Aberdeen Hotel 1971 Chatham

Venue: Aberdeen Hotel
Year: 1971
City: Chatham Ontario Canada
Closed: Circa 1996.
Address: 1 Grand ave.

Notes:

1970’s – Chatham was home to a strong music scene with bands performing at least six nights a week at the Aberdeen. Musicians from all over Ontario join the strong Union in this city. Times are good. Country music rules the day & the Aberdeen is a bar highly respected in the music community. Touring acts from around the world played here when they crossed Ontario.

1980’s – Glam rock takes over. The bar grows rough edges but continues to thrive and becomes a legendary party venue on the touring scene. It can be safely said that no bar may hold more good rock & roll stories than our little watering hole here in Chatham.

1990’s – Live entertainment dwindles down to just three nights a week. By the late 1990’s, the live music bar scene fades & Al & George decide to sell the venue & move. The Aberdeen becomes a storage warehouse for a local business. It still stands today (2011) in all its run down glory. The glory days are over, but the stories will never be forgotten. It was simply Chatham’s most legendary bar.

* The Aberdeens final “weekend” of live bands included Nerve, Never, Square Root Of Margaret & The Janet Theory/Foster Child.

Ralph Murphy 1971

Bio

Name: Ralph Murphy
Year: Circa 1971
Raised: (Chatham-Kent) Wallaceburg
Position: Performer, producer, songwriter & publisher.

Notes:
Amongst many other projects, roles, & duties, highlights for Ralph Murphy this year include:

* 1971 – Co-wrote the song ‘House Of Jack’ performed by the Establishment & released this year. James Royal also cut this track on a 1969 Columbia records release.

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Singing Sisters 1971

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Duo: Singing Sisters
Circa: 1971
Genre: Gospel Music
Home: Chatham Ontario

Members:
Ann Mae (26)
Virginia (20)

Their first LP was released in 1967. They also recorded a 7” record.
1971 marks their second LP release.

Notes from 1971 article in The CDN:
They toured to Halifax this past summer (1971), as well as London, Kingsville, Dresden, Lucan, Toronto and a stop in Pennsylvania.

The Singing Sisters have played many performances including over 22 states and seven provinces.

Circa 2010 – Visit Anna Mae McPhail on You Tube here.

If you own this LP, or have info on it, please email us at:
chatham_music_archive@hotmail.com 

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Refugee

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Band: Refugee
Year: Circa 1970-71
Home: Chatham

Members
Top Row
Charlie Dawson
Randy Coyle – Drums
Bottom Row
Raymond Violot – Vocals, flute
Don Martin – Bass

  The guys were too young to play the club scene since they were school aged themselves. They did play allot of High School dances, and this was common in Chatham in the late 1960’s

  Raymond Violot went to University but remained active in the music community as a music teacher, a member of the Musicians Union Board, the Chatham Concert Band, and several local talented bands. Raymond sings and plays several instruments, a few of which are the flute, Stand up Bass, harmonica, banjo and piano.

Randy would go on to play in several bands including the popular local group “Friends”.

Anyone with pics or info, please email:
chatham_music_archive@hotmail.com

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The Night Crew 1971

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Band: The Night Crew
Year: Circa 1971
Home: Chatham, All over Ontario
Style: Hits of the time.

Members: (Clockwise L-R)
Dan Beaulieu – Guitar, Vocals
Christine P.
Marcel –
Wally (Walter) –

Notes: A band put together for touring Quebec and Ontario.
Dan Beaulieu eventually left the band  to make Chatham his home. There were plenty of good jobs (factory) to be found  in Chatham in the early 70’s. . The band changed its name to ‘The DanWallmur Trio’. The band broke up in Hamilton in Feb-March 1972.  Members were Dan, Walter, and Merle.

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Ian And Sylvia – Ian And Sylvia (1971)

Artist: Ian And Sylvia
Release: Ian & Sylvia (MGM)
Date: 1971
Sylvia is from Chatham. Born Sylvia Fricker.

   Their weekly CTV series, ‘Nashville North,’ introduced in 1970, became ‘The Ian Tyson Show’ (with Sylvia only an occasional guest) in 1971 and continued until 1975. Ian and Sylvia made their last appearances as a duo in May 1975 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. They have been reunited on occasion – eg, for a concert filmed 18 Aug 1986 by the CBC at the Kingswood Music Theatre, Maple, Ont, with Lightfoot, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, and Murray McLauchlan as guests. Ian and Sylvia were inducted into the Juno Awards Hall of Fame in 1992.

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