#2: Old Emotions by the Spoons
City: Kitchener, ON
Radio Station: CHYM
Peak Month: December 1983-January 1984
Peak Position in Kitchener ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Old Emotions”
Lyrics: “Old Emotions”
The Spoons were a band formed in 1979 in Burlington, Ontario. After several lineup changes they released their debut album, Stick Figure Neighbourhood. But they had to wait until 1982 with the release of their second album, Arias & Symphonies to get national attention. By that time the band consisted of Spoons co-founders Gordon Deppe (on lead vocals and guitar) and Sandy Horne on bass and vocals. The Spoons second drummer, Derrick Ross, joined the band in late 1979. The keyboard player, Rob Preuss, was the band’s second keyboard player after Brett Wickens departed.
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#3: When I’m With You by Sheriff
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: March 1983
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #61
YouTube: “When I’m With You”
Lyrics: “When I’m With You”
Sheriff was a band formed in Toronto in 1979. The lead vocalist was Federico “Freddy” Curci. He was born in Toronto in 1962. Growing up in his Italian-Canadian family, he was first exposed to opera. But in his late childhood he discovered Black Sabbath and the Doobie Brothers. In the mid-70s, Curci was part of a number of Italian wedding bands that played in Greater Toronto. Curci co-founded Sheriff with Steven “Steve” DeMarchi, also born in Toronto (1961 ?) and his parents also immigrated to Canada from Italy. The third founding member of Sheriff is Arnold Lanni. He was born in 1956 in Toronto. Bass guitarist, Wolf D. Hassel, joined Sheriff in 1982, as did Rob Elliott on drums.
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#25: Sign Of The Times by Mens Room
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: June-July 1983
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Sign Of The Times”
Lyrics: “Sign Of The Times”
Mens Room was a studio project featuring three well-known Canadian singers. Charity Brown, a Kitchener native who had success in Canada with the group Rain. Charity Brown’s biggest hit was “Take Me In Your Arms” from 1975. Cherrill Rae was half of the successful British-Canadian duo The Raes with her husband Robbie, who released three albums, had a hit television variety show in Canada from 1978 to 1980. Caren Cole was a classical musician and rock singer from Toronto who would later have a Hi-NRG hit with “I Need A Lover Tonight”.
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#26: Girls On Film by Duran Duran
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: November 1983
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Girls On Film”
Lyrics: “Girls On Film”
Duran Duran is a band from Birmingham, England, which formed in 1978. Stephen Duffy was born in Birmingham in 1960. In 1978 he was attending the School of Foundation Studies & Experimental Workshop at Birmingham Polytechnic. It was there he met John Taylor and his friend Nick Rhodes. Nigel John Taylor was born in 1960 in the West Midland city of Solihull. As a child, Taylor attended Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic school and the Abbey High School, in Redditch. He wore glasses due to severe myopia, and enjoyed James Bond movies. Taylor was interested in the hobby of wargaming with hand-painted model soldiers. In his early teen years, he discovered music, choosing Roxy Music as his favourite band, and before long was collecting records and teaching himself to play the piano. His first band was called Shock Treatment.
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#28: Wot by Captain Sensible
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: March-April 1983
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Wot”
Lyrics: “Wot”
Raymond Ian Burns was born in 1954 in London, UK. In 1974 he joined the port-punk band Johnny Moped which included Chrissy Hynde. In 1976 he formed punk band The Damned. He was with The Damned on their first five albums from 1976 (Damned Damned Damned) to 1982 (Strawberries). Burns adopted his stage name Captain Sensible ironically because he described himself as a “debauched maniac” who had fun “regardless of the consequences. His first solo release, “Jet Boy, Jet Girl”, was a Top 40 hit in the Netherlands in 1978. He recorded the single while The Damned was on a break.
