#14: There Was A Time by One To One

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: February 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #35
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “There Was A Time”
Lyrics: “There Was A Time”

One To One were a band that formed in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1984. It consisted of vocalist Louise Reny and producer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Howe. The duo had been in a local rock band since the mid-70s called Mainstream. Tired of playing covers of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop tunes, Reny and Howe were inspired to collaborate and release original material. In late 1985 they released “There Was A Time“.

“There Was A Time” was written by One To One. The song is about a two childhood friends who want to be able to return to a time of innocence. A time when there were no heartaches, but shared secrets children told each other.

I want to go back, want to escape to,
“Once upon a time” land.
Back to the old days, we had our own ways of,
Playing make believe

The song climbed to #14 on the Canadian RPM singles chart. “There Was A Time” climbed to #1 in Ottawa, #6 in Toronto, and #11 in Saskatoon (SK). According to Canadian Bands.com, the single made the Top 20 in several European record markets.

In the spring of 1986, One To One released “Angel In My Pocket“.

Their debut album, Forward Your Emotions, was recorded in West Germany. It earned them credibility in the music industry. One To One were nominated for Most Promising Group of The Year at the Juno Awards in 1986. They lost out to Glass Tiger. Leslie Howe was nominated for Producer of the Year, but he lost out to David Foster and his soundtrack to St. Elmo’s Fire. Howe was also nominated at the 1986 Juno’s for Recording Engineer of the Year, but lost out to Gino and Joe Vannelli for their recording of the Black Cars album.

In 1988, One To One recorded their second studio album titled 1-2-1. The debut single was “Hold Me Now”, a tune that was not a cover of the Thompson Twins hit, “Hold Me Now” from 1984. In the midst of the promotion of 1-2-1, the duos label was folding. They got picked up by Herb Alpert’s A&M Records. Subsequently, One To One released a cover of the 1968 Diana Ross & The Supremes hit “Love Child”.

Meanwhile, Leslie Howe produced Alanis Morrisette’s first album, Alanis (1991), and follow up Now Is The Time (1992). One To One went through a transition into new country-pop and a revised billing as One 2 One. However, their third album, Imagine It, didn’t catch on. A single from the album, “Peace Of Mind”, charted into the Top 30 in Liberty (KS), Hamilton (ON) and Vancouver.

Howe and Reny emerged a year later to form Sal’s Birdland. Their sound was now alternative rock. Another name change came with the billing of Artificial Joy Club. In this iteration, they had a #17 hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1997 titled “Sick And Beautiful”. After the Artificial Joy Club broke up in 1999, Leslie Howe continued to work as a producer. Meanwhile, Louise Reny sang vocals in Ottawa area bands Bubbles Cash and the Rhythm Method. Both of these later bands did covers of music from the 60’s to the 80’s, similar to the music Mainstream did before One To One was formed.

November 12, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Lance Chalmers, Leslie Howe, Bob Moffatt, Michelle Plasse, One To One bio, Canadian Bands.com
Chuck Taylor, Crunchy Act Artificial Joy Club Melts Away Doubters With ‘Sick And Beautiful’ Single, Billboard, August 9, 1997.
Lance Chalmers, Leslie Howe, Bob Moffatt, Michelle Plasse, “One To One,” Canadianbands.com, April 11, 2022.

CFRA 580-AM Ottawa Top Ten | February 21, 1986