#55: Morning Town by For Keeps

City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: November 1967
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Morning Town”

For Keeps were a band from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They consisted of Colin Wedgewood, Doug Melville-Ness, Mickey Ellis and Lorence Hud . This sixties garage rock band recorded “Morning Town” in 1967. Lorence Hud was born Lorenc Hudnik in 1947. Hud studied music at the University of Saskatchewan. Doug Melville-Ness was born in 1947.

“Morning Town” was written by the bandmates. Lorence Hud was the lead vocalist on “Morning Town”, which reached #5 on the pop charts in Calgary. The song was produced by Doug Hutton, who went on to become the president of King Motion Picture Corporation based in Edmonton. I could assume “Morning Town” also charted in the band’s home city of Saskatoon, and maybe Regina and Moose Jaw (SK) as well. But, chart information from these Saskatchewan cities from 1967 is incomplete. Very little information about pop charts from CJME or CKCK (Regina), CKOM (Saskatoon) or CHAB (Moose Jaw) in 1967 is available online. If anyone has any information about how “Morning Town” by For Keeps did on other pop charts in the Canadian prairies in 1967, drop me a line.

After For Keeps split up, Hud went on to success as a solo artist. His 1972 single, “Sign Of A Gypsy Queen” was a Top Ten hit across Canada.

Doug Melville-Ness died in 2023 at the age of 75 (or 76).

February 10, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“For Keeps,” Discogs.com.
Jim Owston, Lorence Hud: Sign Of The Gypsy Queen, January 29, 2010.