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#39: Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley and the Wailers
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJSR
Peak Month: July 1983
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Buffalo Soldier”
Lyrics: “Buffalo Soldier”
Robert Nesta Marley was born in 1945 in a village in Jamaica. His father died at the age of 70 when Bob Marley was ten-years old. While he was in primary school, Marley became friends with Neville Livingston, and they began playing music together. Livingston’s father and Marley’s mother had a child together, and the two boys ended up living under the same roof in Trenchtown, in Kingston, Jamaica. Marley and Livingston formed a band with Peter Tosh called the Teenagers, and renamed as the Wailing Rudeboys, and eventually the Wailers. Neville Livingston went by the stage name Bunny Wailer. Bob Marley released his first non-album single, “Judge Not”, in 1962. The Wailers first commercial success was a number-one hit in Jamaica in 1964 titled “Simmer Down”. During the Sixties, Bob Marley & the Wailers released fifty singles. Some of these include covers of the Tom Jones song “What’s New Pussycat?” and the Bing Crosby hit “White Christmas”. In 1967, the Wailers released “Stir It Up“, which was successfully covered in 1968 by Johnny Nash.
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#1: Major Tom by Peter Schilling
Peak Month: November 1983
Peak Position #1
19 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube.com: “Major Tom”
Lyrics: “Major Tom”
Pierre Michael Schilling was born in 1956 in Stuttgart, West Germany. As a teen, Schilling couldn’t decide on whether to be a soccer player or a singer. But at the age of twenty, in 1976, Schilling released his first single in West Germany titled “Träume sind mehr als nur Illusionen”. A second single was released in West Germany in 1979 titled “Gib her das Ding/Frei sein ist schön”. A third single in 1980 was released as well in West Germany titled “Heut ist was los auf der Autobahn”. A fifth German language release was in late 1982 titled “Major Tom (völlig losgelöst)”. The German-language version climbed to #1 in West Germany on January 31, 1983. It remained in the number-one spot for eight weeks through March 21st. The German-language version by Schilling also topped the pop charts in both Austria and Switzerland in February 1983.
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#12: Modern Love by David Bowie
Peak Month: November 1983
17 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
2 weeks Playlist Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube.com: “Modern Love”
Lyrics: “Modern Love”
David Robert Jones was born in 1947 in Brixton, a suburb in the southern part of London, UK. From an early age he demonstrated talent as a singer and especially through dance and movement. When he was nine years old his father brought home some 45’s by Elvis Presley, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Fats Domino and others. When David Jones heard Little Richard sing “Tutti Frutti” he later said in an interview that he “heard God.” Growing up, David learned to play the recorder, ukulele, piano and baritone saxophone. In 1962, at the age of 15 he formed a band named the Konrads. In 1964 he formed a band named David Jones and the King Bees. They appeared on the variety show Ready Steady Go! to sing their debut single, “Liza Jane”. Jones briefly moved on to join the Mannish Boys before being the front man for Davy Jones and The Lower Third. They released a single in 1965 titled “You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving”. Due to the growing popularity of another English recording artist named Davy Jones (who went on to become lead singer for The Monkees), David Robert Jones decided to change his professional name to David Bowie. He chose his surname after a 19th Century American pioneer named James Bowie who invented the Bowie knife.
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#20: Cuts Like A Knife by Bryan Adams
Peak Month: May and July 1983
Peak Position #2
22 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube.com: “Cuts Like A Knife”
Lyrics: “Cuts Like A Knife”
Born in Kingston, Ontario, in November 1959, Bryan Adams parents immigrated from the UK in the 1950s. His dad, Captain Conrad J. Adams, was a diplomat in the Canadian foreign service. While growing up his family was posted to Portugal, Austria and Israel. By the age of 15 Adams was playing with the band Sweeney Todd as a frontman. By the time he turned 17, Bryan Adams had landed work as a background vocalist for the CBC. His first salary came from working for Robbie King, a keyboard musician with Motown. During his senior years in high school he began playing music with his guitarist, Keith Scott.
