The Parachute Club was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

band formed in

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in 1982. They released three top 40 hits in Canada between 1983 and 1987, including "Rise Up", "At the Feet of the Moon" and "Love Is Fire" (which featured guest duet vocals from

John Oates John William Oates (born April 7, 1948) is an American musician, best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates, with Daryl Hall. He has played rock, R&B, and soul music, acting as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer ...

). The band was well known for being one of the first mainstream pop acts in Canada to integrate world music influences, particularly

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

styles such as

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and soca, into their sound. "The Chutes", as they were known, broke up after touring to promote their third and final album, and played their final gig in the summer of 1988. A reconstituted version of the Parachute Club (including four of the earlier band members) played a number of live shows between 2005 and 2008. The band reunited again in 2011 and remained intermittently active through 2014.

History

Formation and early years (1982–1983)

The original Parachute Club band consisted of

Lorraine Segato Lorraine P. Segato (born June 17, 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group The Parachute Club, with which she continues to pe ...

on vocals and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Lauri Conger Lauri Conger is notable primarily as the keyboardist and one of the principal co-writers of most of the songs of The Parachute Club. History Lauri Conger is a native of Thunder Bay, where she began her professional music career in the 1970s. ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s and vocals, Billy Bryans on

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, Margo Davidson on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and vocals,

Julie Masi Julie Ann Masi is a Canadian musician, principally known as a percussionist and vocalist with The Parachute Club. She was also a co-writer of several of the band's songs. She is notable as being part of a female-driven movement mixing music and pol ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

and vocals, Steve Webster on bass and Dave Gray on

. Davidson at the time was one of very few female saxophonists playing professionally; Segato, Conger and Bryans had previously been associated for several years as the nucleus of

Mama Quilla II Mama Quilla II was a Canadian rock band that first performed together in 1977 in Toronto and dissolved in 1982. Although the band recorded only a single EP as Mama Quilla II, after 1982 a revised lineup evolved into the influential pop band Parac ...

, a band that gained respect in Toronto in the late 1970s and early 1980s for their integrated musical and sexual politics—elements that would continue with The Parachute Club. Billy Bryans had also been a well-known percussionist and producer in Toronto since the early 1970s, primarily associated with the

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 ...

during this period. Segato and Bryans first met in 1979, and started to collaborate musically. By 1982, they were both members of the Toronto band V, which was formed while Mama Quilla II was then on hiatus. In the late summer of 1982, Bryans was offered a chance to play at Toronto's inaugural Festival of Festivals, which later evolved into the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. With other members of V unavailable, Bryans approached Segato to form a new one-off band to play at the festival. They added Lauri Conger from Mama Quilla II, as well as local musicians Margo Davidson, Dave Gray and Steve Webster. The band was well received at the festival, and shortly thereafter received and accepted an offer for both a management and recording contract with Current Records. The Parachute Club was thereby formed, while Mama Quilla II made their 'hiatus' permanent, and disbanded.

Early success (1983–1984)

The Parachute Club's eponymous first album, released in 1983, was produced by

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...

, who had previously been the recording engineer of Mama Quilla II's sole release, an EP released in 1982. The group had to write material for the album rather quickly, and consequently recruited poet/artist

Lynne Fernie Lynne Fernie (born 1946) is a Canadian filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. She spent fourteen years as the Canadian Spectrum programmer for the Hot Docs Festival from 2002 to 2016, and was described as having a passion as "deep as her knowled ...

to assist with some of the lyrics. Though Fernie would never be an official member of The Parachute Club, she would contribute lyrics to all their albums, and function as an unofficial honorary member of the group. The song " Rise Up", from Parachute Club's first album, won a Canadian

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 1984 for Single of the Year, while the group won a Juno award for Most Promising Group of The Year. During 1983, Steve Webster, a co-writer of Parachute Club's best known song, " Rise Up" left the band, to perform with

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

. On their 1983/84 touring dates, bassist Russ Boswell stepped in for Webster; he would then leave the band to join Corey Hart's backing band. Keir Brownstone, formerly with

Bob Segarini Robert Joseph "Bob" Segarini (born August 28, 1945 in Stockton, California) is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host. During a professional music career primarily developed between 1968 and the early 1980s, Segarini was ...

, became the band's new permanent bassist in mid-1984. The band's second album ''At the Feet of the Moon'' was released in October 1984, and the title track became the group's second Canadian Top 40 hit. This album (and single) was produced by

Michael Beinhorn Michael Beinhorn is a North American record producer, composer, author and musician. He has produced albums for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole, Violent Femmes and Marilyn Manson. Career 1977-1983: Early Years, Material, Herbie Hancock ...

Later success (1985–1987)

In 1985, the group received the

Juno Award for Group of the Year The Juno Award for Group of the Year has been awarded annually since 1970 in recognition of the best musical group or band in Canada. It is presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). The five nominees in the category a ...

