#7: I Want To Stand Up On The Mountain by Loreen Church

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: January 1964
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I Want To Stand Up On The Mountain”
Lyrics: N/A

Loreen Church was born in Manor, Saskatchewan. She was born in 1945. The Ottawa Journal described her in 1963 as “a pretty 16-year-old from Regina who should go places…” Monty Montague of the Andantes’ band from Regina, spoke with Loreen Church at a Battle of the Bands event in Regina in January 1965. He recalls, “The winners were chosen probably by ballot from the crowd, in which case, it was good to get as many friends in attendance as you could. But it could have been by a panel…can’t remember. Loreen Church’s band got first. Joe Vargo and the Dynamics came second – they were solid and mature. And we got third, perhaps a little disappointed, but really didn’t know what to think of it either way. When we were packing up the equipment, we noticed Loreen Church standing a little out front until she got our attention. Then she stepped forward and said, that even though we got third, we were really, really good… Then she made a prediction: that in one year’s time — we would be top band in the city.”

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#31: Wishing by Barry Boyd

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: March 1963
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Wishing”
Lyrics: N/A

Boyd was born in 1930, and raised in Vancouver. He got his start in radio in Prince George in 1956. That was the year Elvis Presley had hit first number-one hit “Heartbreak Hotel”, Carl Perkins was singing about “Blue Suede Shoes”, and Frankie Lemon and the Teenagers had a hit with “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”. In 1959 Boyd moved to CJCA in Edmonton. Along with CHED, CJCA was one of the Edmonton top two rock radio stations. Barry Boyd played Top-40 pop hits on his weekday afternoon show as well as at “record hops” or “platter parties” on Friday and Saturday nights. He hosted these events in various towns and villages around central Alberta, cruising in his big white 1955 Cadillac. On the radio he gave himself the nickname “the Bouncing B.”

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#34: Feel It Again by Honeymoon Suite

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: April 1986
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Feel It Again”
Lyrics: “Feel It Again”

In 1981 John Richard DeGiuli, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, formed the Honeymoon Suite. He was a guitarist and lead vocalist and went with the stage name, Johnnie Dee. After several years of line-up changes, he played alongside lead guitarist Derry Grehan and drummer Dave Bretts. In 1983 the band won a contest on Toronto’s FM station Q107 for playing a song Grehan wrote titled “New Girl Now”. The band expanded to include keyboardist, Ray Coburn, and Gary Lalonde on bass. A debut album followed that included their debut single and several other marginal hits. A second album, The Big Prize, included their first Top 20 single in Canada, called “Feel It Again”.

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#8: Only by Dorion

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: July 1986
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Only”
Lyrics: N/A

Ron Dorion is he name of the singer who went by the name Dorion. He is not to be confused the 80s Canadian rock band Dorian from New Hamburg, Ontario. Dorion was a solo recording artist who got a record contract with Columbia Records in the mid-80s. He sounded a bit like George Michael.

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#38: Love Has Remembered Me by April Wine

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: November 1985
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #5
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Has Remembered Me”
Lyrics: “Love Has Remembered Me”

April Wine is a Canadian rock band that has released 34 singles, 16 studio albums and 9 live albums. They formed in Waverly, Nova Scotia, in 1969. The founding members were brothers David Henman (guitar) and Ritchie Henman (drums) and Myles Goodwyn (lead vocals, guitar). The Henman brothers cousin Jim Henman was also part of the band, but was replaced by bass player Jim Clench in 1971, a year after the band moved to Montreal and released their self-titled debut album. Miles Francis Goodwin was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1948. James Patrick Clench was born in Montreal in 1949. The Henman brothers were born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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#39: Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me) ~ Red Rider

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: July 1984
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #7
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ Getting Airplay
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #71
YouTube: “Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)”
Lyrics: “Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)”

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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City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: July 1986
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #5
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Standin’ In Line”
Lyrics: “Standin’ In Line”

In 1981 five musicians in Charlottetown formed a band they named Haywire. They were keyboard player David Rashed, vocalist and steel pan drummer Paul MacAusland, guitarist Marvin Birt, drummer Scott Roberts and bass player Ronnie Switzer. In 1984 they entered the Homegrown Vol. 1 contest on Halifax, Nova Scotia, FM station Q104. The next year Haywire won the Labatt’s Battle of the Bands in Saint John, New Brunswick. Winning $10,000 first prize, they used their prize money to record a 5-song EP. It sold over 5,000 copies across in the Maritimes. In 1986 Music Express Magazine named Haywire ‘Canada’s Best Group’. The accolades won Haywire a five-album contract with Attic Records. By this time Sean Kilbride had become the band’s drummer.

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#42: Queen of the Broken Hearts by Loverboy

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: October 1983
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Queen of the Broken Hearts”
Lyrics: “Queen of the Broken Hearts”

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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City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: March 1964
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #7
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Citizen Freak: “Mountain Of Ice/School Days”

Barry Ennis was born in 1942 in Eston, Saskatchewan. He was the lead singer of Barry Ennis and the Keymen in the mid-sixties. The band formed in 1963 when Ennis was 21-years-old. In 1964, he released the single “Mountain Of Ice” with the B-side “School Days”.

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#53: Deep Cuts The Knife by Helix

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: August 1985
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #12
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Deep Cuts The Knife”
Lyrics: “Deep Cuts The Knife”

Helix was a heavy metal band formed in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1974. The classic lineup for the band included Brent Doerner and Paul Hackman on guitar, Daryl Gray on bass guitar, Greg “Fritz” Hinz on drums, and Brian Vollmer the lead singer. Vollmer was born in 1955 in Listowel, Ontario. Hackman was born in 1953 in St. Thomas, Ontario. He played in two local bands, Whitehorse and Purple Wedge, and joined Helix in 1976 when there was a lineup change. The band was formed to enter a Battle of the Bands in Kitchener in 1974. At first they were named the Helix Field Band, and later shortened to Helix. A helix is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring, or the thread of a machine screw. Helix released their debut album, Breaking Loose, in 1979. The band released In 1984, they released their fourth studio album titled Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge. A track from the album, “Rock You”, reached the Top 30 on the Canadian RPM Top 100 Singles chart in 1984.  Continue reading →