Guy LeBlanc (October 16, 1960 – April 27, 2015) was a Canadian keyboardist and composer. He led his own progressive-rock band -

Nathan Mahl Nathan Mahl are a Canadian progressive rock band with jazz fusion elements formed in Ottawa, Ontario. Throughout a constantly evolving lineup of rock and fusion musicians from the Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec, Gatineau regions, keyboardist Guy LeB ...

, and was a member of the British progressive band

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

from 2000 to 2015. He produced and released his own solo, as well as Nathan Mahl's discs, and had appeared as guest keyboardist on several other releases.

Biography

Born in 1960 in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, he began formal musical training at age four, and ended his classical piano training at age 11, in order to concentrate on composition and modern electric music. He started playing keyboards in Rock bands at 15 and co-founded

at age 20 with Mark Spenard, Don Prince and Dan Lacasse. In 1991, on a dare, he released a series of recorded improvisations with two drummers, and dubbed the project Mahl Dynasty. After reforming Nathan Mahl several times over many years through to the present, LeBlanc managed to record a few of these lineups, and chose to release some of these as independent discs. On the strength of his performance at

NEARfest The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsy ...

In 1999, with Nathan Mahl, he was invited to join the British progressive band Camel, with whom he toured in 2000-2001 and recorded the studio disc ''A Nod and a Wink'' In 2002, LeBlanc wrote a couple of pieces with band leader

Andrew Latimer Andrew Latimer (born 17 May 1949) is an English musician and composer. He is a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel and the only member who has been with them since their formation in 1971. Best known as a guitarist and singer, L ...

. Since late 1999, he has been producing all his discs in his own digital studio, ''Subversia'', named after his solo album from the same year. In 2001, he recorded one song with Curtis Reid on his disc ''Omniumgatherum.'' The following year he played keys with Donnamatrix on several tracks of their Cool Lynx EP. LeBlanc was also recording other tracks with a few different projects, and hopes to catch up someday. In 2004, he released his second solo disc ''All the Rage,'' and recorded with Nathan Mahl the opening track to ''Odyssey'', a 9 band collaboration spearheaded by The Finnish Progressive Music Association Colossus and the French label Musea. After this first collaboration, he then composed a piece for the four cd set Divine Comedy ''Inferno'' titled ''the Comfort of Tears'' (released in 2008), two songs performed on grand piano for the ''Iliad'', one song (the Oval Portrait) for the ''Tales of Edgar Allan Poe'' (both released in 2010), and one song (Beyond the Wall of Sleep) for the ''Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (released in 2012), all these for Colossus-Musea. LeBlanc participated in what was described as a progressive rock supergroup collaboration along with members of progressive avant-garde bands French TV and Boud Deun called ''The Distinguished Panel of Experts''. Their debut cd ''Trans-Indulgent'' was released in 2009 jointly by labels Musea and Luna Negra. In 2011, Guy joined his friend David Campbell's band The Rebel Wheel in time for their appearance at the Prog Day festival 2011. He died on April 27, 2015 of

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include spr ...

Other projects

LeBlanc played guest keyboard spots on AraPacis' third album ''Netherworld'' from 2012 on the song ''Crisis'' and fourth album ''A Disturbing Awakening'' from 2014 on the song Wanderlust. During the fall of 2013, he returned to Camel.

Discography

Subversia (1999)

This first solo disc includes guest performances from several friends, including the widely acclaimed guitarist Scott McGill (Hand Farm, Finneus Gauge and McGill-Manring-Stevens) on guitar. Winner of the best Fusion album of 1999 from Radio CFLX-FM in Sherbrooke Délire Musical. Songs: # The First Lie # Joyride # A Question of Authority # The Cold Truth # The Trial # Subversia # Home

All the Rage

Aptly titled ''All the Rage'' and composed over a 2-year period, the disc parallels the tumultuous personal events that have helped shape this artist's life and work. Released in 2004, each song on this 70-plus minute CD tells a

story within a story A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...

, and each story exposes a search within for the answers to life and art. Songs: # Life on the Blade # All the Rage # Ailleurs # One Sky # the Silent Thread # the Immortals # the One who Knows # Choices

Biography

Other projects

Discography

Subversia (1999)

All the Rage

References

External links