel Wade (Wade Brothers, Stallion Thumrock) on bass, and engineer Bob Rock – then a studio engineer and later a member of Payolas and future production whiz.

They released their only self-titled album that summer on Magnum Records. The only single, “Take A Look (But Don’t Touch)” quickly shot up the charts and became one of Canada’s last disco singles. Backed with “Night Rider,” it wasn’t long before the single was all over the quickly fading disco dance floors and briefly made it to the top 40 chart before dropping out. With only six songs, the shortest of which was still nearly five minutes long, the album was geared to the dance crowd, featuring three tracks with Vickers on the credits, as well as Buckley’s instrumental, “One Day,” and none written by any of the three singers. But unlike a traditional disco album with synthesized repetitive drum beats, songs like the lead-off “Warm Storm of Love” featured slick guitar work with a strings ensemble, and was indicative of the album.

But before long the final nail was put in disco’s coffin, and all three ladies went their separate ways. Nash went back to a moderately successful solo career, releasing another album in the ’80s, and also guested on Loverboy‘s first two releases, as well as working with Bon Jovi and Cher, among others. She then adopted the First Nations name Sazachi Red Sky, releasing four Aboriginal albums while picking up one Juno nomination in ’95. Keene performed occasionally along the West Coast until getting out of the business all together. Saxton also continued as a solo performer, but also got out of the business.