Among blues-rock soloists and accompanists, he had few equals. An exceptional pianist, organist and accordion player, Richard Bell left his mark on more than 400 albums, some of which he also produced, arranged and composed and sang on. Renowned for his sense of humor as well as his dazzling keyboard chops, the Toronto-born Bell performed with such legendary figures as Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield and Bob Dylan and played a supporting role in some key events in rock ’n’ roll history. When he died last week at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, after a year-long battle with cancer, friends and associates around the world mourned the loss of a beloved and highly respected musician who, according...
Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!
Few pianists swung as hard or played as fast and with as many grace notes as Canada’s Oscar Peterson. The classically trained musician could play it all, from Chopin and Liszt to blues, stride, boogie, bebop and beyond. He led his own jazz trios, performed with such legendary figures as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, who called him “the man with four hands,” recorded more than 200 albums and wrote such memorable works as “Hymn to Freedom” and the “Canadiana Suite.” “A virtuoso without peer,” concluded his biographer, Gene Lees, in The Will to Swing. When Peterson died this week, music lovers around the world mourned the loss of a lyrical stylist and one of...
Billy Bryans was best known as the drummer and founding member of the Parachute Club, the Juno Award-winning political rock group famous for its anthemic hit “Rise Up.” But his credits and contributions ran much deeper and he may ultimately be remembered as a cultural bridge builder who changed the sound of Canadian music. As a musician, Bryans performed and recorded with bands across the musical spectrum, from rock and blues to punk and African styles. At the height of the new wave era, playing in several groups at once, he was often seen pushing his drum kit on a trolley from club to club along Toronto’s Queen Street. His work as a record producer was equally eclectic, working with everyon...
In 1985, I was invited to a small reception in a Toronto hotel to meet a young woman who was already creating a major industry buzz. Besides being gospel great Cissy Houston’s daughter, Dionne Warwick’s cousin and Aretha Franklin’s goddaughter, Whitney had been signed by Clive Davis, a man with proven ears for talent. The moment Whitney walked into the room, I was struck by her natural beauty and youthful innocence. Just 22, she was fresh-faced and shy, yet already so poised. Sweet and soft-spoken, we chatted together about her new album and upcoming tour. There was an air of barely contained excitement about her, like a debutante at her coming-out ball. Less than a year later, Whitney had b...
Poll Results What was your favorite Canadian song of the 1990s? Constant Craving - kd lang 18 votes 18% Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane 13 votes 13% Hasn't Hit Me Yet - Blue Rodeo 13 votes 13% If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies 12 votes 12% You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette 10 votes 10% Coax Me - Sloan 9 votes 9% Secret Heart - Ron Sexsmith 9 votes 9% El Desierto - Lhasa 7 votes 7% Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan 5 votes 5% Any Man of Mine - Shania Twain 2 votes 2% The Mummer's Dance - Loreena McKennitt 1 vote 1% Informer - Sn...
1. Metals Feist Feist presented a brand new slate, mixing hard and soft alloys to forge an album of rare depth and beauty. 2. Bon Iver Bon Iver From bucolic backwoods balladry to hypnotic electro-pop symphonies, his transformation has been masterful. 3. The Harrow & the Harvest Gillian Welch More exquisite folk songs that sound like they were handed down through the ages. 4. So Beautiful or So What Paul Simon Songs about love and faith, steeped in African kora, Indian tabla and southern gospel. 5. Ashes & Fire Ryan Adams Rarely has the prolific, wildly talented tunesmith sounded this inspired. 6. Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes Darker and deeper, but...
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: CANADIAN POP MUSIC IN THE ’90sTWO-PART SPECIAL AIRS THURSDAY, SEPT. 15 AND 22, AT 8 P.M. September 8, 2011- Following on the tremendous success of previous series on Canadian music in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, CBC Television presents LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: CANADIAN POP MUSIC IN THE ’90s, airing Sept. 15 and 22 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT). CBC-TV has been chronicling the musical landmarks of this country—decade by decade, style by style, and groundbreaker by groundbreaker. LIFE IS A HIGHWAY completes the next chapter in Canada’s amazing pop music journey. The ’90s were marked by hit songs from Canadian performers as diverse as Tom Cochrane, Sloan, Loreena McKennitt, The Tragically Hip,...
From Heritage Toronto
335 Yonge Street (The Empress Hotel) Destroyed by Fire
How can we better protect our heritage?
The Empress Hotel at 335 Yonge Street was destroyed yesterday in an early morning fire. Located on the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Gould Street, the Empress Hotel (1888) is a three-storey commercial building. The property was included on the City of Toronto's Inventory of Heritage Properties in 1974, and was designated last year under the Ontario Heritage Act in response to a demolition application.
From the Intent to Designate Report: "The Empress Hotel has design value as a well-crafted example of a late 19th century commercial building that blends elements of the popular Second Empire and Romanesque Revival styles of the era. The distinctive corner tower with a classically detailed mansard roof from Second Empire styling is combined with the monumental round-arched openings that typify the Romanesque Revival style in a carefully crafted composition designed to enhance the presence of the building on Toronto's most prominent commercial street.
Contextually, the Empress Hotel is a local landmark on the southeast corner of Yonge Street and
I was proud to present The Sadies at the 2010 Polaris Music Prize gala on September 21 at Toronto's historic Masonic Temple, where the group was short-listed for its stellar album Darker Circles. Here is my introduction to the band: The Sadies. Guitar-slinging brothers Dallas and Travis Good, bassist Sean Dean and drummer Mike Belitsky. Artists—from Gord Downie and Neko Case to John Doe and Neil Young—are unanimous in their praise of these guys. Critics, however, can’t seem to agree on how to describe the band. Are they alt-country mavericks or garage-rock revisionists? Space-rock cowboys or spaghetti-western revivalists? Fact is, The Sadies defy categorization. They draw from a gr...
She ran away to join the circus. Although she’d been signed to prestigious Atlantic Records and was being touted as an Edith Piaf for the new millennium, Lhasa de Sela turned her back on the music business. Ultimately, the runaway success of her first album, La Llorona, a stunning collection of stylized Mexican ballads and European gypsy tunes all sung in Spanish, proved to be too much for her. “I needed to get away from it for a while,” explains de Sela. “I’d been touring constantly for two years and getting offers to do these amazing gigs all over the world. But I got badly burnt out and started experiencing these intense feelings of anxiety. I just finally had to say no to everythin...