#138: Can’t Wait For The Night by Brighton Rock
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: March 1987
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #17
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Can’t Wait For The Night”
Lyrics: “Can’t Wait For The Night”
Brighton Rock is a band from Niagara Falls, Ontario, who formed in 1982. The original bandmates were lead singer Gerry McGhee, lead guitar player Greg Fraser, bass guitarist Steve Skreebs, keyboard player Martin Victor, and drummer Mark Cavarzan. Initially, they named themselves Heart Attack. They released a single titled “Breakin’ Down The Barricade”. In 1984, they changed their name to Brighton Rock. Gerald McGhee was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1962. He moved to Ontario, and was singing in a Hamilton (ON) based band called The Rockers. When he joined Heart Attack, his fans in Hamilton stayed loyal to McGhee, and followed their output with interest. Martin Victor left the band and was replaced by Johnny Rogers. In 1985, the band released a self-titled EP. Then in 1986, the band released their debut album, Young, Wild and Free.
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#130: Girl With A Problem by Northern Pikes
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: October 1990
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #12
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #27
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Girl With A Problem”
Lyrics: “Girl With A Problem”
In 1984, The Northern Pikes became a band. They were from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The band was made up of members from three existing bands in the city: Doris Daye, The Idols and 17 Envelope. John Peter “Jay” Semko was from Saskatoon and was already a gifted singer, songwriter, bass guitar player and pianist. Bryan Anthony Potvin was born in 1963 in Ottawa and his family moved to Victoria where he began playing guitar. Merl Bryck, born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, was a backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist. There were a number of lineup changes. In 1986 The Idols drummer, Don Schmid, made The Northern Pikes a permanent quartet, playing drums and percussion. Schmid was born in Saskatoon. Initially, the band released several EPs. The first was the self-titled The Northern Pikes in 1984. The second EP was Scene In North America, released in 1985. They recorded both EPs at a studio near Pike Lake, SK.
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#131: I’m An Adult Now by Pursuit of Happiness
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: March-April 1987
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #14
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Alternative Airplay chart ~ #6
YouTube: “I’m An Adult Now”
Lyrics: “I’m An Adult Now”
Murray Kevin “Moe” Berg was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1959. He learned to play guitar and was also a singer. Berg was a lead singer and guitarist in the Edmonton bands Troc ’59, The News, Modern Minds and Facecrime. Then he formed Pursuit of Happiness in 1985 after he met drummer Dave Gilby. They soon met bassist Johnny Sinclair and formed the band, adding sisters Tamara and Natasha Amabile as backing vocalists.
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#133: This Mourning by Chalk Circle
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: November 1987
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #13
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “This Mourning”
Lyrics: “This Mourning”
Chalk Circle is a band from Newcastle, Ontario. Its origins grew from a band formed in 1982 called The Casualties. The continuous members were lead singer and guitarist Chris Tait, and bass guitarist Brad Hopkins. The band changed their name to The Reactors, and then to New Addition. In 1984 they became Chalk Circle. The name was taken from Bertolt Brecht’s play The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The play is set in the Soviet Union around the end of WWII. It shows a dispute between two communes, the Collective Fruit Farm Galinsk fruit growing commune and the Collective Goat Farmers. They are arguing over who is to own and manage an area of farm land after the Nazis have retreated from a village and left it abandoned. A parable has been organised by one group, an old folk tale, to be played out to cast light on the dispute. In one part of the play, two women argue over whether a boy named Michael is their own son. A chalk circle is drawn and Michael is placed in the center. The two women are invited to pull Michael out of the chalk circle. If they both pull, they will tear the child in half and get half each? Choosing such a reference for the band’s name, Chalk Circle recorded some interesting songs commenting on contemporary culture.
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#2: Flying On Your Own by Rita MacNeil
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: January 1987
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Flying On Your Own”
Lyrics: “Flying On Your Own”
Rita MacNeil was born in Big Pond, Nova Scotia, in 1944. Her family moved to Toronto for some years before returning to Cape Breton. In 196o she moved from Cape Breton to Toronto and worked for a summer at Eaton’s, in the Customer Account Services Department. This was the store where her mother worked for awhile in the 1950s. By 1964, MacNeil had begun taking voice lessons. In 1965, she dated a man from Sicily and got pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter and in the following years she battled issues with her weight – ranging between 119 and 183 pounds. She got married in 1970 and had a second child. But that marriage ended in divorce, and by 1979 she was a single-parent on welfare.
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#3: When I’m With You by Sheriff
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.
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#69: When Friends Fall Out by the Guess Who
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.
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#21: Blue Lipstick by Patrician-Anne
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.
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#51: I Believe In Sunshine by Madrigal
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.
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#49: Children Of The Sun by Mashmakhan
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.
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