, as well as the equivalent

CASBY award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...

. An album of remixed tracks, ''Moving Thru The Moonlight'', was also issued in late 1985. In 1986, The Parachute Club released their third album, ''Small Victories''. The album included the group's third and final top 40 hit, "Love is Fire", featuring Segato singing a duet with

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

. Oates produced the single, as well as several other ''Small Victories'' tracks; The Parachute Club and Mike Jones were credited as producers on the remainder of the album. In 1987, the group's video of their single, "Love Is Fire" received the

Juno Award for Video of the Year The Juno Award for "Video of the Year" has been awarded since 1984, as recognition each year for the best music video made by a Canadian video director. The award is presented based on the Canadian nationality of the director, not necessarily the so ...

. Julie Masi left the band after their Canadian tour in support of the album, and was replaced on a session basis for live dates by percussionist/singer

Rebecca Jenkins Rebecca Jenkins (born 1959) is a Canadian actress and singer. Acting She had starring roles in the 1990s CBC series ''Black Harbour'', and the films '' Bye Bye Blues'', '' Marion Bridge'', ''Wilby Wonderful'', ''Whole New Thing'', ''South of W ...

. In 1987, the group composed and performed four songs for the Canadian and U.S. versions of the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series, ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...

''. During 1987, Lauri Conger also left the band, and Aaron Davis of Canadian jazz-fusion band Manteca was brought in as the group's new session keyboard player.

Winding down (1988–1989)

The band (now officially a quintet of Segato, Bryans, Gray, Davidson, and Brownstone) recorded a final non-album single in 1988 ("Big Big World"). Bryans produced; guests included Aaron Davis (keyboards), and vocalists Rebecca Jenkins,

Holly Cole Holly Cole (born November 25, 1963) is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio. Background Cole was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father, Leon Cole, was a noted radio broadcaster ...

and

Micah Davis Micah Davis (born June 8, 1993), known professionally as Masego (), is a Jamaican-American musician and singer known for incorporating the saxophone into his music. Masego released two EPs in 2016, ''The Pink Polo EP'' with Medasin, and ''Loose ...

. The band's final performances were in July 1988 at the

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

Forum, in Toronto, where the remaining band members were rejoined by Lauri Conger, filling in for an ill Davis. In early 1989, the original Parachute Club formally disbanded, with band members going their separate ways. Some members, such as Lorraine Segato and Billy Bryans, continued as professional musicians, while other members, such as Margo Davidson and Lauri Conger, substantially left the music business. Davidson, who died in 2008 at the age of 50, became a creative writer and community activist for the homeless, serving as a director of St. Clare's Multifaith Housing Society and as an outreach worker at Eva's Phoenix In 2005, critic

Greg Quill Gregory Raymond Quill (18 April 19475 May 2013) was an Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter and journalist. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and was an entertainment columnist at the ''Toronto Star'' newspaper from the mid-1980s unt ...

wrote in 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 ...

'' that "No musical collective bespoke this city during a specific period as powerfully as Parachute Club did in the 1980s. Their infectious, inclusive, soca-soaked

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

carried important messages about the social changes Toronto was experiencing at the time, about sexual and personal politics, about the need for hope and courage in an age of confusing, impersonal rhetoric from local policymakers and world leaders."

Advertising controversy (1998)

In 1998, the Parachute Club song "Rise Up" was licensed by

EMI Music Canada EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

McCain Foods Limited McCain may refer to: * McCain (surname), a surname (includes a list of persons and characters) Companies * McCain Foods Limited, a producer of frozen foods * McCain, Inc., privately held American manufacturing company headquartered in Vista, ...

for a television commercial for self-rising

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

dough. Members of Parachute Club publicly opposed this commercial use of the song. In a news release issued at the commencement of litigation, band members stated that "(a)s a result of its use on the ad...the song, the people who believe in it and the reputation of its creators have suffered damage within the sphere of public credibility and our personal reputations." A settlement resulted in the band members recovering their music rights from EMI.

Reunion and band revival (2005–2008, 2011–2014)

In 2005, a reconstituted Parachute Club commenced performing, co-headlining a reunion show with

Martha and the Muffins Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the c ...

and headlining at Toronto's City Roots Festival.Greg Quill, "Ready to rise up; Parachute Club reunion a programming coup for the City Roots festival at Distillery District: Mixture of new and old band members rekindle dance music with a message". ''

'', September 1, 2005. The reconstituted band included original members Segato, Bryans, and Gray, as well as Brownstone (who was a member of the band for their second and third albums). Masi, Conger, Steve Webster and Davidson were not part of this revived line-up. New members of the revived line-up were Mystic Walsh and Miranda Walsh (daughters of Eric Walsh, lead singer of Toronto reggae band

Messenjah Messenjah is a Canadian-based reggae group that flourished to become one of the most successful and popular reggae groups in the history of Canadian music. History Messenjah was formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario and released their first album ...

