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.
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: July 1968
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “When Friends Fall Out”
Lyrics: “When Friends Fall Out”
Randolph Charles Bachman was born in 1943 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he was just three years old he entered the King of the Saddle singing contest on CKY radio, Manitoba’s first radio station that began in 1923. Bachman won the contest. When he turned five years he began to study the violin through the Royal Toronto Conservatory. Though he couldn’t read music, he was able to play anything once he heard it. He dropped out of high school and subsequently a business administration program in college. He co-founded a Winnipeg band called Al & The Silvertones with Chad Allan in 1960.
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: December 1965
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Blue Lipstick”
Patrician Anne McKinnon was born in Shiloh, Manitoba, in 1947. had already been singing on the CBC for years — as part of the choir in the 1960s music show Singalong Jubilee (which is where Anne Murray got her start, too). Patrician-Anne — and her better-known sister, the singer and actor Catherine McKinnon — split their time between the East Coast and Toronto.
She was just 16 years old when she recorded “Blue Lipstick”.
“Blue Lipstick” was written for her by the famous songwriter P.F. Sloan. Philip Gary Schlein was born in New York City in 1945. His mom was born in Romania and his dad in the USA. The family moved to West Hollywood when Philip was twelve years old. His father was a pharmacist and had the family name changed legally since Philip’s dad was repeatedly denied a liquor license for his store. The new surname, Sloan, gave Philip’s dad no hassles and the family business thrived. In 1958 Philip was given a guitar as a present. Prior to being drafted into the US Army, Elvis Presley gave Philip Sloan a quick guitar lesson at a music store in Hollywood. By the age of 14 Philip Sloan’s nickname was “Flip,” a variant of Philip. So he became P (Philip) F (Flip) Sloan. At 16, “Flip” Sloan got a position as a songwriter with Screen Gems in Los Angeles. In addition to songwriting, Sloan teamed up with Steve Barri. The pair recorded several records hoping for a hit single. They failed at getting any notice when releasing singles under the names The Lifeguards, Themes Inc., The Rally-Packs and The Wildcats. And they barely registered on the charts in 1964 as Philip and Stephan with “When You’re Near You’re So Far Away”, or as The Street Cleaners with “That’s Cool, That’s Trash”.
Sloan wrote “Eve of Destruction”, “Secret Agent Man” for Johnny Rivers, “Unless You Care” and “Little Liar” for Terry Black, “You Baby” and “Can I Get To Know You Better” for The Turtles, “A Must To Avoid” for Herman’s Hermits and “Where Were You When I Needed You” for the Grass Roots (and produced “Let’s Live For Today” for the Grass Roots).
In the song “Blue Lipstick”, after a break-up, a young woman wears blue lipstick to signal how hurt she feels. She pretends she doesn’t care anymore. But she knows it isn’t true. She thinks she’ll never kiss another boy. If only the guy who broke things off would return to her. Until that elusive occurrence, she’ll keep on wearing blue lipstick.
Arc Records reported “Sloane wrote the song specially for the pretty 17-year-old vocalist, after hearing her via tape, back in May before “Eve of Destruction” started his present winning streak, and now his name practically guarantees close attention from the stations. Patrician-Anne is a regular on “Frank’s Bandstand” of the CBC-TV network’s edition of “Music Hop” so the disc gets national TV exposure.”
Promotional ads for the song effused, “An artist so great, the current Number One writer/performer in the US just wrote a song especially for her. The current wave of P.F. Sloan hits is great publicity for Arc Records new release, “Blue Lipstick” by Patrician-Anne.” In another ad, Arc Records featured both Terry Black and Patrician-Anne on a poster that read “They’re what’s happening baby! Canada’s grooviest teens. Tell the world about these two.”
“Blue Lipstick” peaked at #9 in Halifax (NS).
“Blue Lipstick” would wind up being her biggest hit. Sadly, her career would slow down after she was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1970s. In 1974 the CBC in Nova Scotia released an EP titled “Patrician Anne Halifax Vocalist”. It included four tracks, featuring a cover of the hit “If” by Bread, a song written by Sylvia Tyson, and another track penned by Brent Titcomb, formerly of 3’s A Crowd. According to the Toronto Historical Jukebox, Patrician-Anne released a full-length self-titled album in 1984 and died of Hodgkin’s in 2001.
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: November 1970
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #26
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I Believe In Sunshine”
Lyrics: “I Believe In Sunshine”
Formed by a bunch of high school chums in Willowdale, Ontario, in 1968, Madrigal consisted of Rick Henderson on guitars, guitarist/bassist John Swainson, Peter Boynton on Piano, and drummer Don Simpson. Madrigal been playing psychedelic rock and pop in the Toronto area for close to a year. Greg Hambleton, owner of Tuesday Records, noticed them and one thing led to another. Hambleton signed Madrigal to management and recording contracts. In the summer of 1969, the band was in a recording studio. They released their version of his song “I Believe In Sunshine”. The song had been recorded by A Passing Fancy in 1967 and peaked at #28 on CHUM in Toronto.
