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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 early 1980s. The Blues Brothers band was heavily influenced by Downchild Blues Band. History Early history: 1969-1982 "(Donnie) Walsh has been called the 'father of Canadian blues' and with good reason. He is a blues pioneer on the Canadian scene. It was Walsh who paid the highest dues so that later Canadian blues acts, such as the Jeff Healey Band, the Colin James Band, the Powder Blues, Sue Foley, The Sidemen and The Highliners could also enjoy their success. The Canadian blues scene, which has blossomed nicely in the last few years, was relatively barren in the late 1960s when The Downchild Blues Band first started out.'" :David Dicaire, ''More Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century'' (McFarland, 2002 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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-known songs. Biography With his older brother Donnie ("Mr. Downchild") Walsh, Richard "Hock" Walsh co-founded the Downchild Blues Band in 1969, in Toronto. At the time, Downchild, as it later came to be known, was one of very few Canadian bands devoted to playing and developing blues music in Canada. Both Donnie and Hock Walsh were greatly popularized by comedian Dan Aykroyd, who developed the Blues Brothers based on what he had seen in the Walsh brothers. Aykroyd modeled Elwood Blues on Donnie Walsh, while John Belushi's Jake Blues character was modeled on Hock Walsh. In their first album as the Blues Brothers, ''Briefcase Full of Blues'' (1978), Aykroyd and Belushi featured three well-known Downchild songs closely associated with Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respectively, as lead vocalist ' Joliet' Jake Blues and harmonica player/vocalist Elwood Blues, donning black suits with matching fedoras and sunglasses. The band was composed of well-known musicians, and debuted as the musical guest in a 1978 episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', opening the show performing "Hey Bartender", and later " Soul Man". In 1978, the band released their debut album, ''Briefcase Full of Blues'', and opened for the Grateful Dead at the closing of Winterland Arena in San Francisco. They gained further fame after spawning a Hollywood comedy film in 1980, ''The Blues Brothers''. After Belushi's death in 1982, the Blues Brothers continued to perform with a rotation of guest singers and other band members. The band reformed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fathead (band)
Fathead is a multiple Juno Award and Maple Blues award-winning Canadian blues band, founded by Al Lerman and originally formed with members Mike Fitzpatrick, Ted Leonard, John Mays and Bob Tunnoch. Biography Fathead, originally from Havelock, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario, were a working band from 1992 until 2016. They are multiple Juno Award and Maple Blues Award winners. Their distinguished musical career was so honoured by the Juno Awards as early as 1999 and again in 2008. They were awarded their first Maple Blues Award as early as 1997 for ''Electric Act of the Year.'' Fathead came together in the late 1980s with no intention of becoming a permanent band; they were a pick up gig. Lerman worked for close to a year with a variety of musicians. When he noticed it was the same musicians coming out to play each time, they all realized they were onto something. They became the long-standing members of the newly formed band in 1992, which Lerman named Fathead after a record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Flaim
Tony Flaim (April 20, 1948 – March 10, 2000) was among the early professional blues singers in Canada, most notable as the lead singer for the Downchild Blues Band on six of that band's albums. Flaim was associated with Downchild for extended periods over fifteen years. Biography Tony Flaim first came to prominence as a blues singer when he succeeded Richard "Hock" Walsh as the lead singer the Downchild Blues Band in 1974. Hock Walsh had been fired by his brother and Downchild band co-founder Donnie, prior to work commencing on the band's third album, ''Dancin. Hock rejoined the band in 1977, at which time Flaim joined the Cameo Blues Band, the legendary house band at the Cameo Lounge of Toronto's Hotel Isabella. Flaim succeeded Hock Walsh as the lead singer of the Cameo Blues Band, in the same manner as he had succeeded Hock Walsh as the lead singer of Downchild. When Hock Walsh quit Downchild in 1978, Flaim again was his replacement. In 1982, Flaim was replaced by John Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Biography Prior to joining the Downchild Blues Band, Vasey earned a Master's degree in Music from the University of Manitoba. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Art. One of the first blues artists she heard was Otis Spann; one of her first recordings with the Downchild Blues Band was Otis Spann's "Must Have Been The Devil".Richard FlohillRemembering Jane Vasey. Toronto Blues Society newsletter, October, 1986, as reprinted by the Toronto Blues Society, 2000; www.torontobluessociety.com. Her song, "Trying To Keep Her 88s Straight" was considered to be a minor Canadian hit in 1980. Vasey played on all of the singles released by the band. One of Vasey's last engagements was in January 1982, supporting Eddie "Cleanhead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck Jackson (Canadian Musician)
