#35: Canada by the Sugar Shoppe
City: London, ON
Radio Station: CFPL
Peak Month: July 1967
Peak Position in London ~ #20
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Canada”
Lyrics: “Canada
The Sugar Shoppe was formed in Toronto by lead singer, songwriter and pianist Peter Mann. Born in 1940 in New York City, Mann grew up in Miami before working as an arranger and relocating to Canada in 1965. There, he met University of Toronto School of Music student and singer Laurie Hood, and singers Lee Harris and Victor Garber, an actor and singer who was also studying in Toronto as well as singing in the city’s clubs. Garber was born in 1949 in London (ON) and began acting at the age of nine in 1958. He enrolled at the University of Toronto’s theatre training program at Hart House when he was 16 years old. In the mid-60s he performed as a folk singer before joining the Sugar Shoppe in 1967. With two male singers (Mann and Garber) and two female (Hood and Harris), they modeled themselves on the Mamas & the Papas and began working in the studio on a project to mark Canada’s Centennial in 1967.