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: April 1971
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Children Of The Sun”
Lyrics: “Children Of The Sun”
Mashmakhan was formed in 1969 in the southwestern Quebec town of L’Île-Perrot, by the Ottawa River near the St. Lawrence. In 1960, Pierre Sénécal, Brian Edwards (born 1943 in Saskatoon, SK), Jim Nuchter and Rayburn Blake first met in Montreal. Drummer Jim Nuchter failed to turn up for a booked performance. Drummer Jerry Mercer (born Newfoundland in 1939) was invited to replace Nuchter. Bass guitarist and vocalist Edwards quit shortly after. But the other three teenagers, Sénécal, Blake and Mercer continued to perform at local Montreal dance halls under names like the Phantoms, Ray Blake’s Combo, and the Dominoes. Sénécal played flute, organ and piano. Rayburn Blake was the lead guitarist.
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: December 1972
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Julia Get Up”
Rich Dodson was born in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1947. In 1964, living now in Calgary, he formed an instrumental band called The Rebounds. By 1965, the band morphed into The Stampeders, named after that city’s football team, The Calgary Stampeders. Although, it could be argued that the yearly Calgary Stampede was also an inspiration for their name. During the band’s most successful chart run from 1968 to 1976, it was made up of guitarist Rich Dodson, bass player Ronnie King (born Cornelius Van Sprang) and drummer Kim Berly (born Kim Meyer). All three provided vocals. Originally, the band was a group of five formed in 1964 called The Rebounds. The Rebounds had five members: Rich Dodson, Len Roemer, Brendan Lyttle, Kim Berly, and Race Holiday. They renamed themselves The Stampeders in 1965 and Len Roemer was replaced with Ronnie King and Van Louis, making them a band of six for a few years. But after a temporary move to Toronto in 1966 the band was down to three members, Dodson, King and Berly by 1968. Between 1967 and 1976 The Stampeders charted 15 singles into the Canadian RPM Top 40.
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: May 1964
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #41
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “You’re Not A Goody Goody”
Lyrics: N/A
Bobby Curtola was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, in 1943. (The town would become amalgamated into the city of Thunder Bay in 1970). His cousin Susan Andrusco remembers “Bobby would always be singing at our family gatherings. The family loved him. And he loved being the centre of attention. He would sing Oh My Papa, and my grandpa would cry.” Oh My Papa was a number-one hit for Eddie Fisher in January 1954, when Bobby Curtola was still ten-years-old. In the fall of 1959, sixteen-year-old high school student Bobby Curtola went from pumping gas at his father’s garage in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the life of a teen idol. Within a year he went from playing in his basement band, Bobby and the Bobcats, to recording his first hit single in 1960, “Hand In Hand With You”, which charted in June ’60 in Ontario, but not in Vancouver.
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: July 1964
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Chantilly Lace“/”Love Me Baby”
Lyrics: “Chantilly Lace”
Lyrics: N/A
The Beavers were a band that comprised of Bill Schnare on lead guitar and backing vocals, Dave Isner on bass guitar, Doug Billard on lead vocals, Gerry Archer on drums, and Wayne Forrest on rhythm guitar. According to Jim Rice of Nova Scotia Classic Rock, the Beavers formed in 1962. However, Discogs has the band forming in 1963, and originally as the Shadows. In the Discogs version of things, presumably with the popularity of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, they switched to the Beavers.
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #80
YouTube: “Stay Away From My Baby”
Lyrics: N/A
Hazel McKirdy was born in 1949 in Kitchener, Ontario. McKirdy regularly on CBC TV’s “Music Hop” program in the mid-1960s, starting in 1964. She recorded as Lynda Layne, and in 1963 and her debut single was titled “Stay Away From My Baby”.
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: January-February 1971
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Band Bandit”
Lyrics: n/a
Tundra was a band formed in from Toronto in 1970. The original line up was Al Manning on guitar, Bruce Manning on bass guitar, Glen LeCompte on drums, Lisa Garber on vocals, and Scott Cushnie on piano. George Scott Cushnie was born in 1938 and was a member of the Toronto band the Suedes (with Robbie Robertson). He also played with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. Cushnie was also a member of the Hamilton based rock band Jerry Warren & the Tremblers who released a local hit in 1960 titled “Rompin'”. In the early 60s Cushnie also played with a band based in Alexandra, called Barry Darvell & the Blazers. He also played with the Ottawa group, The Townsmen, for about a year.
