Elyse J. Weinberg (October 25, 1945 – February 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. In later life she used the name Cori Bishop.
Biography
Weinberg was born in
Chatham, Ontario, Canada. She and her family moved to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
when she was 12, and she started playing guitar. She began playing in folk clubs, and studied at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...
, before
dropping out
Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.
Canada
In Canada, most ind ...
in 1963 to pursue a music career in
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 anch ...
, where she played regularly in clubs and at the
Mariposa Folk Festival
Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a f ...
. She later commented: "There was quite a scene –
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...
,
Joni Mitchell,
Ian and Sylvia
Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.
...
,
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...
. We all hung out and played together."
[ "Biography: Weinberg, Elyse (Cori Bishop)", ''CitizenFreak.com'']
Retrieved June 23, 2020
After travelling to Europe and Israel, she returned to Toronto and formed a
folk-rock band, O.D. Bodkins & Company, with
Ken Koblun
Ken Koblun is a Canadian musician who played alongside Neil Young in The Jades, the Squires, the Stardusters, and briefly Buffalo Springfield. He replaced Comrie Smith in 3's a Crowd, playing with the band from 1966 to 1967.
Early years
Koblu ...
(formerly a bandmate of Young in
the Squires
The Squires or Neil Young & The Squires were a Canadian band formed in 1963 in Winnipeg. It was one of the first bands of singer-songwriter Neil Young.
Recordings
Young formed the Squires in 1963, and the group played at community clubs, high ...
) and others.
[ Stan Hall, "Elyse Weinberg's Second Life", ''In Music We Trust'']
Retrieved June 23, 2020[ Nicholas Jennings, "Forgotten folk singer Elyse Weinberg had a surprising late-in-life comeback" ''The Globe and Mail'', May 14, 2020]
Retrieved June 23, 2020
She moved briefly to New York, and then to Los Angeles to meet up with her friend Neil Young, who had just formed
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", rele ...
. She stayed with
Cass Elliot, who introduced her to her manager, Roy Silver. After hearing Weinberg's songs, Silver signed her to the
Tetragrammaton
The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...
label, co-owned by Silver with
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
and others. Weinberg released her first album, ''Elyse'', in 1969. With Young on guitar, a studio band called
Touch
In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...
, and produced by
Don Gallucci
The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the '' Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ...
, the album was described as a "mixture of death-fixated medieval folk, imaginative pop arrangements and very 60's psychedelic rock".
[ According to some sources it reached the ''Billboard'' album chart,][ but this is not confirmed by Joel Whitburn's books which do not mention it. Weinberg was also featured in a '']Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' article which compared her with Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' (1968 ...
. Writer Harlan Ellison described her as a "mythical creature with blue-eyed soul".[ She appeared on '']The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
'' singing Bert Jansch
Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...
's "'Deed I Do", which was released as a single. Another of her songs, "Band of Thieves", was sung by Cher in the movie ''Chastity
Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...
''; wrongly credited as a Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...
composition and called "Chastity's Theme", it was later credited to Weinberg.[
In 1971 Weinberg recorded a second album, ''Greasepaint Smile'', produced by David Briggs and featuring both Young and ]Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...
. However, the record label went bankrupt before the record could be released. She continued to perform occasionally at the Troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
in Los Angeles, and was then signed to David Geffen's Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...
, for whom she made further unreleased recordings for another album, ''Wildfire''. However, her relationship with manager Roy Silver soured, and her proposed album was shelved.[
She gave up her music career, later saying: "I kept writing songs, but as I entered onto a spiritual path, I just drifted away from that lifestyle, which was fortunate."][ Developing an interest in numerology, she changed her name to Cori Bishop, and continued to live in Los Angeles before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early 1990s, and then to ]Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ...
, where she worked in insurance.[
In 2000, she was contacted by musician Andrew Rieger of the band ]Elf Power
Elf Power is an American indie rock band that originated in Athens, Georgia, United States. The line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger, keyboardist Laura Carter, guitarist Dave Wrathgabar, bassist Bryan Poole, and drummer Peter A ...
, who had picked up a copy of her LP.[ "Elyse Weinberg :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview", September 11, 2015]
Retrieved June 23, 2020 She agreed that it be reissued, with a bonus track featuring Neil Young. As a result of the new attention, she began performing again with a band, as Baby Cori and the Buds. In 2009, as Elyse, she released a new album, ''In My Own Sweet Time''.[ Alex Young, "Cori Bishop, aka Elyse, gears up for first new release in nearly 40 years", ''Consequence of Sound'', October 26, 2009]
Retrieved June 23, 2020 Her second album, ''Greasepaint Smile'', was also released on CD. "Elyse Weinberg: Greasepaint Smile", ''Numero''
Retrieved June 23, 2020 Her songs were covered by Vetiver
''Chrysopogon zizanioides'', commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae.
Vetiver is most closely related to '' Sorghum'' but shares many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such a ...
, Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlo ...
, and Courtney Barnett
Courtney Melba Barnett (born 3 November 1987) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP ''I've Got a Friend Call ...
.[ Lars Gotrich, "Elyse Weinberg Remembered", ''NPR.org'', February 25, 2020]
Retrieved June 23, 2020
Elyse Weinberg died in 2020, aged 74, from lung cancer.[
]
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberg, Elyse
1945 births
2020 deaths
Canadian folk singer-songwriters
Canadian women singer-songwriters