Joey Gregorash is a Canadian singer and musician from
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
who became the first solo Manitoba act to win 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 ...
In 1965 Gregorash became a founding member of popular Winnipeg-area band the Mongrels. Originally on drums, by 1966 Gregorash was organist and lead singer for the group which, from 1968, would record five singles for the local Franklin label, with two albums released. In 1969 Gregorash left the Mongrels and after fronting the group Walrus - not connected with the like-named UK progrock outfit - signed as a solo act with
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
. Subsequent to two single releases in the autumn of 1970, Gregorash appeared at the notorious
Niverville Pop Festival
The Niverville Pop Festival was a rock music festival held on an acreage southeast of Niverville, Manitoba on May 24, 1970. Held nine months after Woodstock, the festival is widely regarded as the first rock festival in Manitoba and one of the most ...
, leading the crowd in the FISH chant from
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
, and recorded his debut album ''North Country Funk'' at
Stax
Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface ( API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community.
Traditionally, XML APIs are either:
* DOM based - the entire document is read i ...
Studios in
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
in January and May 1971, with the advance single "Jodie" being issued in March 1971, which became an international hit after charting in Germany, Japan, Australia and reaching #3 on the Canadian charts.
The second single from ''North Country Funk'', "Don't Let Your Pride Get You Girl", was "flipped" by radio d.j.'s who favored the intended
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
, Gregorash's rendition of
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 Furay ...
's " Down By the River", which afforded Gregorash a second Canadian Top Ten hit. "Down by the River" would be the only release by Gregorash to attract US attention, reaching #118 on the Singles Chart 101-150 ranked in ''
Record World
''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...
''. "Down by the River" would be featured on Gregorash's second album, ''Tell the People'', which otherwise featured new tracks cut at Trans-Maximus, the Memphis studio owned by
Steve Cropper
Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...
. Issued in 1973, ''Tell the People'' afforded Gregorash moderate Canadian chart impact through its three single releases. Gregorash's first two albums and their singles would be issued in the US by
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst ...
's Lionel (aka Lion) Records.
In 1973 and 1974, Gregorash concluded his association with Polydor Records with two single releases; he then moved to a career in radio working as a writer of radio ads and also as a disc jockey. When he was starting his music career, Gregorash hosted music shows on Winnipeg television and, from 1986, he tried his hand at this again by hosting "S'kiddle Bits", a noon hour children's variety television show on
CKY-TV
CKY-DT (channel 7) is a television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, and maintains studios on Graham Avenue (adjacent to the Canada Life Cent ...
, which featured in-studio and on-location musical performances and guests from around Manitoba. In 1993 "S'kiddle Bits" was replaced by the adult-oriented "Hi Noon", also hosted by Gregorash, which ran for a year.
In 1984, Gregorash returned to recording with "Love Will Bring It Together", a
charity single
A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity.
George Harrison's " Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-mad ...
for
the Children's Hospital of Winnipeg
The Children's Hospital of Winnipeg is a children's hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is located on the campus of the Health Sciences Centre near downtown Winnipeg and is expressly devoted to the health care of children.
History
The hospita ...
which had as its B-side a reworked take on his early single, "Tomorrow Tomorrow". The modified version was called "Together", and Gregorash once performed it at a friend's wedding. As a result of being played by one radio disc jockey in Winnipeg, "Together" eventually accrued sufficient interest for release on
Attic Records
Attic Records was a Canadian independent record label,