William Taylor Bryans
(September 15, 1947 – April 23, 2012) was a Canadian percussionist, songwriter, music producer and DJ, known as one of the founders of
The Parachute Club
The Parachute Club was a Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections ex ...
, among other accomplishments in music. As a producer, he worked on projects for artists as diverse as
Dutch Mason,
Raffi
Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...
,
Lillian Allen
Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner.
Biography
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the C ...
and the
Downchild Blues Band
The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The band is still commonly known as the Downchild Blues Band, though the actual band name was shortened to "Downchild" in the ea ...
.
[ He was born in Montreal, but spent most of his adult life in Toronto, and was particularly supportive of world music as both a promoter and publicist, focusing on bringing ]Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, Cuban
Cuban may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean
* Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent
** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof
* Cuban citizen, a perso ...
and Latin American music
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Romance-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporates African music from enslaved African people who were ...
to a wider audience.
Career
Bryans' childhood was spent in Pointe-Claire
Pointe-Claire (, ) is a Quebec local municipality within the Urban agglomeration of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail. As of the 2021 ce ...
, Quebec, where he was associated with his first professional band, M.G. and The Escorts. This band released three singles, and primarily played in the area bounded by Montreal, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Brockville
Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It i ...
and Kingston, including gigs at Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
and as the opening act at a Montreal concert by The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
. Bryans was also a high school friend of Jack Layton
John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...
, and was credited by Layton with giving him the advice that led to his being elected president of their high school student council.
After graduating with a degree in English literature from Sir George Williams University
Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974.
History
In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...
,["Billy Bryans’ eclectic musical tastes took him far"]
''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', April 23, 2012. Bryans moved from Montreal to Toronto with his group Theodore's Smokeshop in 1970, and soon developed a reputation as a musician, engineer and record producer in the burgeoning counterculture scene around Rochdale College
Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada from 1968 to 1975. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also an informal, noncredited free ...
. He quickly became associated with the Downchild Blues Band
The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The band is still commonly known as the Downchild Blues Band, though the actual band name was shortened to "Downchild" in the ea ...
, including as producer of the band's first notable hit single, "Flip, Flop and Fly
"Flip, Flop and Fly" is a song recorded by Big Joe Turner in 1955. Called a "prototypical rocker", it was recorded by several early
rock and roll performers. In 1973, a version by the Downchild Blues Band reached the record singles chart in Cana ...
", and as the engineer on the band's seminal debut album, ''Bootleg'' (1971), thought to be the first artist-produced and independently distributed album in Canadian history. In 1972, Theodore's Smokeshop, now renamed Horn, recorded its only album, ''On the People's Side'', with Bryans performing as percussionist, sound remixer and co-producer.[Horn was composed of Bryans on drums, with Les Clackett (vocals), Bruce Barron (guitar), Alan Duffy (bass), Gary Hynes (guitar), Wayne Jackson (trumpet) and David De Launey (keyboards). Both Bryans and Jackson would later become members of The Downchild Blues Band, with Bryans also acting as Downchild's producer. See Vernon Joynson]
Dreams, Nightmares & Fantasies (Canada)
for band membership and discography.
During the 1970s, Bryans continued to develop his reputation as a musician, engineer and producer, working on records by the Time Twins, The BobCats and the Downchild Blues Band. Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
credited Bryans' sonic experimentation as one of the inspirations behind the development of his own distinctive production style.
In 1979, he was introduced to Lorraine Segato
Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to pe ...
, who was then the lead singer and a principal songwriter with Mama Quilla II
Mama Quilla II was a Canadian rock band that first performed together in 1977 in Toronto and dissolved in 1982. Although the band recorded only a single EP as Mama Quilla II, after 1982 a revised lineup evolved into the influential pop band Parac ...
. This began a long musical collaboration. Their first collaboration was the band V, playing a mix of funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
, soca
Soca or SOCA may refer to:
Places
* Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy
* Soča, Bovec, Slovenia
* Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code
* Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania
* SoCa, Southern California
Other u ...
and reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
music with Mojah, then the lead singer of the Toronto reggae band Truth and Rights. Bryans also sometimes performed with Mama Quilla II; as the only man performing with an otherwise all-female band, his bandmates jokingly gave him a T-shirt which read "Token Male".[
The next collaboration of Bryans and Segato was the Parachute Club. Prior to that time, Bryans was the drummer for the Toronto new wave and ]art punk
Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spirit ...
band The Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
, while Segato continued her association with Mama Quilla II. The Parachute Club was formed in the summer of 1982, in response to an invitation to Bryans to play at a party at the Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. Based on the performance invitation, Bryans and Segato formed a band which became The Parachute Club.[ While working with Parachute Club, Bryans also continued to work as a producer, most notably on ]Lillian Allen
Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner.
