#1296: I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love by April Wine
Peak Month: January 1975
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “I Wouldn’t Want To Lose Your Love”
Lyrics: “I Wouldn’t Want To Lose Your Love”
In 1969 in the Halifax suburb of Waverly, Nova Scotia, guitarist Myles Goodwyn teamed up with the Henman brothers: Ritchie (drums), David (guitar) and Jimmy (bass). The name for the band was arrived at since they liked the sound of the two words together. The next year the band moved to Montreal and got a record contract with Aquarius Records. A self-titled album was released in 1971 and Aquarius asked the band to record a second album. At this time Jim Henman was replaced by Jim Clench.
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#1301: Get Up, Get Out, Move On by Fludd
Peak Month: May 1972
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Get Up, Get Out, Move On”
Lyrics: “Get Up, Get Out, Move On”
Fludd had its roots in a band called The Pretty Ones, formed by Ed Pilling and Greg Godovitz. The band was briefly part of Toronto’s Yorkville scene in the 1960s, but broke up before achieving much commercial success. Pilling and his brother Brian then moved to Birmingham, England, where they formed a band called Wages of Sin and spent some time touring as a backing band for Cat Stevens in 1970. However, disagreement over musical direction with Stevens led the brothers to return to Toronto by the end of the year. Inspired by the then-emerging psychedelic blues rock sound of British acts such as Small Faces, they then reunited with Godovitz, and recruited drummer John Andersen and guitarist Mick Walsh to create Fludd.
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#1302: Hats Off (To a Stranger) by Lighthouse
Peak Month: May 1971
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Hats Off (To A Stranger)”
“Hats Off (To A Stranger)” lyrics
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 were hits on Toronto’s CHUM AM including “Simple Deeds”. In 1968 Skip Prokop left the band and by the following year co-founded Lighthouse.
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#1247: Just Don’t by Tom Northcott Trio
Peak Month: January 1966
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Just Don’t”
Tom Northcott was born in Vancouver in 1943. Still in his teens, Tom Northcott was gaining a reputation while making his rounds through the Vancouver coffeehouse circuit in the early ’60s. In particular, he frequented the Kitsilano area, the focal point of the hippie counterculture north of San Francisco. “Just Don’t” was his first local hit record.
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#1306: My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style by Dream Warriors
Peak Month: March 1991
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “My Definition of a Bombastic Jazz Style”
Lyrics: “My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style”
The Dream Warriors were a duo who joined together in 1988. The duo were Louie Robinson and Frank Allert who lived in the Jane and Finch and Willowdale neighborhoods in Greater Toronto. Louie Robinson had recorded a single that year when he was featured on Michie Mee and L.A. Luv’s single “Victory Is Calling”. The dancehall reggae tune with Jamaican funk, rap and hip-hop got the attention of others in the Toronto recording scene. By 1991 their debut album had received critical acclaim across Europe and Canada winning awards and music magazine rankings among the top albums of the year.
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#1311: Sing A Song by David Clayton-Thomas
Peak Month: April 1972
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Sing A Song”
In 1941 David Thomsett was born in Surrey, England. He immigrated with his family to Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto, when he was six years old. Living with an authoritarian father who physically beat him as a routine way of punishing his son, David left home and began to live on the streets at the age of 14. This led to a few years of petty crime, being in and out of juvenile detention centers, the Millbrook Reformatory and subsequently the Burwash Industrial Farm, an agricultural setting established in the 1910s to rehabilitate prison inmates, and next house Japanese-Canadians during World War II. While in jail a battered, old mail-order guitar was left to him by an outgoing inmate. It was then Clayton-Thomas discovered a talent for music that allowed him to believe in a different kind of life.
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#1317: Of A Dropping Pin by The Guess Who
Peak Month: December 1968
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Of A Dropping Pin”
Lyrics: “Of A Dropping Pin”
Originally there was a band in Winnipeg called Al & The Silvertones. The band had some lineup changes and became Chad Allen & The Expressions. In time they changed their name again to The Guess Who ?, with a question mark at the end of their name. They had a hit in Canada in 1965 called “Shakin’ All Over”, a cover version of the original by the UK’s Johnny Kidd And The Pirates in 1960. The Guess Who?’s version became a Top 30 hit in the USA. The Guess Who? tried to tour in the UK themselves in 1967 to support their single, “His Girl.” However, they didn’t have the proper documentation to perform, and “His Girl” only ended up spending one week on the British singles charts.
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#1324: Life Is A Song by Gainsborough Gallery
Peak Month: January 1970
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
At first there was a guitarist and lead singer named Mel Degan and bass guitarist Dennis Paul who were based in Edmonton. They formed a band called The Skeptics. In 1964 they relocated in Calgary and were joined with vocalist Jae Mack, guitarist Peter Marley and drummer Ray McAndrew. They got a reputation on the local scene playing at coffee shops and halls. By 1966 they were billing themselves as The Gainsborough Gallery. This was in honour of the Calgary art museum of the same name (and where they also received fan mail). Tim McHugh joined the band on keyboards.
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#1325: Spaceship Races by Tom Northcott
Peak Month: June 1971
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Spaceship Races”
Lyrics: “Spaceship Races”
Tom Northcott is a Vancouver folk-rock singer with hits on the local pop charts from the mid-60s into the early 70s. He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Television’s Let’s Go music program in 1964-68. He was nominated as best male vocalist for a Juno Award in 1971. Later he co-founded Mushroom Studios in Vancouver and produced records. His hits are played regularly on Canadian classic rock radio stations.
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#1327: Baby Blue by Chilliwack
Peak Month: December 1977
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #110
YouTube.com: “Baby Blue”
Lyrics: “Baby Blue”
Bill Henderson was born in Vancouver in 1944. He learned guitar and became the guitarist for the Panarama Trio that performed at the Panarama Roof dance club on the 15th Floor of the Hotel Vancouver. He formed the psychedelic pop-rock Vancouver band, The Collectors, in 1966. After several local hits like “Looking At A Baby” and “Lydia Purple” the band disbanded by 1970. Henderson (vocals, guitar), Claire Lawrence (saxophone, keyboards), Ross Turney (drums) and Glenn Miller (bass) were all Collectors bandmates. After Howie Vickers left The Collectors, they changed their name to Chilliwack. The name was a Salish First Nations name that means “going back up” and is the name of a city in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.
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