Crack of Dawn is a Canadian band from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, which formed in the mid-1970s, performing R&B,

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 ...

, and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

music. The band is noted as the first

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

band to sign with a major record label.

History

Crack of Dawn was formed in Toronto in the mid-1970s by Grant Gabriel, his sister Jackie Gabriel (both originally from

Springhill, Nova Scotia Springhill is a community located in central Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community was founded as "Springhill Mines." Coal mining led to economic growth, with its incorporation as a town in 1889. The mines in the Springhill coal ...

), Trevor Daley, Rupert Harvey, Mark Smith, Alvin Jones, and Carl Otway. When the Gabriel siblings left shortly after, the band added four new members: Harvey's brother

Carl Harvey Carl Harvey (born 1 October 1958) is a Jamaican born Canadian guitarist and record producer who recorded as a member of Crack of Dawn and The Aggrovators in the 1970s, and later became guitarist for Toots & the Maytals. Early life and education ...

, lead singer Glen Ricketts, Jacek Sobotta, and Dwight Gabriel. Later on, Smith was briefly replaced by Andre King. Crack of Dawn gained a reputation for its live shows in the city's club scene, and while rehearsing in the

Little Jamaica Little Jamaica, also known as Eglinton West, is an ethnic enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the former suburb of York, along Eglinton Avenue West, from Allen Road to Keele Street, and is part of four neighbourhoods: Silverth ...

district one day, they were discovered by American producer Bob Gallo. After meeting with Gallo, the group signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in 1975. In 1976, the group released its self-titled debut album, ''Crack of Dawn''. The album spawned the hit single "It's Alright (This Feeling)", which peaked at #45 on Canada's ''

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 ...

'' Singles Chart. Crack of Dawn supported the album with a countrywide tour and released three additional singles: "The Key", "Keep the Faith", and "Boobie Ruby". The following year, the band broke up after Columbia

record executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...

s convinced Ricketts to pursue a solo career, and attempted to convert the band from a

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the te ...

to a

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

. In 1980, Dwight Gabriel relaunched Crack of Dawn as a four-man group, adding three new members: James (Jay) McGee, George Flint, and Gary Steed. McGee had previously recorded several hip hop singles under the stage name Mr. Q.Michael Rancic
"Finding Mr. Q"
'' Hazlitt'', March 17, 2021. A new album, ''Horizons'', was released the following year by TTR Records, however, it was only distributed in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The band released the single "If You Want to Groove" before disbanding in 1982. Crack of Dawn reunited for a concert at Toronto's

Harbourfront Centre Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it became ...

in 2012. The group began working on a new album shortly after, with a lineup consisting of previous members Otway, the Harvey brothers, Daley, and Jones, as well as newcomers Alexis Baro, Bela Hajmann, Charles Sinclair, and lead singer Michael Dunston. In 2017, the group released the ''Spotlight'' album through Ford Street Records.

Legacy

Crack of Dawn has the distinction of being the first Black Canadian band to sign with a major label, having joined Columbia in 1975. After the band's first break up, many members began solo careers or joined other groups. Rupert Harvey had a solo career under the stage name "Ojiji" and co-founded the

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 ...

band

Messenjah Messenjah is a Canadian-based reggae group that flourished to become one of the most successful and popular reggae groups in the history of Canadian music. History Messenjah was formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario and released their first album ...

and Carl Harvey became lead guitarist for the

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

and reggae band

Toots and the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

. Ricketts began a solo career in R&B, though he later relocated to Jamaica and switched to reggae, recording under the stage name "Glen Ricks". Ricketts's son

Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early li ...

saw mainstream success as a

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

singer in the early 2000s.

Discography

*''Crack of Dawn'' (1976) *''Horizons'' (1981) *''Spotlight'' (2017)

References

{{reflist Black Canadian musical groups Canadian funk musical groups Canadian rhythm and blues music groups Canadian soul music groups Columbia Records artists Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups from Toronto