Chester 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 exist and are collectively the source of ...

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States i ...

band, active primarily from 1972 to 1975.Chester
at

Jam! Jam! was a Canadian website which covers entertainment news. It was part of the Canoe.com online portal, formerly owned and operated by Quebecor through its Sun Media division, and now owned by Postmedia Network. Jam! was the only media outlet ...

's Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Although they released only two singles in their original form before breaking up, the single "Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" was a Top 10 hit on the Canadian pop charts in 1973 and the band garnered a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nomination for Most Promising Group at the

Juno Awards of 1974 The Juno Awards of 1974, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 25 March 1974 in Toronto at a ceremony at the Inn on the Park's Centennial ballroom hosted by George Wilson of CFRB radio's ''Starlig ...

."Juno Award Nominees Listed". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', March 9, 1974. The band was formed by keyboardist Glen Morrow in 1972, and included vocalist Jim Mancel, guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Argue, bassist Mel O'Brien and drummer and pianist Wedge Monroe. In summer 1973, their single "Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" premiered on ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' magazine's RPM100 and Adult Contemporary charts, eventually peaking at #10 in the RPM100 the week of September 22, 1973, and at #8 in the AC chart the week of October 27, 1973. The follow-up single "Start a Dream", released in 1974, did not chart. Argue left the band in 1974 to pursue a solo career. Although the remaining band members initially continued as Chester, they released no further recordings before breaking up in 1975. Mancel recorded a solo single under his own name; in 1977, Mancel and Morrow each separately revived the band name Chester for two singles. New vocalist Fran Cheslo performed with Morrow's version of the band. In 1996 the band received a Classics Award from

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

, to mark "Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" having been played 100,000 times on Canadian radio."SOCAN Awards Canada's Songwriters". ''

'', December 7, 1996. A compilation album, containing the singles released by Chester and those released by Argue and Mancel as solo artists, was released in 2006 on

Unidisc Music Unidisc Music is a Canadian independent record label. The label is known for releasing rare music, that was made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s. Genres include rock, electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, reggae, Latin, disco and a cappel ...

References

{{reflist, 2 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian pop rock music groups Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1975