) on vocals, and Ashley Wey on keyboards. By 2008, these new members had been replaced by Chendy Leon Jr, Glenda del Monte and Rebecca Campbell (although Miranda Walsh subbed for an absent Campbell at one 2008 show). In 2006, The Parachute Club was inducted into the Canadian Indies Hall of Fame. Founding member Margo Davidson died May 17, 2008, aged 50. Through 2008, the reconstituted band performed on a regular basis, although they did not release any new material. The Parachute Club did not play any dates after August 2008, and the band's website was not updated after this time. Segato performed "Rise Up" at the

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...

on August 27, 2011, with the choir of the

Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto The Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto is a congregation of the worldwide Metropolitan Community Church movement located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a welcoming congregation openly affirming lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual and ...

. The Parachute Club reunited again on September 30, 2011, for a free show in Toronto's

David Pecaut Square Pecaut Square (formerly known as Metro Square) is a large concrete-and granite-clad plaza located in front of Metro Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The square supports the PATH (Toronto), PATH network connection between Metro Hall and nearby bui ...

to celebrate their induction to

Canada's Walk of Fame Canada's Walk of Fame (french: link=no, Allée des célébrités canadiennes) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of Canadians who have excelled in their respective fields. It is a ...

. The band line-up for the reunion consisted of original members Lorraine Segato (vocals), Dave Gray (guitar), and Steve Webster with new recruits Chris Brown (keyboards), Art Avalos (drums) and Vicki Randle (percussion, backing vocals). Billy Bryans, too ill to perform for the entire show, did join the band on drums for their last two numbers, including "Rise Up". Bryans, one of three musicians to be part of every Parachute Club lineup, died April 23, 2012, at age 63, following a long battle with cancer. Partly at Bryans' insistence that the group continue without him, The Parachute Club decided to stay together to perform gigs. During the 2012 Edmonton (Alberta) Folk Music Festival, the band performed on August 11, 2012, at the volunteer after party and at Stage 2 on August 12. They also played at the Niagara Co-op Expo on 13 October 2012, in St. Catharines, Ontario. For these shows, the Parachute Club now included founding members Lorraine Segato, Dave Gray, Julie Masi, Lauri Conger and Steve Webster. Prior to this reunion, Steve Webster had not played with the group for 27 years, Masi for 25 years and Conger for 24 years. In 2014, the surviving band members released a contemporary dance remix of "Rise Up", in conjunction with Toronto's hosting of the 2014 edition of

WorldPride WorldPride, licensed by InterPride and organized by one of its member organizations, is an event that promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ pride) issues on an international level through parades, festivals and other cult ...

."The Parachute Club releases remix version of ‘Rise Up’"
''

'', June 23, 2014. Segato resumed her solo career with series of solo shows in 2014 and a new album in January 2015. Though the band has issued no formal announcement concerning their current status, The Parachute Club has been inactive since 2014. In 2018 and 2019, Segato produced two new

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

versions of "Rise Up", one by various Canadian country musicians credited to The Common Cause Collective,"Canadian Country Music Stars Cover '80s Anthem 'Rise Up'"

iHeartRadio Canada Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media. The company has its origins in CHUM Limited, which was acquired by ...

, September 8, 2018. and a pop version credited to The New Parachute Collective.

Discography

Albums

* 1983: ''The Parachute Club'' Current/

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

- #23 Canada * 1984: ''At the Feet of the Moon'' Current/RCA - #14 Canada / #98 1984 Year End / #54 1985 Year End * 1985: ''Moving Thru the Moonlight'' Current/RCA; remixes * 1986: ''Small Victories'' Current/RCA - #33 Canada * 1992: ''Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club'' BMG; reissued 2006 by

EMI International EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Singles

Compilation appearances

* 1984: ''Self Control and Other Smash Club Hits''

Polydor 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. ...

; "Rise Up" * 1990: ''Radio Ffn Powerstation'' SPV Records; "Innuendo" * 1996: ''Party Time, Volume 2: The Ultimate Party Album'' SPG; "Rise Up" * 1996: '' Oh What a Feeling: A Vital Collection of Canadian Music''

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

; "Rise Up" * 1998: ''Hi-NRG Classics: The Definitive 12" Collection''

Unidisc Unidisc Music is a Canadian independent record label. The label is known for releasing rare music, that was made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s. Genres include rock, electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, reggae, Latin, disco and a cap ...

; "Rise Up" * 1999: ''Poptronica Romance''

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

; "Love Is Fire" * 2000: ''Party Time'' SPG; "Rise Up"

References

External links

The Parachute Club blog
* *
Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

Entry at canadianbands.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parachute Club (Band) Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Musical groups reestablished in 2005 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian dance music groups Canadian new wave musical groups Juno Award for Single of the Year winners 1982 establishments in Ontario 1989 disestablishments in Ontario 2005 establishments in Ontario Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year winners Juno Award for Group of the Year winners