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Formed in Calgary in the late 1970s, Qwest was centred around the Gellner brothers – Shelly on guitars and Barry on bass, both who also shared lead vocal duties. With guitarist Greg Gunhold and drummer Jim Symchych, they honed their chops around the Alberta circuit as a cover band over the next couple of years …
The pride of Pointe-Claire, Quebec, vocalist John Pimm, guitarists Mike Harris and Rick Metcalfe, George Creswick on bass, and drummer David Wynne bounced around the various Montreal area clubs while growing up in the early ’60s. They went through several name changes while doing psychadelia and blues standards, but eventually Wynne and The Haunted’s Brian …
Robbie Rae memorial Robbie Rae’s first taste of the music industry was when he was still a child in Wales, singing soprano in a choir, as his father had done. When he was 14 he was discovered by a local producer, then signed by Decca records, and was soon touring with his brother Martin throughout …
A true icon in every sense of the word, Randy Bachman’s music roots go back to the mid fifties. Along with school friend Chad Allan, he formed the Silvertones, then the Reflections, then the Expressions and cut their teeth early playing dances, all the while quietly becoming one of Winnipeg’s best-kept secrets. Because Canadian content …
Arguably Canada’s most famous musical clan, The Rankin Family grew up in Mabou, Cape Breton Island, all 12 of which were raised with music in the household and everyone singing and playing a variety of instruments. The older kids began performing at dances, weddings, and other functions in and around Nova Scotia in the early …
One of Montreal’s foremost new wave groups, Rational Youth was conceived by Tracy Howe, who’d just left the punk band The Normals as their drummer and singer. He’d spent time in several groups prior to that, including Heaven Seventeen (which featured future Men Without Hats frontman Ivan Doroschuk), and was looking for a new musical …
Born into a musical family, Dave and Geoff Panting played at all the local venues growing up in St John’s, and both had experience prior to hooking up with Ian McKinnon in 1987. Dave had been with folk group Figgy Duff, and Geoff had written for and performed onstage with Sheila’s Brush – a St …
Born and raised in Montreal and the Ottawa Valley, once he was out of high school, Ronald Bankley began performing at coffee houses and anywhere he could get a gig in the early ’70s. He changed the spelling of his first name to the more eclectic ‘Rawn,’ and joined the Ville Emard Blues Band in …
Not to be confused with the ‘Blue Ridge Ranger’ from the ’50s, Ray Hutchinson was born in Montreal in 1940. He was diagnosed at age four with tubeculosis of the hip, and spent much of his youth in and out of the local Shriners Hospital. He attended the School for Crippled Children next door, and …
One of the most popular folk trios of the 1960s was The Raftsmen, formed around Montreal natives Louis Leroux and Marvin Burke when they began playing together. They lured Toronto native Martin Overland from his group The Strangers, which also consisted of his sister Arlene and Leon Segal, at the beginning of the decade while …