Born in Jamaica, this weeks Tunesday artist moved to the GWN as a child; always a ham at family get-togethers one smart relative FINALLY suggested vocal lessons and by the age of fifteen her natural gift landed her spots on various local shows. Word spread and soon the teenager was headlining her OWN shows and setting her sights on something bigger.... something musical.... something South of the border.

After Graduation she headed for New York where she eventually landed a role in the hit musicals "Hair" and "Catch My Soul" - the former toured Europe the following year and when the run ended our little singer found herself out of work in Germany. She DID manage to land a few jobs as a studio vocalist and it was during one of these late night sessions she met Frank Farina who had just scored a European hit with "Baby Do You Wanna Bump". She spent the next year touring and singing for Farina..... the name of their group?

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This weeks Tunesday artists actually got their start across the pond; singer Alan Frew and guitarist Al Connelly were born and raised in Scotland, emmigrating to Canada in the late 70s and together with Sam Reid on keyboards, Wayne Parker on bass and drummer Michael Hanson they formed "Tokyo". While paying their dues playing bars in Southern Ontario they caught the attention of Derek Sutton, then manager of the supergroup Styx, in 1984 and were quickly inked by Capitol records.

New contract in pocket the first thing to go was the name; execs found it funny that two boys from Scotland had picked "Tokyo" as their moniker. Hesitant at first Capital waved a couple of carrots in front of them; not only would their first album be produced by Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams' songwriting partner, they would also talk Mr. Adams into a guest spot on the debut disc.


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Joachim Krauledat was born in 1944 in a section of Germany known as EAST PRUSSIA; he never knew his father, who was killed just a month before his birth while battling the Russians for control of East Germany. His early years were spent in poverty...... his one bright spot?

Listening to the Allied Armed Forces network..... his love of "Western Music" grew from this simple diversion from real life and at the age of 5 his family made their escape, moving to Toronto where he immediatly received a new identity....John Kay.

Fast fowrard to 1964 - Kay and several childhood friends formed the Group "SPARROW".... a coffee house band that had little commercial success. Their relationship with Columbia Records was teinous from the start and the three singles from their two first albums couldnt ease the tensions.

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This weeks Tunesday artists had a VERY strange beginning; they actually formed after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto. Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows had previously played together during their teenage years in a number of different bands but it took that long drawn out session for them to realize there could be a future for these three boys from Windsor.

They took destiny into their own hands, releasing their debut self-titled album on their OWN label, Eternal Discs; a mix of psychedelic rock and blues it caught the ears of MANY Canadians and the powers that be over at EMI Music Canada quickly had their name on the bottom line, assuring the trio the band's artistic fires and creativity would be left up to them.


Two years later SPLENDOR SOLIS dropped and while it was met with mixed reviews here in The Great White North it POUNDED up the charts overseas...... in fact it went Gold in Australia before the single "Save Me" even found the top ten here at home. The band ultimately won 2 Much Music Video "People's Choice" awards for their second single, "The River" and later that year made history as the first Canadian artist to perform a live "Internet only" concert.


THE EDGES OF TWILIGHT (partly inspired by a book on The Celtic Spirit and Shamanism by Tom Cowan called Fire In The Head) droppped in late 1995 with the band staying true to their "eclectic" label; a mix of Indian and Middle-eastern instrumentation it featured the AMAZING single "Sister Awake" which was recorded using, among other things a 12-string guitar, sitar, sarod, harmonium and goblet drums. In all over 31 different exotic and acoustic instruments were used as a template for the record which landed them 3 Juno Nominations and the Much Music Video Award for Favourite Music Video for "The Bazaar".

In 1996 the EP ALHAMBRA (taking its name from the Moorish Islamic palace...

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They began on the West Coast as a duo called WINTER GREENS, doing the night club circuit and living in a van. The year was 1965 and what Ra McGuire and Brian Smith DIDNT know was they were embarking on a musical oddessy that would span more than 40 years.

They went through numerous variations before finally adding drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalinsky and settled on the name APPLEJACK in '72.

While the members stayed the same the name eventually hit the road and their new moniker seemed to be the missing link....in September 1974 Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman (of The Guess Who and B.T.O. fame) asked the band to play at a dance at the Mormon Church where he was a youth co-ordinator. He was impressed by their sound and signed them to his Legend Label, distributed by MCA.

A year later they released their first single, BABY WONCHA PLEASE COME HOME and the "HOT SHOTS" hit the big time!

They followed that up with the pop hit GENERAL HAND GERNADE and their straight ahead approach was soon hot on the fingers of radio DJ's nationwide!

TWO FOR THE SHOW hit the shelves in '76 and it proved these boys WERENT a flash in the pan; it spawned three hits including READY and SANTA MARIA along with the TITLE TRACK. Strangly enough it also contained the tune THE BOYS IN THE BRIGHT WHITE SPORTS CAR which would become one of the bands greatest hits when it was included on their "best of" album, HOT SHOTS, released 3 years later.

1977 saw the release of KNOCK 'EM DEAD KID. producing three singles including their biggest ever, the ballad OH PRETTY LADY That was quickly followed up by LONG TIME and one of my personal favorites..... but more on that later.

By now they were fast becoming one of Canada's favourite bands, gaining loyal followings nationwide.

Their biggest selling record to date came in the form of THICK AS THIEVES in late'78. Backed by the song RAISE A LITTLE HELL, the epitome of teen rebellion, it also contained two...

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