John Douglas Witmer (February 1951 – July 3, 2004) was a Canadian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer, songwriter and harmonica player, most notable as the lead vocalist for the band

Whiskey Howl Whiskey Howl was a Toronto-based Canadian blues band, most popular between 1969 and 1972. The band is notable as being one of the early Canadian bands promoting and developing blues music in Canada.Downchild Blues Band The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The band is still commonly known as the Downchild Blues Band, though the actual band name was shortened to "Downchild" in the ea ...

Biography

Described as "one of Toronto's great blues singers from the late '60s to the mid-'80s",

Toronto Blues Society 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 ...

Notice of Death of John Witmer
, "Loose Blues News", September 2004;www.torontobluessociety.com. with "a raspy vocal style", John Witmer co-founded the seminal Canadian blues band,

Downchild Blues Band The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The band is still commonly known as the Downchild Blues Band, though the actual band name was shortened to "Downchild" in the ea ...

, also formed in 1969, were two of the principal influences in the development of Canadian blues music. One of Witmer's first professional engagements with Whiskey Howl was as one of the acts playing at the

Toronto Rock and Roll Revival The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was a one-day, twelve-hour music festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 13, 1969. It featured a number of popular musical acts from the 1950s and 1960s. The festival is particularly notable as fea ...

in September 1969. This was a one-day festival, featuring an historic appearance 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 ...

and

The Plastic Ono Band The Plastic Ono Band was a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name. Lennon and Ono began a personal and artistic relati ...

, and which resulted in the release of the album ''

Live Peace in Toronto 1969 ''Live Peace in Toronto 1969'' is a live album by the Plastic Ono Band, released in December 1969 on Apple Records. Recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, it was the first live album released by any member of the Beatles separa ...

''. Despite the early success and promise of Whiskey Howl, the band broke up as of 1972, shortly after the release of their first album. Witmer continued to sing locally through the balance of the 1970s, rejoining Whiskey Howl for a reunion concert that resulted in the band's second album release, ''Live at The

El Mocambo The El Mocambo is a live music and entertainment venue in Toronto, Ontario. Located on Spadina Avenue, just south of College Street, the venue has played an important role in the development of popular music in Toronto since 1948. It is best kno ...

'', in 1981. Between 1982 and 1986, Witmer was the lead singer of the

, one of three singers who replaced Downchild co-founder

Richard "Hock" Walsh Richard "Hock" Walsh (December 19, 1948 – December 31, 1999) was one of the first professional blues singers in Canada. He is particularly notable as the co-founder of the Downchild Blues Band and was the original singer of that band's best- ...

, during various periods when Walsh either left the band or was fired as Downchild's lead singer. He recorded one album with Downchild, ''But I'm on the Guest List'' (1982), recorded live at Toronto's

club, after Downchild had regrouped following the death of band member

Jane Vasey Jane Elizabeth Vasey (October 16, 1949 – July 7, 1982) was a Canadian blues piano player, best known for her years playing with the Downchild Blues Band. Vasey played with the band from 1973 until her death, from leukemia, on July 6, 1982. ...

. Witmer relocated to Vancouver in the late 1980s, where he joined The BelAirs, a band that existed between 1985 and 1995, after which it became known as The Fabricators.Se
Profile of The Fabricators
at Pacific Northwest Bands; www.pnwbands.com. The Fabricators were described by the West Coast Blues Review as "one of Vancouver's hottest R&B acts". The music with which Witmer was associated at the time was described as "the raw & powerful

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and

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

, rhythmic

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine, American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejanos, ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others i ...

tunes, old rock and roll gems, the smooth urban sounds of Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as many original compositions." During this same period and for the last fifteen years of his life, Witmer was an employee of the

British Columbia Institute of Technology The British Columbia Institute of Technology (also referred to as BCIT), is a public polytechnic institute in Burnaby, British Columbia. The technical institute has five campuses located in the Metro Vancouver region, with its main campus in Burn ...

, where he worked with Larry Smith, co-founder of The BelAirs and The Fabricators.E-mail correspondence with Larry Smith, co-founder of The BelAirs and The Fabricators, September 2009. The Fabricators, established in 1995 as a successor band to The BelAirs, broke up in 2002, and was Witmer's last band. He ceased performing after the band's breakup. Witmer died suddenly two years later, on July 3, 2004, at the age of 53. He was survived by his second wife, a daughter and two sons.John Witmer Death Notice
''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', July 24, 2004, as reprinted in to-nitemagazineforum. :''It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that The Fabricators announce the passing of John Witmer (lead singer). He was truly one of Canada's best blues singer-songwriters. ...John's passing is a great loss to the Canadian music scene, and he will be sadly missed by all his fans, friends and family.'' :: News Announcement, The Fabricators, July 12, 2004. In the week following his death, a memorial service was held for John Witmer in Vancouver, attended by family, musical contemporaries and colleagues from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. In Toronto, on July 27, 2004, John Witmer was remembered by his Toronto family and colleagues in music through an additional memorial service.

Discography

Whiskey Howl

*1972 ''Whiskey Howl'' (

Warner Bros. 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 ...

; CD Release 2008, Pacemaker) *1981 ''Live at The

'' (As The Whiskey Howl Big Band; CD Release 2005, re-release 2009, Solid Gold)

Downchild Blues Band

* 1982 ''But I'm on the Guest List'' (

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

)

The BelAirs

*2008 ''BelAirs Live 85–95'' (Independent)

The Fabricators

*2001 ''The Fabricators'' (Independent)

Contributions to others

*2000

Michael Pickett Michael Pickett may refer to: * Michael Pickett (musician) * Michael Pickett (swimmer) {{hndis, Pickett, Michael ...

, ''Conversation with the Blues''

Compilations

*1992 ''Canadian Blues Masters''

K-tel K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynami ...

; cassette-only release. *2002 ''Vancouver BC's Best Blues, Vol. 1'' (Raw Records)

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based record company; www.rawrecords.com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witmer, John British Columbia Institute of Technology faculty 1951 births 2004 deaths Canadian blues singers Blues harmonica players Canadian rhythm and blues singers Musicians from Toronto 20th-century Canadian male singers