Keith Hampshire (born 23 November 1945) is an English-born singer and actor. He recorded three songs which were top ten hits in Canada, and hosted the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

show ''Keith Hampshire's Music Machine''. His voice has been compared to

David Clayton-Thomas David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...

."Keith Hampshire: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Keith Hampshire"
''AllMusic'' Review by Steve Leggett In the United States his highest charting single,"Daytime Night-time", reached No. 51 on

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

Early life

Hampshire was born in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. He moved with his family to Canada at the age of six. He lived in Toronto and later Calgary, where he took singing lessons, and formed several short-lived high-school bands which performed in local venues."Keith Hampshire"
''AllMusic'' Biography by John Bush

Career

After graduating from high school, Hampshire began working as a radio disk jockey. Between July 1966 and mid-August 1967, He lived in the UK and was a DJ for the offshore

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

South. His show was called "Keefer's Commotions", and later "Keefer's Uprising". Beginning in 1971, Hampshire recorded a number of pop music singles, including his #1 version of "

The First Cut Is the Deepest "The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in May 1967. Stevens's own version originally appeared on his album ''New Masters'' in December 1967. The song ...

", which topped the ''RPM 100'' national singles chart in May 1973. In 1974, Hampshire was nominated for a Juno Award as Male Vocalist of the Year. That year he became the host of the

show ''Keith Hampshire's Music Machine''. In 1981, Hampshire released an album, ''Variations'', through Freedom Records. In 1983, Hampshire, with the Bat Boys, recorded a song entitled " OK Blue Jays" which became an unofficial anthem for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

team. Blue Jays fans frequently sing it during the

seventh-inning stretch In baseball in the United States and Canada, the seventh-inning stretch is a long-standing tradition that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of a game. Fans generally stand up and stretch out their arms and legs and sometimes w ...

of home games. The song was written by Alan Smith, Pat Arbour,

Jack Lenz John Frederick "Jack" Lenz is a Canadian composer. He has written, performed, and produced music for film, television, and theatre, along with working on non-soundtrack album ventures. He is also the founder of Live Unity Enterprises, an organiza ...

and Tony Kosinec. The song was remixed by

Rob Wells Rob Wells (born 1971/1972) is a Canadian producer/songwriter, and is one half of music production team "The Fourth Floor" with award winning singer/songwriter/recording artist Shobha. Artists that Wells has worked with includes Ariana Grand ...

and Chris Anderson of Big Honkin' Spaceship Inc. in 2003."OK, Blue Jays: Meet the singer behind Toronto's iconic baseball song"
''National Post'', Joe O'Connor October 7, 2016 On 18 June 2005, Hampshire was hired to host a 1960s–1970s based oldies radio show on

CHAY-FM CHAY-FM is a Canadian radio station in Barrie, Ontario broadcasting at 93.1 FM. The station airs a Rhythmic-leaning CHR format, using its on-air brand name as ''Fresh 93.1''. The station is owned by Corus Entertainment. History CHAY signed on ...

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. That year 20th Century Masters released an album of his past singles, ''The Millennium Collection: The Best of Keith Hampshire''.

Filmography

*1972-1973: ''

Festival of Family Classics ''Festival of Family Classics'' is a Rankin/Bass animated anthology series that originally aired between 1972 and 1973. The show originally aired in syndication. It was re-aired 1 November 2005 on the Boomerang channel and on 16 June 2011 via the ...

'' - Additional voices *1983: '' Rock & Rule'' - Other Computers *1986: '' Madballs: Escape from Orb!'' - Hornhead *1987: '' Madballs: Gross Jokes'' - Hornhead / British Narrator *1987: ''

The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland ''The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland'' is a 1987 animated musical fantasy film and the third theatrically released film in the Care Bears franchise. It was released in the United States and Canada on August 7, 1987, by Cineplex Odeon Films, a ...

'' - Madhatter / Jabberwocky *1987-1988: ''

The Care Bears Family ''The Care Bears Family'' is a Canadian animated series produced by Nelvana based on the franchise of the same name, and is the successor series to the series produced by DIC Entertainment. It was originally broadcast from September 13, 1986 to ...

'' - Mr. Dragon / Shakey the Sea Serpent / Songfellow Strum *1989: ''

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, ...

'' - Additional voices *1989-1991: ''

Babar Babar ( ur, ), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Pashto, and Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ...

'' - Additional voices *1990: ''

The Nutcracker Prince ''The Nutcracker Prince'' is a 1990 Canadian animated romance fantasy film directed by Paul Schibli based on the screenplay by Patricia Watson. It is a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and ...

'' - Mouse / Guest / Second Guard / Contestant / Spectator / Soldier *1990-1991: ''

The Raccoons ''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985 to March 19, 1991 in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985 to August 28, 1992 in the U.S., with three preceding television specials from ...

'' - Pig One *1991-1992: '' The Advnetures of Tintin'' - Additional voices (English version) *1993-1994: ''

The Busy World of Richard Scarry ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry'' is an animated children's television series, produced by CINAR Animation and France Animation in association with Paramount Television, which aired from 1994 to 1997, first on Showtime (TV network), Showtime ...

'' - Additional voices *1994: ''

Monster Force ''Monster Force'' is a 13-episode animated television series created in April 9, 1994 by Universal Cartoon Studios and Canadian studio Lacewood Productions. The story is set in approximately 2020 and centers on a group of teenagers who, with hel ...

'' - Additional voices *1998: ''

Laura's Happy Adventures ''Laura's Happy Adventures'' is an adventure game developed by Ubi Soft Montreal and published by Ubi Soft, and released as part of the Playmobil Interactive series of products. The game was originally released in 1998, becoming the first adventur ...

'' - Mr. Morris *2001-2003: ''

Pecola ''Pecola'' ( ja, ペコラ, ) is a 3D animated children's television series which stars cube-shaped anthropomorphic animals in a place called Cube Town. It is based on a series of children's picture books by Naomi Iwata. It was first aired on T ...

'' - Additional voices (English version)

Discography

Singles

* 1967 - "Millions of Hearts" (b/w Lonely Boy) * 1971 - "Ebenezer" (b/w Sing Angel Sing) (#81 Canada) * 1972 - "Daytime Night-time" (b/w Turned the Other Way) (#5 Canada),(#51 US) * 1973 - "

" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing) (#1 Canada), (#70 US) * 1973 - "Big Time Operator" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing) (#5 Canada), (#81 US) * 1974 - "For Ever and Ever" (b/w Jeraboah) (#47 Canada) * 1974 - "Hallelujah Freedom" (b/w Waking Up Alone) (#59 Canada) * 1976 - "I'm Into Something Good" (b/w Just Another Fool) * 1981 - "I Can't Wait Too Long" (b/w Nobody's Child) * 1983 - " OK Blue Jays" (b/w same) (#47 Canada) - as "The Bat Boys"

Albums

* 1972 - ''Oops!'' (original cast recording) * 1973 - ''The First Cut'' * 1981 - ''Variations'' * 2005 - ''The Best of Keith Hampshire: The Millennium Collection''

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampshire, Keith Living people 1945 births English male singers English rock singers English songwriters English radio personalities English male voice actors English emigrants to Canada People from Dulwich Canadian male singers Canadian rock singers Canadian songwriters Canadian radio personalities Canadian male voice actors British male songwriters