Biography
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the C ...
's Juno Award winning reggae albums '' Revolutionary Tea Party'' and ''Conditions Critical''. In 1987, he also recorded a rearrangement of Moe Koffman
Morris "Moe" Koffman, Order of Canada, OC (28 December 1928 – 28 March 2001) was a Canadians, Canadian jazz saxophonist and flautist, as well as composer and arranger. During a career spanning from the 1950s to the 2000s, Koffman was one of Cana ...
's "Curried Soul", which CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...
used as the introductory music to the second half-hour of its nightly news program ''As It Happens
''As It Happens'' is a Canadian interview show that airs on CBC Radio One in Canada and various public radio stations in the United States through Public Radio Exchange. Its 50th anniversary was celebrated on-air on November 16, 2018. It has been ...
'' until September 2013.
Following Parachute Club's breakup, Bryans continued to work as a producer for artists such as AfroNubians, Raffi
Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...
and Punjabi by Nature
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British T ...
, as well as doing session work for musicians such as George Fox
George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...
, Loketo
Diblo Dibala (born 9 August 1954), often known simply as Diblo, is a Congolese soukous musician, known as "Machine Gun" for his speed and skill on the guitar.
He was born in 1954 in Kisangani. He moved to Kinshasa as a child, and aged 15 won ...
and Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these are ...
. In 1989, Bryans and Aaron Davis received a Genie Award
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
nomination for Best Original Score for their work on George Mihalka
George Mihalka (born 1953) is a Hungarian-born Canadian filmmaker. He is known for his 1981 slasher film '' My Bloody Valentine'' which was remade in 2009.
Career
In Canada since 1963, George Mihalka studied film at Concordia University in Mo ...
's film ''Office Party
''Office Party'', also known as ''Hostile Takeover'' in some releases, is a Canadian thriller film directed by George Mihalka and released in 1988. An adaptation of Michael A. Gilbert's 1981 crime novel ''Office Party'', the film stars David Warne ...
''. In 1991, he coordinated a concert series for world beat musicians at Ontario Place
Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...
and produced '' The Gathering'', a compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
of Canadian world music artists which won the inaugural Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year The Juno Award for Global Music Album of the Year has been awarded since 1992, as recognition each year for the best world music album in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from ...
at the Juno Awards of 1992
The Juno Awards of 1992, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 29 March 1992 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Rick Moranis was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on C ...
. In 1997, Bryans was one of the producers and mixers associated with the film soundtrack to the Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
movie ''Jungle 2 Jungle
''Jungle 2 Jungle'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by John Pasquin, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and TF1 Films Productions, and starring Tim Allen, Martin Short, Lolita Davidovich, David Ogden Stiers, JoBeth Williams, and introducing Sam Hunt ...
'', which featured much African music.
In the 2000s, he focused extensively on promoting Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...
in Canada, playing a prominent role in the emergence of artists such as Laura Fernandez, Aline Morales and Alex Cuba
Alexis Puentes (born 1974), better known by his stage name Alex Cuba, is a Cuban-Canadian singer-songwriter who sings in Spanish and English. He has won two Juno Awards for World Music Album of the Year: in 2006 for '' Humo de Tabaco'', and in ...
.
In 2006, Bryans announced that he was suffering from lung cancer, and was incapacitated for a period of months, commencing in April of that year. In August 2006, in celebration of his recovery, a number of notable Toronto musicians performed a benefit in Bryans' honour. In early 2012, it was announced that Bryans' cancer had returned and he was in palliative care
Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
. Another benefit concert was held on April 19 at Toronto's Lula Lounge to help defray his healthcare costs. He died a few days later in Toronto, on April 23, at age 64.