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#40: In A Big Country by Big Country
Peak Month: December 1983
17 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1 ~ CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube.com: “In A Big Country”
Lyrics: “In A Big Country”
William Stuart Adamson was born in 1958 in Manchester, England, and grew up in Fife, Scotland. He learned to play keyboards, guitar and basss guitar. In 1976 he formed a band called Tattoo, and in 1977 a punk rock band called the Skids. The Skids had a #10 hit on the UK Singles chart in 1979 titled “In The Valley”, followed by “Masquerade” which peaked at #14 in the UK and #6 in Ireland. A third released in ’79, “Working for the Yankee Dollar”, also made the Top 20 in the UK. In 1981 Adamson formed Big Country. His co-founder, Bruce Watson, was born in Timmins, Ontario, in 1962, and moved with his family to Scotland while he was a toddler. In the late 70’s, Watson was a member of Edinburgh area new wave bands the Delinquents and Eurosect. Watson was versatile with his musical skills in guitar, mandolin and sitar. Bass guitarist, Anthony “Tony” Butler, was born in 1957 in London. He was a member of the new wave band On The Air, who toured with the Skids in 1980. From that tour, Butler and Adamson became friends. Mark Brzezicki was born in the suburbs of Greater London in 1957. He learned to play the drums and was a member of On The Air.
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#54: Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth
Peak Month: February 1983
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
Billboard Top 100 for 1983 ~ #91
YouTube.com: “Pass The Dutchie”
Lyrics: “Pass The Dutchie”
Dennis Michael Seaton was born in Birmingham, UK, in 1967. Kelvin Grant was born in 1971 in Birmingham. Michael Grant was born in Birmingham in 1969. Patrick Waite was born in Birmingham in 1969. Junior Waite was born in Birmingham in 1967. The Waites’ father, Frederick Waite Sr., had been a member of the Jamaican reggae group the Techniques. At the start of Musical Youth’s career, he sang lead with Junior. It was decided that it was more fitting that the lead singer be a similar age to the rest of the bandmates. An audition was held and Dennis Seaton was the only person who responded to the ad.
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#75: Midnight Blue by Louise Tucker
Peak Month: June 1983
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
2 weeks CKLG Top 20 Extras
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube.com link: “Midnight Blue”
“Midnight Blue” lyrics
Louise Tucker was born in 1956 in Bristol, UK. She was trained in opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has performed opera with the Ax-en-Province Festival, the Dublin Grand Opera, the Holland Park Festival, the Kent Opera and the Orleans Opera. She is an acclaimed opera star and has wowed music critics and fans alike with her renditions of Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Verdi’s Requiem and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. She has also sung numerous times in Handel’s Messiah.
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#171: Shy Boy by Bananarama
Peak Month: March 1983
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #83
YouTube: “Shy Boy”
Lyrics: “Shy Boy”
Bananarama is an Irish-English girl group formed in 1981. It was founded by Sara Elizabeth Dallin, born in 1961 in Bristol. She studied journalism at the London College of Fashion for a year, starting in 1980. While at the college, she met Paul Cook of Sex Pistols fame who was currently in a band called The Professionals. Dallin, along with her childhood friend Karen Woodward (also born in Bristol in 1961), and college mate Siobhan Fahey (born in Dublin in 1958), became backing vocalists for The Professionals. In 1982 Bananarama were featured vocalists with Fun Boy Three on their #4 UK hit single “‘Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)”. Later that year, they backed Fun Boy Three on their #5 UK hit single “Really Saying Something” – a cover of a minor hit in 1964 for the Velvelettes.
In the summer of 1982, Bananarama released “Shy Boy”.
“Shy Boy” was cowritten by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. Jolley was born in 1950 and Swain was born in London in 1952. Jolley began his music career playing guitar with Sam Apple Pie in 1969. The next year, Jolley joined Freedom, a Procol Harum splinter group. He stayed with Freedom until 1972. Jolley and Swain met in 1975 while they were working respectively as a cameraman and sound technician for The Muppet Show. In 1981 they wrote and produced a #4 UK hit single for the disco-funk band Imagination titled “Body Talk”. While writing songs for Bananarama (“Shy Boy”, “Cruel Summer”, ), they also wrote “All Cried Out” and “Love Resurrection” for Alison Moyet, and produced “True” – a 1983 number-one international hit for Spandau Ballet. They also produced “Gold” and “Lifeline”, the former a Top Ten hit in eight countries, the latter a #7 hit in the UK. Tony Swain latter produced “You Came” (a Top Ten hit in eleven nations in 1988) for Kim Wilde. Also for Kim Wilde, Swain produced “Four Letter Word”, “Never Trust A Stranger” and “Hey Mister Heartache”. All three singles charted in the Top Ten between two and seven nations. But in 2001 Steve Jolley became infamous after he pled guilty to taking indecent pictures of a 12-year-old boy he had sex with, and for sexual assault of the minor. Swain went on to become the head A&R Consultant for Universal Records.
