Early CanCon Artists Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anne Murray

Anne Murray went from life as a phys-ed teacher, to a spot on CBC's "Singalong Jubilee" on TV, to stardom. "Snowbird", from her second album, hit the top of the Canadian charts and the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also the first of her many Number Ones on the US Adult Contemporary charts - the perfect home for her style of beautifully executed middle of the road music.

Anne Murray retired from the music business in 2008, and unlike many other stars, has stayed retired - no comebacks.

Answer: Original Caste

Original Caste were pretty much two-hit wonders; in 1970 they came out with "One Tin Soldier" which hit the top forty in the US, and "Mr. Monday", which didn't. The both did well in Canada, though, although I had to go to Youtube to be reminded of "Mr. Monday":

"Oh, Mr. Monday
Me oh my,
You collect on the tears we cry.
Where's the reason;
Where's the rhyme?
Mr. Monday, can you spare a dime?"

Within a couple of years, the band had fractured, and while some members continued on with the name, they didn't have much success.

Answer: Lighthouse

Skip Prokop and Paul Hoffert were the core of the band with a new sound - a jazz, classical, rock fusion unlike anything else happening at the time. Lighthouse pioneered the concept of rock bands playing with symphony orchestras, and were very successful in concert, but with no hit singles. That all changed when the big voice of Bob McBride joined the band - it all came together then for some very radio friendly music.

They toured endlessly - if you were going to concerts in Canada in the early/mid '70s, you probably saw Lighthouse live.

Answer: Valdy

Paul Valdemar Horsdal's years on the charts only really lasted into the mid/late '70s, but he's been making music and touring ever since, a staple on the folk festival circuit. When he released his first album he was farming on Vancouver Island, and a west coast post-hippie vibe imbues all of his music.

He lives on Salt Spring Island (of course) and has a longstanding touring partnership with Gary Fjellgaard.

Answer: Alabama

The founding members of this band were from the state of Alabama, which accounts for the rather unlikely name for a Canadian country/rock band. "Close to Home" was their only album, but they had two moderate hits from it, "Highway Driving" and "Song of Love". And "Highway Driving" is just such a great song, full of energy. "Ninety miles from North Bay and I'm on the road again...."

Answer: Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan had a handful of top ten hits in Canada during the '70s, the biggest probably being "Down by the Henry Moore" and "Farmer's Song", although he never really made much headway across the border. He's an accomplished pilot, and made a film, "Floating over Canada" about his journeys across the country in a float plane, meeting up with other artists along the way, that's usually being shown somewhere in Canada on July 1st.

Answer: Ocean

"Put Your Hand in the Hand" was first recorded by Anne Murray in 1970, but not released as a single. It was written by Gene MacLellan, who also gave her "Snowbird" and "The Call" ("Mister can you find it in your heart to lend me a dollar...").

Ocean put it out as a single the next year, and it was a huge hit. And not just in Canada or the US - it went to number one in New Zealand and Norway, and was in the top ten in Australia. They had a couple more small Canadian hits, and disbanded after their second album.

Answer: Michel Pagliaro

Pag was the first Canadian artist to have gold records in both English and French at the same time - a very big deal at the time, and still not something we see too often. His main English hits were "Loving' You Ain't Easy", "Some Sing Some Dance", "Rainshowers" and "What the Hell I Got". By the middle of the '70s his big hit days in English were over, but he kept churning out the hits in French Canada well into the '80s. "J'entends frapper" was the bestselling single in Quebec history, and he still tours in Quebec.

And I've just got "Lovin' You Ain't Easy" on repeat while writing this quiz. What a song.

Answer: The Guess Who

The band that was to become The Guess Who scuffled around with various names and personnel, having minor hits, for several years until 1969 and "Wheatfield Soul", with the top ten US hit, "These Eyes". "American Woman" the next year made them the first Canadian group to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (though The Crew Cuts had gone number one in 1954 with "Sh-Boom", before the Hot 100 existed).

Answer: Bob Ruzicka

Bob Ruzicka spent some time on TV before he even got his first record deal - he was on "Homemade Jam" for its short run, and then had his own show, "Ruzicka" for a couple of months in '72. That led to a record deal, and an album with a couple of Canadian hits - "Storm Warnings" and "Down and Losing". "When you're down and losing, everyone's a cheater...".

He spent the rest of the '70s having mild Canadian hits with his own recordings, and doing really quite well as a songwriter. Valdy recorded several of his songs, as did Judy Collins, George Hamilton IV, Anne Murray, and others.

One of his songs about the Canadian north, "Muk Tuk Annie" gave a little radio hit to an Edmonton Country musician, Jimmy Arthur Orge. It's one of those novelty tunes from way back which didn't raise an eyebrow at the time but would now be considered a little bit racist, and I only mention it because I have a small personal connection - Jimmy Orge rented a room in the basement in my parent's house when I was a little kid. Which gives you some idea of the kind of high flying life an Edmonton musician could expect to live, in the early sixties - a single room in the basement under a family of seven.

Answer: Ian Thomas

Did the clue help? Ian Thomas is the younger brother of Dave Thomas, also known as Doug McKenzie from "SCTV". Ian also provided the music for the animated "Bob and Doug" show.

His biggest hit was "Painted Ladies" ("ooh, ooh, feeling fine mama, painted ladies and a bottle of wine mama") which made the top ten in Canada and the top forty in the States, but he's been keeping busy since then, acting, recording, and writing songs for such artists as Santana, Chicago, and Daryl Braithwaite, who took two of his songs onto the top forty in Australia.

Answer: Skylark

"Wildflower" was a real CanCon success story. A Windsor radio station had it on heavy rotation, after it had been out for a while, to satisfy CanCon quotas. It spread across the river to Detroit and became a huge hit - number one in Canada, and top ten on a couple of US charts. Hank Crawford's cover of the song has gone on to be sampled by hip hop artists 2Pac, Kanye West, Eminem, and Boi-1da, among others. Probably not something expected by the Victoria police officer who wrote it back in '72.

Answer: Ken Tobias

Ken Tobias started out on local Halifax TV, and then moved on to "Singalong Jubilee", along with Anne Murray, Gene MacLellan, and so many other Canadian musicians from the east coast. "Singalong Jubilee", along with "Don Messer's Jubilee" were favourite shows of my dad, but of course I was far too cool to watch them. Hmmm, maybe that was a mistake.

"I Just Want to Make Music" made it to the top ten on Canadian charts, but it was the song he wrote that was covered by The Bells, "Stay Awhile", that was Tobias' really big hit. The Bells' version made it to the top ten in the US, and number one in Canada.

Answer: Copperpenny

Copperpenny had two songs make it into the Canadian top forty, "You're Still the One" and "Sittin' on a Poor Man's Throne". Both songs, especially "Poor Man's Throne" had a bit more of an R&B vibe than we were hearing on Canadian AM radio at the time.

I had really liked "You're Still the One" back in the day, and looked for it over the years, but had forgotten the name of the band. Googling didn't work, because without a band name, what came up was the song by Orleans, and the one by Shania Twain. So I was very happy to stumble on it when researching this quiz.

Answer: Robert Charlebois

Robert Charlebois didn't get much if any radio play in English Canada, but he was a big enough deal in Quebec that even as a teenager in Edmonton, I'd heard of him. He was part of the Festival Express train tour - an amazing concert tour where the top acts of the time, such as Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band, and, yes, Robert Charlebois, travelled across Canada by train, stopping and giving shows along the way. There has been a film made of the tour, but Charlebois does not appear in the film.

Another little personal note - all of my future husband's buddies went to Calgary to see the Festival Express concert, but he had to work so missed it.