#1427: This Time Long Ago by The Guess Who?
Peak Month: July 1967
8 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “This Time Long Ago”
Allan Kowbel was born in Winnipeg in 1943. By the age of fifteen, in 1958, he was singer and guitarist who went by the stage name of Chad Allan. He formed a group that year named The Rave Ons, as a tribute to Buddy Holly. By 1960 the band was known as Allan and the Silvertones. Another name change took place in 1962 when they billed themselves as Chad Allan and the Reflections. At this time their lineup, in addition to Allan, consisted of consisted of keyboard player Bob Ashley, guitarist Randy Bachman, bass player Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson. Bachman, Kale and Peterson all provided backing vocals. The group chose the name, The Reflections, to resemble the popular backing band for Cliff Richard called The Shadows. Another name change took place in 1965. A pop group from America, called The Reflections, had a top ten hit called “Just Like Romeo & Juliet.” Their popularity became problematic for Chad Allan and The Reflections. Now they billed themselves as Chad Allan & the Expressions.”
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#1122: Can You Give It All To Me by Myles & Lenny
Peak Month: March 1975
7 weeks on CKLG
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Can You Give It All To Me”
Lyrics: “Can You Give It All To Me”
Lenny Solomon was born in Toronto in 1952. He was musically influenced by his dad, Stanley Solomon, who played violin in the Toronto Symphony. Lenny Solomon learned to play violin while he was still a child. Myles Cohen was born in Montreal and taught himself guitar in his youth. Myles & Lenny formed after the two met in high school in Toronto in the late 60s. In 1969 they attended a songwriters conference held at the Mariposa Folk Festival that year on Centre Island, part of the Toronto Islands. During the festival they made their debut appearance on stage. The festival was a catalyst for gigs at Toronto area coffee houses and short tours to Western Canada.
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#1192: Liars by Ian Thomas
Peak Month: June 1976
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Liars”
Lyrics: “Liars”
In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking“. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies“. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.
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#1124: Is The Night Too Cold For Dancing by Randy Bachman
Peak Month: July 1978
9 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Is The Night Too Cold For Dancing’?”
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 The Silvertones with Chad Allan in 1960. In 1962 the band became Chad Allan and the Expressions, and was renamed The Guess Who in 1965 with their first big hit, “Shakin’ All Over“.
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#1130: Oh Pretty Lady by Trooper
Peak Month: March 1978
8 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Oh Pretty Lady”
Lyrics: “Oh Pretty Lady”
In 1967 Ra McGuire and Brian Smith played in a Vancouver band named Winter’s Green. The band recorded two songs, “Are You a Monkey” and “Jump in the River Blues”, on the Rumble Records Label. “Are You A Monkey” later appeared on a rock collection: 1983’s “The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3.” In the early seventies Winter’s Green changed their name to Applejack and added drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalensky to their lineup. Applejack became a very popular band in the Vancouver area, and began touring extensively in British Columbia. The band played a few original tunes such as “Raise A Little Hell” and “Oh, Pretty Lady”, as well as Top 40 songs by artists such as Neil Young, and Chicago.
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#1423: Believe Me by The Guess Who?
Peak Month: March 1966
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Believe Me”
Allan Kowbel was born in Winnipeg in 1943. By the age of fifteen, in 1958, he was singer and guitarist who went by the stage name of Chad Allan. He formed a group that year named The Rave Ons, as a tribute to Buddy Holly. By 1960 the band was known as Allan and the Silvertones. Another name change took place in 1962 when they billed themselves as Chad Allan and the Reflections. At this time their lineup, in addition to Allan, consisted of consisted of keyboard player Bob Ashley, guitarist Randy Bachman, bass player Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson. Bachman, Kale and Peterson all provided backing vocals. The group chose the name, The Reflections, to resemble the popular backing band for Cliff Richard called The Shadows. Another name change took place in 1965. A pop group from America, called The Reflections, had a top ten hit called “Just Like Romeo & Juliet”. Their popularity became problematic for Chad Allan and The Reflections. Now they billed themselves as Chad Allan & the Expressions.”
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#1132: Tattoo Man by Denise McCann
Peak Month: January 1977
9 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Tattoo Man”
Lyrics: “Tattoo Man”
Denise McCann was born in 1948 in Iowa. Albert Hews McCann Sr., her grandfather, was a cornet player and singer in Shreveport, Louisiana. The McCann Family Orchestra included various children of McCann Sr. and one of his brothers. He and his brother played for touring vaudeville acts that came to Shreveport between 1910 and 1930. Denise’s family moved to Castro Valley, California, while she was in her youth. During the Summer of Love, Denise moved up to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood where she became a hippie. She got a job with the Magic Mountain Festival on Mount Tamalpais and also at the Monterey Pop Festival. At the festival she became friends with Jimi Hendrix. McCann wrote this website to add “I actually spent the entire night with Jimi Hendrix the night of his guitar-burning performance at Monterey Pop!” McCann appears in the D.A. Pennebaker documentary Monterey Pop!
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#1421: Long Long Way by Ian Thomas
Peak Month: September 1974
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Long Long Way”
In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking”. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies”. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.
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#1137: Disco Queen by Copperpenny
Peak Month: June 1975
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Disco Queen”
Vocalist Ken Hollis and keyboardist Rich Wamil were friends in high school in Kitchener, Ontario. They began playing music together in a garage in 1965. Inspired to form a band, they called themselves the Penny Farthings. The name was a reflection of the British Invasion with so many pop tunes by the Dave Clark Five, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Petula Clark, the Kinks and others. The Penny Farthings soon got a lot of gigs in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. They landed a record contract with Columbia Records who suggested a name change to Copperpenny. The name was taken from the B-side to The Paupers’ hit in southern Ontario, “If I Call You By Some Name”.
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#1143: Take It Slow (Out In the Country) by Lighthouse
Peak Month: February 1972
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
YouTube.com: “Take It Slow (Out In The Country)”
Lyrics: “Take It Slow (Out In The Country)”
The Paupers were a garage band from Toronto active from 1965 to 1968. Their drummer was Skip Prokop. They performed as opening acts for American recording artists like Wilson Pickett and the Lovin’ Spoonful who were visiting Toronto. Then the Paupers played as an opening act for the Jefferson Airplane at Cafe Au Go Go in New York City from February 21 to March 5, 1967. This was three weeks after Jefferson Airplane released their album Surrealistic Pillow, and a month prior to their single release of “Somebody to Love”. The Paupers were the second act performing on the opening night of the Monterey International Pop Festival in Monterey, California, on June 16, 1967, following the opening set by The Association. The Paupers also had a few singles that year. “If I Call You By Name” peaked at #6 in Toronto, #7 in Hamilton and #8 in Kitchener. “Magic People” made the Top 30 in San Francisco and Sacramento, California. In 1968 Skip Prokop left the band and by the following year co-founded Lighthouse.
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