Scott Bradshaw, who records as Scott B. Sympathy, is a Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

and

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

musician."Scott B.'s songs so good you'll want to steal them". ''

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 ...

'', 16 December 1993. He released several albums with his eponymously named band in the 1990s, and subsequently became a member of Stratochief following the 1999 death of that band's singer Greg McConnell."Scott B. Sympathy lets in a little light". ''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national a ...

'', 23 May 2002.

Background

Originally from

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

, Ontario, Bradshaw moved to

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 ancho ...

at age 20. He began performing on the

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...

club scene in the 1980s, both as a solo artist under the name Scott B. and with the band Scott B. Sympathy. The name "Scott B. Sympathy" was originally intended as the name of the band, with his own stage name simply being "Scott B." However, this was so frequently misunderstood by fans and music journalists that when crediting the band's 1996 album ''Long Way Down'' to "The Sympathy" still failed to resolve the confusion, Bradshaw eventually relented and adopted "Scott B. Sympathy" as his own stage name.

Career

The band began as a regular act at Elvis Mondays, a regular alternative rock club night in Toronto organized by William New; Bradshaw also played as a supporting musician in New's own band

Groovy Religion ''Groovy'' (or, less commonly, ''groovie'' or ''groovey'') is a slang colloquialism popular during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. It is roughly synonymous with words such as "excellent", "fashionable", or "amazing", depending on context. History The ...

. The band's debut album, 1990s ''Neil Yonge Street'', was titled with a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...

combining Toronto's

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...

with the name of one of Bradshaw's idols,

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 ...

. At this time the band had a rotating lineup, with Bradshaw as the only consistent member; ''Neil Yonge Street'' included contributions from

Ian Blurton Ian Blurton (born 1965) is a Canadian musician and record producer. Early life He was born in Champaign, Illinois in 1965, and moved to Toronto in 1973. Musical career He has been a part of Toronto's indie music scene since the early 1980s. He ...

, Gord Cumming, Terry Carter,

Don Kerr Don Kerr is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is the drummer, lead singer and front man of Toronto band, Communism. He plays in Ron Sexsmith's band,Willie P. Bennett William Patrick "Willie P." Bennett (26 October 1951 – 15 February 2008) was a Canadian folk music, folk-music singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and mandolinist. Bennett was part of the 1970s folk music scene in Canada, and wrote and recorded ...

."'Electrified' Scott B.'s latest unit is more Sympathetic than ever". ''

'', 20 May 1993. The band followed up with ''Drinking with the Poet'' in 1993, garnering radio airplay on alternative rock and

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produce ...

stations and

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

with the album's title track."For the musical maturity, Scott B. deserves Sympathy: Long Way Down was a long time coming, but worth the wait". ''

'', 26 September 1996. By this time the band had a more stable lineup, including guitarist Gary Robertson, bassist Ron Bock and drummer Dave O'Sullivan. The same lineup remained in place for the band's 1996 album ''Long Way Down'', which was credited to The Sympathy. The band's final album, ''Unfinished Sympathy'', was again titled with a pun, referencing Schubert's famous "

Unfinished Symphony An unfinished symphony is a fragment of a symphony, by a particular composer, that musicians and academics consider incomplete or unfinished for various reasons. The archetypal unfinished symphony is Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (sometimes c ...

". (The album title bears no relation to

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

's 1991 single "Unfinished Sympathy", which Bradshaw was unaware of at the time of the album's release.) The album included contributions from

Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian fiddler, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno A ...

Bazil Donovan Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, a ...

, Tyler Yarema,

Michelle Josef Michelle Josef (born March 21, 1953), formerly Bohdan Hluszko, is a Canadian musician and transgender activist. Under her former name, Josef was already established as one of Canada's leading session drummers, and has continued her career in music ...

Oh Susanna "Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), first published in 1848. It is among the most popular American songs ever written. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time ...

and

Cindy Church Cindy Church (born 1958) is a Canadian country and folk artist. Church released three studio albums on Stony Plain Records and was nominated for Best Country Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1995 and 1996. She is also a member of the award w ...

."Unfinished Sympathy". ''

'', 13 February 1999. Following the band's breakup and McConnell's death, Bradshaw joined Stratochief for a number of years, recording two albums with that band. In 2010, he was playing in a duo with Cumming under the name "Massey Harris".

Discography

Albums

* ''Neil Yonge Street'' (1990) * ''Drinking With the Poet'' (1993) * ''Long Way Down'' (1996), as ''The Sympathy'' * ''Unfinished Sympathy'' (1999) * ''Home Movies'' (2006), as ''Scott Bradshaw''

Other Releases

* ''El Seven Nightclub'' (

Big Sugar The sugar industry subsumes the production, processing and marketing of sugars (mostly sucrose and fructose). Globally, most sugar is extracted from sugar cane (~80% predominantly in the tropics) and sugar beet (~ 20%, mostly in temperate climate ...

, 1993), track 13: "

Sitting On Top Of The World "Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Vinson claimed to have com ...

", as ''Scott B.'' * ''Elvis Monday Vol. 1'' (Various Artists, 1994), track 5: "Distress" * ''Changed: A Tribute To Change of Heart'' (Various Artists, 2001), track 5: "Winter's Over"

Stratochief

* ''Turbines for Speed'' (2001) * ''In Search of the Seven Foot Woman'' (2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sympathy, Scott B. Canadian country singer-songwriters Canadian rock singers Canadian alternative country singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Ontario People from Brantford Year of birth missing (living people)