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 ...
rock band in the 1970s, best known for their 1973 hit "Cousin Mary".Fludd at
canoe.ca
Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' i ...
's Pop Music Encyclopedia.
History
Fludd had its roots in a band called The Pretty Ones, formed by Ed Pilling and
Greg Godovitz
Greg Godovitz (born March 20, 1951) is a Canadian musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the power trio, Goddo. Prior to his success with Goddo, Godovitz was a founding member of Fludd and played in ''Sherman and Peabody'' with Buz ...
(not to be confused with the American band of the same name which eventually became Lynyrd Skynyrd). The band was briefly part of
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 ...
's Yorkville scene in the 1960s, but broke up before achieving much commercial success. Pilling and his brother Brian then moved to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, where they formed a band called Wages of Sin and made numerous appearances at major venues, eventually spending 1968 touring with Cat Stevens. When Stevens had to stop touring due to illness, the Pilling brothers returned to Toronto. Inspired by the then-emerging psychedelic blues rock sound of British acts such as
Small Faces
Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ...
, they reunited with Godovitz, and recruited drummer John Andersen and guitarist Mick Walsh to create Fludd.
The band released its self-titled debut album in 1971, and had a modest chart hit, "Turned 21". Walsh left the band and was briefly replaced by Wages of Sin guitarist Mick Hopkins. The band's second single, "Get Up, Get Out, Move On", was released in 1972 but again charted only modestly, and they were dropped from their label,
Warner Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
. Hopkins returned to England, where he would later form the band
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
. Instead of recruiting another guitarist, Fludd added classically-trained keyboardist Peter Csanky, and signed a deal with Daffodil Records. They planned for their second album to be titled ''Cock On'', and to feature a cover image of the band posing as flashers, wearing only overcoats, but the label's distributor, Capitol Records, was skittish and the plans were dropped; the album was instead released as ''...On!''
The album's singles, "Always Be Thinking of You", "Yes", and "C'mon, C'mon", did not perform much better on the charts, but received sufficient airplay that Daffodil kept the band on for a third album, sending them to
Mike Oldfield
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...
's studios in England to record. Oldfield's simultaneous recording of ''
Tubular Bells
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...
'' hampered their ability to book time in the studio, and the sessions were eventually scrapped. The delays also led Csanky to quit the band; he was replaced by the Canadian keyboardist Peter Rochon. With no new material to release, however, the label revisited ''...On!'' in the hopes of pulling one more single; the song chosen, "Cousin Mary", became the band's breakthrough hit.
The band began new recording sessions in Toronto, completing three songs in 1973: "I Held Out", "Brother and Me", and "Dance Gypsy Dance". "I Held Out" was released as a non-album single but failed to chart, and Daffodil dropped the band. Godovitz left, going on to form
Goddo
Goddo was a Canadian rock band formed in Scarborough, Ontario in 1975. Goddo had mixed major label success from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. After reforming in 1989, they revived their career with several new studio and 'best of' packages. ...
, and was replaced by Doni Underhill of the band
Leigh Ashford
Leigh Ashford was a Canadian rock group formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and which existed between 1966 and 1974.
History
The group was formed in 1967 by, the guitarist Gord Waszek, drummer Dave Cairns, bassist Joe Agnello and keyboard p ...
. Brian Pilling was also diagnosed with
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
around this time, and had difficulty meeting his commitments to the band due to treatment; while he did not leave the band outright, Underhill's bandmate
Gord Waszek
Leigh Ashford was a Canadian rock group formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and which existed between 1966 and 1974.
History
The group was formed in 1967 by, the guitarist Gord Waszek, drummer Dave Cairns, bassist Joe Agnello and keyboard pla ...
came on board as a second guitarist. Andersen took a brief hiatus from Fludd as well, and was temporarily replaced by Pat Little, but returned before the sessions for their next album.While Little was with the band, it played four four-hour concerts at Toronto's
Varsity Stadium
Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the athletic teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898; the ...
, receiving rave reviews.
The band subsequently signed to
Attic Records
Attic Records was a Canadian independent record label, Bolstered by a controversial cover depicting a pregnant woman's bare belly, that album spawned the top-ten hit single "What an Animal".
Due to Brian Pilling's continued health problems, the band was unable to tour to properly support the album, so Waszek, Underhill, and Andersen left to form the band Fingers, while the Pillings carried on as a recording project with bassist Jim Crichton and drummer Ian McCorkle, recording and releasing the single "I'm On My Way" in 1975.
Steve Negus
Stephen William Negus (born February 19, 1952) is a Canadians, Canadian drummer, songwriter, who was a member of the progressive rock band Saga (band), Saga for twenty-six years. In the late 80s, he and keyboardist Jim Gilmour (musician), Jim G ...
replaced McCorkle in 1976 for the singles "Help Me Back" and "With You". However, with Brian Pilling's health continuing to deteriorate, the band called it quits after recording the 1976 singles, and
Attic Records
Attic Records was a Canadian independent record label,greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
compilation ''From the Attic '71 to '77'' in 1977.
Crichton, Negus, and Rochon went on to form the band Saga. Waszek went on to join reunion lineups of Leigh Ashford and Motherlode, Andersen became a session musician, and Underhill went on to join Trooper.
Brian Pilling died of leukemia on June 28, 1978; he was just 28. As a benefit to raise money for his children, Godovitz put together a band of Toronto musicians, including
Bob Segarini
Robert Joseph "Bob" Segarini (born August 28, 1945 in Stockton, California) is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host. During a professional music career primarily developed between 1968 and the early 1980s, Segarini was ...
, to record a tribute single consisting of "Fortune in Men's Eyes", an unrecorded song he had previously written with Pilling, and a remake of Fludd's song "Homemade Lady".
Another greatest hits compilation, ''Greatest Expectations'', was released in 1994 on Pacemaker Records, and ''...On!'' was reissued in 2001 under its original planned title ''Cock On'', 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 cap ...
.
Godovitz and Ed Pilling reunited in 1997, recording an album under the band name No Flies on Frank (the name of a short story by
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
. In the 2000s, a reunited Fludd has toured various
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...
festivals and other venues, with a lineup consisting of Ed Pilling, his younger brother Steve Pilling, Scott Shelson on bass guitar, and Jim Crichton. This lineup released a new CD, ''Fludd Lights'', in 2006 for sale at their concert appearances, but the album has never been released on a commercial label.
In a January 2021 interview with Borderline Radio, Ed Pilling announced that he was working on a new album.
Discography
Singles
* "Turned 21" (1971) #16 CAN
* "Get Up, Get Out, & Move On" (1972) #34 CAN
* "Always Be Thinking of You" (1972) #39 CAN
* "Yes" (1973) #47 CAN
* "C'mon C'mon" (1973) #57 CAN
* "Cousin Mary" (1973) #17 CAN
* "I Held Out" (1974) #94 CAN
* "Brother & Me" (1974) #29 CAN
* "Dance Gypsy Dance" (1974) #58 CAN
* "What an Animal" (1975) #11 CAN
* "I'm On My Way" (1976) #79 CAN
Albums
* ''Fludd'' (1971) #58 CAN
* ''...On!'' (1972) #61 CAN
* ''Great Expectations'' (1975) #65 CAN
* ''From the Attic '71 to '77'' (1977)
* ''Greatest Expectations'' (1994)
* ''Cock On!'' (2001)
* ''Fludd Lights'' (2006)