“Shy Boy” is a song about a “boy” who used to be shy. But, ever since he started going steady with his girlfriend, he’s shyness has vanished. Now that he’s met someone he’s totally sexually attracted to, his girlfriend proclaims “He give me lovin’ like nobody else. I like the way he turns me on.” The ‘former ‘Shy Boy’ has found his stride.
“Shy Boy” peaked at #2 in Halifax (NS), #3 in Vancouver (BC), Kitchener (ON), and Toronto, #4 in Hamilton (ON), Regina (SK), #6 in Yellowknife (NWT), #8 in Ottawa (ON), and #10 in Edmonton (AB).
In 1983, Bananarama released a cover of the 1969 hit by Steam titled “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”. It charted to #5 in the Uk and #4 in Ireland. Their followup hit was “Cruel Summer” (#7 in Ireland, #8 in the UK and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA). The trio had a third Top Ten hit in 1983 in West Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK titled “Robert DeNiro’s Waiting”.
In 1986 Bananarama had their biggest hit with a cover of the 1970 Shocking Blue song “Venus”. And in 1987 with the release of Wow, Bananarama had another Top Ten hit with “I Heard A Rumor” (#4 in the USA, #8 in Switzerland, #9 in Ireland and #10 in New Zealand). Followup singles – “Love In The First Degree” and “I Want You Back” – from the album also garnered Top Ten chart runs in multiple nations. In 1988, Fahey – who had married Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics – left Bananarama. Her replacement from 1988 to 1991 was Jacquie O’Sullivan.
A 1989 cover of the Beatles 1965 hit “Help!” earned Bananarama a final Top Ten hit across Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the UK and West Germany. Dallin and Woodward carried on from 1992 as a pop duo. Over the years, Bananarama have performed on worldwide tours. But their appearances have been limited in Canada to three concerts in Montreal between 1999 and 2013, and one concert in Toronto in 2018. Fahey rejoined Bananarama in 2017.
Since 1982, Bananarama has released eleven studio albums, the most recent – In Stereo – in 2019. The trio have received ten Billboard Music Awards nominations.
June 15, 2022
Ray McGinnis
References:
“Bananarama Biography,” Bananarama.co.uk.
Sarah Dallin and Keren Woodward, Really Saying Something – Our Bananarama Story, Penguin, 2020.
Rebecca Nicholson, “‘People wet their knickers when they find out I was in Bananarama’: the 80s trio return,” Guardian, March 24, 2017.
“Record producer’s smash hit career,” BBC, January 23, 2003.
“Pop producer jailed over sex assault,” BBC, October 12, 2001.
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#231: It Might Be You by Stephen Bishop
Peak Month: May 1983
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “It Might Be You”
Lyrics: “It Might Be You”
Earl Stephen Bishop was born in 1951 in San Diego, California. He remembers his growing up years as a “nerd” who the girls only wanted to be “just friends” with. Bishop moved to Los Angeles seeking to establish himself as a singer-songwriter. In his late teens and early twenties, Stephen Bishop was suffering from acute hypoglycemia. He recalls he was “paranoid and insecure all because I was the Twinkie king of Silverlake.”After eight lean years, he got a break when Art Garfunkel recorded two songs written by Bishop for his 1975 album Breakaway. The following year, Stephen Bishop got a recording contract with ABC Records. Soon after he recorded his debut album Careless. His first single, “Save It For A Rainy Day”, peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #20 in Vancouver (BC).
