#14: Come To Me by France Joli
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1979
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Come To Me”
Lyrics: “Come To Me”
France Joly was born in 1963 in suburban Montreal. Her father was a hardware merchant and her mother was a teacher. As early as age four, she was performing for relatives lip-syncing to Barbra Streisand records while handling a skipping rope like a microphone. She appeared on a local Montreal TV variety show by age six. At age 11, she left the public school system and was home schooled by her mother. Her mother wanted her daughter to concentrate on her performing career appearing regularly in television commercials and talent shows. A mutual acquaintance suggested France meet up with musician Tony Green who she approached backstage after he had given a concert. She invited Green to be her record producer. Green did not take the 13-year-old girl seriously. Green recalled: “To get rid of her I [told] her to keep in touch.” According to one source, France Joly eventually visited Green’s home to sing for him. It is also reported that Green first heard her sing from the audience of an “end of school year show” in which she performed in the fall of 1978. Both accounts concur that Green first heard Joli singing along with a Streisand recording of “Evergreen”.
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#15: 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“.
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#18: Fantasy by Aldo Nova
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: May 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube: “Fantasy”
Lyrics: “Fantasy”
Aldo Caporuscio was born in Montreal in 1956. His parents were Italian immigrants from a village near Rome. He adopted the stage name Aldo Nova when he started playing guitar and keyboards at age 15. Signing with Portair Records, Nova released a self-produced album Aldo Nova in 1982. His debut single was titled “Fantasy”.
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#24: Wind Him Up by Saga
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: March 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart – #5
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #7
YouTube: “Wind Him Up”
Lyrics: “Wind Him Up”
Saga is a band from Oakville (ON). They formed in Michael Sadler (born 1954 in Penarth, Wales) provided lead vocals and played keyboards. Ian Crichton (born in 1956 in Oakville, Ontario) played guitar. Jim Crichton (born in 1953 in Oakville, Ontario) played bass guitar, piano and keyboards. Jim Gilmour (born in 1958 in Carfin, Scotland) played clarinet, keyboards and contributed backing vocals. While Steve Negus (born in 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) played drums. In 1978, they released their self-titled album Saga which reached #33 on the Swedish album chart. A second studio album, Images at Twilight, was released the following year. A third album, Silent Knight, reached #15 on the Norwegian pop album chart.
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#9: I Would Be The One by Kensington Market
City: Guelph, ON
Radio Station: CJOY
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Guelph ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I Would Be The One”
Lyrics: “I Would Be The One”
Keith McKie was born in St. Albans, England, in 1947. He moved with his family to Canada in 1953. After high school, he formed a band called The Shades. This later morphed into the Vendettas. After that band dissolved, McKie was sought out by former Paupers manager Bernie Finkelstein who suggested he form a new group. To join McKie, they got former Bobby Kris & the Imperials guitarist and pianist Gene Martynec to sign. Martynec was born in 1947 in Coburg, West Germany. Former Vendettas bandmate, Alex Darou, was added to the emerging band. Darou, who played bass guitar, was born in Sault Ste. Marie (ON) in 1943. The oldest member of the band, he had already been part of a jazz trio. They also added drummer Jimmy Watson, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1950.
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#38: Working For The Weekend by Loverboy
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: February 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube: “Working For The Weekend”
Lyrics: “Working For The Weekend”
Loverboy is a band formed in 1979. It has been stated by Mike Reno that their name was chosen due to a dream by Paul Dean. He had come up with the name after spending the previous night with some of the bandmates, including Reno and their girlfriends, before going to the movies. The girlfriends were browsing through fashion magazines, where the guys in the band saw a Cover Girl advertisement. Cover Girl became Cover Boy, and then became Loverboy in Dean’s dream later that night. After being told by Dean about the dream the next morning, Reno agreed to try it out and it stuck.
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#52: If You Go Away by Terry Jacks
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: July 1974
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
YouTube: “If You Go Away”
Lyrics: “If You Go Away”
Terrence Ross Jacks was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1944. During his career as a recording artist he became a household name and recognized as a singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist. His family moved to Vancouver in 1961 and he formed a band named The Chessmen along with local guitarist, Guy Sobell. The Chessmen had four singles that made the Top 20 in Vancouver, two which were double-sided hits. These included three Top Ten hits: “Love Didn’t Die”, “The Way You Fell” and “What’s Causing This Sensation”. In 1966 Terry Jacks met Susan Pesklevits on a local CBC music show called Let’s Go.
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#57: Walk Right Back by Anne Murray
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: April 1978
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #103
YouTube: “Walk Right Back”
Lyrics: “Walk Right Back”
In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.
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#64: Love Over And Over by Kate and Anna McGarrigle
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: July 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Over And Over”
Lyrics: “Love Over And Over”
Anna McGarrigle was born in Montreal in 1944, with her sister Kate born there two years later. In the 1960s, in Montreal, while Kate was studying chemical engineering at McGill University and Anna art at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, they began performing in public and writing their own songs. From 1963 to 1967 they teamed up with Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon to form the folk group Mountain City Four. Their songs have been covered by a variety of artists including Linda Rondstadt, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, and others. These covers led to the McGarrigles getting their first recording contract in 1974. They released their debut album Kate & Anna McGarrigle in 1976. It charted into the Top 30 on the pop album chart that year in Sweden. A track from the album, “Complainte pour Ste. Catherine” charted in the UK.
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#63: Chantal by Goddo
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1979
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Chantal”
Lyrics: “Chantal”
Greg Godovitz was born in 1951 in Toronto. He began playing guitar in 1964 with a band named The Pretty Ones. He began his professional music career in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the bassist for the Canadian rock band Fludd. Founded by Ed and Brian Pilling, Fludd gained popularity with hits such as “Turned 21“, “Get Up, Get Out & Move On“, and “Cousin Mary“. Following his departure from Fludd, Godovitz was briefly involved in the Toronto rock band Sherman and Peabody. Greg Godovitz founded the hard rock trio Goddo. The original lineup included Godovitz on bass and lead vocals, Gino Scarpelli on guitar, and Marty Morin on drums, with Doug Inglis later replacing Morin. In 1975, the band released a cover of the Kinsmen’s 1963 hit “Louie Louie”. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1977 with the lead single “Under My Hat”.
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