#4: Strange Way by Firefall

City: Smithers, BC
Radio Station: CFBV
Peak Month: January 1979
Peak Position in Smithers ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #11
YouTube: “Strange Way”
Lyrics: “Strange Way”

Firefall was a soft rock band from Boulder, Colorado. They were founded by Rick Roberts and formed in 1974. Roberts was born in 1949 in Clearwater, Florida. He was a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and on their self-titled 1971 album and 1972 album Last of the Red Hot Burritos. Roberts dissolved the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1973. Concurrently, Roberts released two solo albums in 1972 and 1973. He got the name for the band from the Yosemite Firefall, a summertime event in which burning embers were pushed from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet below. Roberts co-founder was Jock Bartley, who was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1950. His family moved to Colorado Springs in 1959. Later, he began guitar lessons there (notably with jazz legend Johnny Smith), and later became deeply involved in the music scene when he moved to Boulder. When the pair met in 1973, Bartley was in a band with Gram Parsons called Fallen Angels.
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#2: We All Need Love by Troiano

City: Smithers, BC
Radio Station: CFBV
Peak Month: July 1979
Peak Position in Smithers ~ #11
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ Playlist
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “We All Need Love”
Lyrics: “We All Need Love”

Domenic Troiano was born in Modugno, in southeastern Italy, in 1946. His family emigrated to Toronto when he was three-years-old. His first professional music work was with Robbie Lane & The Disciples in the early ’60s. That band got a break with they became Ronnie Hawkins backing band. In 1965, Troiano joined a local Toronto band called the Five Rogues, which later found success as Mandala. The Dells backed Mandala on their recording of “Opportunity” which reached #3 on CHUM in Toronto in early 1967. When Mandala dissolved in 1969, Troiano formed a jazz-influenced rock outfit called Bush. In 1970, he appeared on a solo album, Axe, by Guess Who bandmate Randy Bachman. He subsequently joined The James Gang in 1972, and co-wrote their minor hits “Looking for My Lady” and “Had Enough”. The same year he released his debut self-titled solo album, followed by Tricky in 1973. In 1974, Troiano wrote “Just As Bad As You”, a hit in Canada for Shawne Jackson (his then wife).
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