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#1132: Human Race by Red Rider
Peak Month: April-May 1983
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Human Race”
Lyrics: “Human Race”
Tom Cochrane was born in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, in 1953. When he was eleven he got his first guitar. In his late teens and early twenties, he performed in coffee houses across Canada in the early 70’s. His debut album, Hang On To Your Resistance, was released in 1974. Then Tom Cochrane made his way to Los Angeles. In 1975, Cochrane got work composing theme music for the movie My Pleasure Is My Business. This was a film about Xavier Hollander, the call girl and adult film star who authored her own memoir, The Happy Hooker, in 1971. Unable to get subsequent work in Hollywood, Cochrane returned to Canada for drive a taxi and work on a cruise line. At a concert at the El Mocambo for Red Rider in 1978, Tom Cochrane met the band. Soon after Cochrane was invited to join Red Rider.
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#548: All Those Lies by Glenn Frey
Peak Month: February 1983
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
YouTube: “All Those Lies”
Lyrics: “All Those Lies”
Glenn Lewis Frey was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948. He was raised in the suburb of Royal Oak and learned to play piano from the age of five. He later learned to play guitar. Frey was a member of a number of bands: the Subterraneans, the Four Of Us, the Mushrooms and the Heavy Metal Kids. At the age of 19 Frey played acoustic guitar and backing vocals for the 1968-69 Bob Seger System Top 20 hit single “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”. In 1969 Glenn Frey moved to Los Angeles and became part of a band named Longbranch Pennywhistle with J.D. Souther. The band folded by the end of 1970. That year Frey met drummer Don Henley. The pair were both hired as part of a backing band for Linda Ronstadt. While touring with Ronstadt, Frey and Henley decided to form a band the soon named the Eagles.
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#943: Lust For Love by Images In Vogue
Peak Month: December 1983
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG’s chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Lust For Love”
Lyrics: “Lust For Love”
Images In Vogue was formed in April 1981 in Vancouver, by co-founders Gary Smith and Don Gordon. Gordon was a guitarist and Smith played bass guitar. Kevin Crompton played percussion and Joe Vizvary played synthesizers. The band’s manager was Kim Clarke Champniss, later to become a MuchMusic VJ. Images In Vogue began recording new material and sent demos to the UBC college radio station CITR and Co-op Radio in the Downtown East Side. Images In Vogue’s website states that their first concert in Vancouver was on September 26, 1981, at “Electra – Vancouver’s First Fashion Dance.” In October the band began to record their first EP.
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#479: Whirly Girl by OXO
Peak Month: May 1983
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28
YouTube.com: “Whirly Girl”
Lyrics: “Whirly Girl”
Ismael Angel Ledesma was born in 1952 in Cuba and migrated to Miami as a child. He was influenced by the Latin sounds that pervaded his Cuban culture. Ismael also thrived on pop and rock and roll music that he first heard in Cuba and later coming to Florida in the late 50’s. Ledesma recalls, “My education has come from ‘Hands On’ experience which started at T.K. Records in Miami, FL and continued on through all the recording studios I worked at as a recording artist, record producer and sound engineer.” He began his work with T.K. Records in 1971. In the early 1970s, Ledesma was hired by as a session musician. Ledesma’s credits include guitar on Gwen McCrae’s 1975 disco hit “Rockin’ Chair”. In 1976 he formed a disco band based in the Miami suburb of Hialeah, Florida, named Foxy. They had a number one hit on the Billboard R&B chart in August 1978 titled “Get Off”. The song was co-written by Ledesma. “Get Off” made the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 that November. Foxy appeared on American Bandstand, the Midnight Special, The Joey Bishop Show and The Mer Griffin Show. Foxy also toured as an opening act with The Jackson 5, Rick James, Natalie Cole and Sister Sledge.
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#645: Silhouettes by The Nylons
Peak Month: January 1983
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Silhouettes”
Lyrics: “Silhouettes”
The Nylons are an a cappella group that formed in 1978, based in Toronto. The original members were all gay men: Dennis Simpson, Paul Cooper, Claude Morrison and Marc Connors. They released their self-titled album in 1982. There were some lineup changes after 1979 when Dennis Simpson left. By the time the Nylons released their first album, Arnold Robinson was the newcomer joining the other original group members.