Chuck Jackson (born March 11, 1953) www.chuckjackson.com. is the Canadian musician, lead singer and one of two harmonica players in the , otherwise known as Downchild, with which he has been associated since 1990. Biography Jackson has been a professional musician since the 1960s, and since the late 1970s primarily as a blues singer and harmonica player. Between 1978 and 1992, he was the lead singer of the well respected Cameo Blues Band, of Toronto, with whom he continues to perform on occasion. In addition to his work with Downchild, Jackson performs and has recorded ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Carey (musician)
Patrick Leonard Carey (born 1960) is a Canadian baritone and tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, vocalist and is best known for his longstanding association with the Downchild Blues Band. Early life Pat Carey, originally from The Pas, Manitoba, was born into a musical family. At the age of six he began his early musical learning studying the piano, which lead him to start learning the saxophone by age thirteen. He earned a degree in music, with a Major in Performance from the University of Manitobafrom 1977 to 1982. Carey during those years went on to perform with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra sharing the stage with many of the visiting jazz greats. Music career Early career: 1982–1990s Studio musician to Downchild In 1979, Carey partnered with Tom Jestadt, noted Canadian drummer and formed the Pat Carey and Tom Jestadt Jazz Quartet. Carey then joined Rocki Rolletti, the group went on to win the TransCanada Rock Contest in 1982 which secured them a recording session with produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bryans
William Taylor Bryans (September 15, 1947 – April 23, 2012) was a Canadian percussionist, songwriter, music producer and DJ, known as one of the founders of The Parachute Club, among other accomplishments in music. As a producer, he worked on projects for artists as diverse as Dutch Mason, Raffi, Lillian Allen and the Downchild Blues Band. He was born in Montreal, but spent most of his adult life in Toronto, and was particularly supportive of world music as both a promoter and publicist, focusing on bringing Caribbean, Cuban and Latin American music to a wider audience. Career Bryans' childhood was spent in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, where he was associated with his first professional band, M.G. and The Escorts. This band released three singles, and primarily played in the area bounded by Montreal, Ottawa, Brockville and Kingston, including gigs at Expo 67 and as the opening act at a Montreal concert by The Beach Boys. Bryans was also a high school friend of Jack Layton, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Witmer
John Douglas Witmer (February 1951 – July 3, 2004) was a Canadian blues singer, songwriter and harmonica player, most notable as the lead vocalist for the band Whiskey Howl and the Downchild Blues Band. Biography Described as "one of Toronto's great blues singers from the late '60s to the mid-'80s",Toronto Blues SocietyNotice 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, Whiskey Howl in 1969, when he was eighteen years old.Whiskey Howl – The First Year 1969–70 ; www.livinblues.com. The Toronto-based Whiskey Howl, along with the |
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Records. In 2011, they signed with Severn Records. Their first two albums were released in 1979 and 1980, with Kim Wilson's lead vocals and harmonica, Jimmie Vaughan as lead guitarist, and Keith Ferguson on bass guitar. Mike Buck was on drums for the first album but left the band and was replaced by Fran Christina on the second. Both albums initially sold through the small number printed (about 3000 units) and are now regarded as significant blues recordings. The Thunderbirds' blues style mixed Texas blues with the harmonica-laced swamp blues sounds of Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester—both of whom the Thunderbirds covered. The band's third album, ''Butt-Rockin, released in 1981, took the band closer to old rhythm and blues and added additional music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal (born October 14, 1957), is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member. Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his brothers in his band. Career Neal preserves the blues sound of his native south Louisiana, as befits someone who learned from Slim Harpo, Buddy Guy, and his father, harmonica player Raful Neal. In 1987, Neal cut his debut album for the Florida record producer Bob Greenlee — an updated swamp feast initially marketed on King Snake Records as ''Bio on the Bayou''. Alligator Records picked it up the following year, retitling it ''Big News from Baton Rouge!!'' In 1991, he proved to be a talented actor in the Broadway production of the folk musical ''Mule Bone'' (by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston), singing numbers written by Taj Mahal. Neal has played with blues stars including Lucky Peterson and Lazy Lester, and was at one time a member of The Dow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