Discography
Musician
*1972 – Horn, ''On The People's Side'' (Special)
*1975 – Downchild, ''Ready to Go'' (GRT)
*1983 – Parachute Club, ''The Parachute Club'' (Current/RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
)
*1984 – Parachute Club, ''At The Feet of the Moon'' (Current/RCA)
*1985 – Parachute Club, ''Moving Thru the Moonlight'' (Current/RCA; remixes)
*1986 – Parachute Club, ''Small Victories'' (Current/RCA)
*1990 – Raffi
Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...
, ''Evergreen Everblue
''Evergreen Everblue'' is a music album by popular children's entertainer Raffi, released in 1990. The album was aimed at an older audience than most of Raffi's children's albums. The songs on this album are ecology
Ecology () is the stud ...
'' (Rounder
Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short
* ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short
* ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy
* ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...
)
*1994 – Parachute Club, ''Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club'' ( BMG)
Producer
*1972 – Horn, ''On The People's Side'' (Special)
*1974 – David Campbell, ''Through Arawak Eyes'' (Development Education Centre)
*1977 – Downchild, ''So Far: A Collection of Our Best'' (Co-producer, with John Capek and Donnie Walsh Joseph Donald Walsh, Jr. (born March 1, 1941) is a front office adviser of the Indiana Pacers and a former professional basketball coach. He is also the former President of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers.
Early li ...
; reissued 2007 by Koch and Linus
Linus, a male given name, is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Linos''. It's a common given name in Sweden. The origin of the name is unknown although the name appears in antiquity both as a musician who taught Apollo and as a son of Apollo who di ...
.)
*1980 – Downchild, ''We Deliver'' (Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
)
*1982 – Downchild, ''But I'm on the Guest List'' (Attic)
*1986 – Eyuphuro
Eyuphuro is a Mozambican band. Eyuphuro's music is a combination of traditional African music and western popular music. Eyuphuro's music is sung mostly in Makua, a Bantu language. The name of the band means "whirlwind" in Macua.
History
Omar ...
, '' Mama Mosambiki'' (Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
; co-producer, with Bruce Burron)
*1986 – Lillian Allen
Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner.
Biography
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the C ...
, '' Revolutionary Tea Party''
*1988 – Lillian Allen, ''Conditions Critical''
*1990 – The Phantoms, ''Pleasure Puppets'' ( A&M/Spy; co-producer, with Kevin Doyle)
*1990 – Raffi
Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...
, ''Evergreen Everblue
''Evergreen Everblue'' is a music album by popular children's entertainer Raffi, released in 1990. The album was aimed at an older audience than most of Raffi's children's albums. The songs on this album are ecology
Ecology () is the stud ...
'' (Rounder
Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short
* ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short
* ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy
* ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...
; co-producer, with Raffi)[ ''Evergreen Everblue'' credits ''allmusic''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: All Media Guide, LLC. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-23.]
*1992 - Still Life "Signs of Life"
*1997 – ''Jungle 2 Jungle
''Jungle 2 Jungle'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by John Pasquin, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and TF1 Films Productions, and starring Tim Allen, Martin Short, Lolita Davidovich, David Ogden Stiers, JoBeth Williams, and introducing Sam Hunt ...
Soundtrack'' (Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
; specific track producer)
*2003 – Various Artists, ''Mother Africa'' (Musica Alternativa; specific track producer)
*2011 – Laura Fernandez, ''Un Solo Beso''
Engineer/mixer
*1972 – Downchild Blues Band, ''Bootleg'' (Special)
*1972 – Horn, ''On The People's Side'' (Special)
*1986 – Eyuphuro, ''Mama Mosambiki'' (Atlantic; co-mixing, with Bruce Burron)
*1997 – ''Jungle 2 Jungle Soundtrack'' (Disney; specific track mixer)
*2003 – Various Artists, ''Mother Africa'' (Musica Alternativa; specific track mixer)
Other
*1988 – Soundtrack Composer (with Aaron Davis, composer and member of the Holly Cole Trio), ''Office Party''
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Parachute Club Website/Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryans, Billy
1947 births
2012 deaths
Canadian male drummers
Canadian percussionists
Canadian record producers
Canadian songwriters
Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year winners
Music promoters
Musicians from Montreal
Musicians from Toronto
Sir George Williams University alumni
The Parachute Club members
Writers from Montreal
Writers from Toronto
20th-century Canadian drummers
20th-century Canadian male musicians