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#665: Der Kommissar by Falco
Peak Month: January 1983
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Cashbox Top Singles ~ #74
YouTube.com: “Der Kommissar”
Lyrics: “Der Kommissar”
Johann “Hans” Hölzel was born in 1957 in Vienna, Austria. He was raised by his mother. Showing musical genius at a young age, his mother bought him a baby grand piano at the age of four. He was conscripted for military service in the mid-70’s. In the late ’70’s he experimented with performance art, striptease, music and political satire. He performed under a number of pseudonyms, one which was John DiFalco. His military service influenced his choice to keep his hair short, making him stand out from the shabbier underground musicians in the Vienna music scene. In the late ’70s’, he was a member of Dradhiwaberl, a shock rock band. He signed as a solo artists with a recording company in 1981 after his independent release of “Ganz Wein” in 1981.
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#684: Twisting By The Pool by Dire Straits
Peak Month: April-May 1983
11 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Twisting By The Pool”
Lyrics: “Twisting By The Pool”
Dire Straits is a band that formed in 1977 comprised of Mark and David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers. Mark Freuder Knopfler was born in 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland. His Jewish-Hungarian father fled Hungary in 1939 before the outbreak of World War II. He learned to play guitar when he was a child and appeared on a local TV station in 1965 as part of a duo. Mark was influenced by Django Reinhardt, Hank Marvin of The Shadows, B.B. King, Chet Atkins and others. He studied journalism and kept his hand in music playing in the Duolian String Pickers and the Café Racers. Younger brother, David, was born in 1952. He was playing guitar, drum and piano by age eleven. At the age of 14 David Knopfler was playing in folk clubs. He went into social work and was living in London in the mid-70’s and sharing a flat with a promising guitarist named John Illsley. John Edward Illsley was born in Leister, England, in 1949. By the 1970’s Illsley was involved with a timber firm, studying sociology and opening a record shop. David Knopfler was impressed with Illsley’s talent and introduced him to Mark. Mark, David and John began jamming together, and Mark invited Illsley to join his band the Café Racers.
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#927: Secret Information by Chilliwack
Peak Month: March 1983
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #110
YouTube.com: “Secret Information”
Lyrics: “Secret Information”
Bill Henderson was born in Vancouver in 1944. He learned guitar and became the guitarist for the Panarama Trio that performed at the Panarama Roof dance club on the 15th Floor of the Hotel Vancouver. He formed the psychedelic pop-rock Vancouver band, The Collectors, in 1966. After a half dozen local hits including “Fisherwoman” and “Lydia Purple” the Collectors name was ditched in 1970. Henderson (vocals, guitar), Claire Lawrence (saxophone, keyboards), Ross Turney (drums) and Glenn Miller (bass) were all Collectors bandmates. After Howie Vickers left The Collectors, they changed their name to Chilliwack. The name was a Salish First Nations name that means “going back up” and is the name of a city in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.
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#1276: Never Said I Love You by Payola$ with Carol Pope
Peak Month: October 1983
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #15 ~ CKLG
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Never Said I Love You”
Lyrics: “Never Said I Love You”
In 1978 a band was formed in Vancouver by Paul Hyde and Bob Rock called the Payola$. Hyde was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1955, and came to Vancouver in his teens. Bob Rock was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1954, and moved to Victoria, British Columbia, with his family in his later childhood. Rock learned to play guitar. Meeting in the Victoria suburb of Langford, the band settled on a name recalling the American music industry scandal investigated by the US Congress starting in 1959 called Payola. This was an illegal act where record companies paid deejays and radio stations a bribe for playing a single the record company wanted to get promoted. While it was legal for a record company to receive money in exchange for playing it on the radio, such a transaction had to be disclosed and not counted as regular airplay. While the Payola scandal did not spread into the Canadian radio market, as local legendary Vancouver Deejay Red Robinson attests in Robin Brunet’s book Red Robinson: The Last Deejay, Payola still had a bad name in the industry in America into the 80s. Consequently, although the Payola$ sold well in Canada, they met with stiff resistance south of the border.
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