Ralph Murphy produces April Wine again

Ralph

Bio

Producer: Ralph Murphy
Raised: Wallaceburg (Chatham-Kent)
Year: 1973
Record Label: Aquarius Records
Role: Ralph Murphy produces April Wine‘s ‎third record Electric Jewels.

Notes: Following the Gold success of the second album (also produced by Murphy) it was clear that April Wine had the chance to become one of Canada’s most significant rock bands. Ralph Murphy would be back to produce the follow up album.
This album remains a fan favorite with such classic songs as Weeping Widow, Just Like That and Lady Run Lady Hide.

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Additional Credits: 
* 1973 – Produces the album by Mashmakhan – Dance A Little Step

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Email your info & pics to:  chatham_music_archive@hotmail.com
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Badge

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Band: Badge
Circa: 1972-73
Home: Chatham Ontario

Members:
Top row
Al Trudell – Guitar
Tom Starks – Organ
Randy Coyle – Drums
Bottom Row
Bob Wilson – Bass
Charlie Dawson – Guitar

The band was together for about one year. Badge formed after a previous band ‘Refugee’. From that band came Randy & Charlie. They went on the road with a lounge act touring Canada and the U.S.A.  After they disbanded, Al, Tom, and Randy played together again in the local popular band ‘Friends’.

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Lou Hooper Piano

Name: Lou Hooper (Louis Stanley)
Release: Piano
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Year: 1973
Genre: Jazz
Label: Radio Canada International
Catalog#: RCI 380

Role:  Pianist, composer
Home: Chatham Kent (North Buxton)
Life: May 18th 1894 – Sept 17th 1977

Album Track List
A1   Blame It On The Blues 
A2   In A Mist  
A3   Canadian Capers  
A4   South Sea Strut   
A5   Russian Rag   
A6   Scene From An Imaginary Ballet (SC. 4) 
B1   Scene From An Imaginary Ballet (SC. 2)  
B2   Black Cat Blues  
B3   Spring Fever 
B4   Cakewalk 
B5   Alaskan Rag 
B6   Uncle Remus Stomp

  His father took him at three to Ypsilanti, Mich, where he sang solos in church and at 12 played the trombone in the Hooper Brothers Orchestra.
  While he was studying piano 1911-21 at the Detroit Cons, he played in various local dance and theatre orchestras.

  He lived 1921-7 in Harlem (New York), studying 1923-4 at the Martin-Smith Music School (a subsidiary of the Damrosch Institute – later the Juilliard School). He recorded with Elmer Snowden (banjo) and Bob Fuller (clarinet) under several names, eg, the Three Jolly Miners, the Three Monkey Chasers, for Vocalion, Columbia, etc and also backed the trumpeters Johnny Dunn and Louis Metcalf, the singers Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith, and other leading jazz and blues performers of the day. Hooper accompanied Paul Robeson on tour in 1926 and travelled as a member of Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1928.

Hooper returned to Canada in 1932, living first in Toronto – he performed at the 1932 CNE – and then, as of 1933, in Montreal, where he joined Myron Sutton’s Canadian Ambassadors, an all-black dance band active in Quebec and Ontario. Hooper formed and conducted a male choir, the Hooper Southern Singers, in concerts and on CKAC radio. He also played in local dance and jazz bands and taught piano. Oscar Peterson was one of his pupils. After a term in Europe during World War II with the Royal Canadian Artillery in which he served mainly as a pianist and entertainer in charge of Canadian concert parties, Hooper returned to Montreal, playing and teaching in increasing obscurity.

In 1962 he was rediscovered by Montreal jazz enthusiasts and subsequently celebrated as a surviving link to the early history of recorded jazz. He was honored by the International Association of Record Collectors in 1973 and by the Canadian Congress of Collectors in 1977. A new recording, the LP Lou Hooper (1973, RCI 380), a collection of ragtime pieces, included his own Black Cat Blues, The Cakewalk, South Sea Strut, and Uncle Remus Stomp. According to Tex Wyndam in Coda (March 1976): ‘Although slightly on the academic and restrained side, the solos have a firm, bright rhythm, are cleanly executed, and generate a mood of confidence and good cheer’. Other Hooper rags date to as late as 1975, the year in which he joined the faculty of the University of Prince Edward Island. He also wrote a ballet, Congo, staged in 1976. In the summer before his death he was a regular performer on CBC (Halifax) TV’s ‘The Old-Fashioned New-Fangled Vaudeville Show’.
Source.

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One Way Sound In 1973

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Band: One Way Sound
Year: 1973
Home: Chatham Ontario

Members:
Jim Kettle (sitting)
(Left to right)
Bob Ripley
Kim Cooper
Colin Paterson

The group plays at Church functions from Windsor to Kingston. The band began playing at the Victoria Avenue United Church in Chatham.
  The photo was taken by a CDN staff member. The original photo can be viewed in the Dec.31st 1973 issue of CDN, at the Chatham Public Library.

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Ray Francis Christmas Album

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Artist: Ray Francis
Release: An Olde Tyme Christmas
Format: LP Album
Year: 1973

Home: Chatham Ontario Canada
Label: Marathon Music INC.
Genre: Country Music
Cover photo by: John Haslip

Discography as of 1973:
Ray Francis and the Whippoorwills – 1963 – Country Jamboree
The Whippoorwills – 1964 – The Whippoorwills
Ray Francis -1973 – The Countrey Way
Ray Francis – 1973 – An Olde Tyme Christmas

Liner Notes from Ray Francis.
  Here is a selection of Christmas Songs that have long been favourites of mine year after year.
  In this album you will experience the many moods of Christmas from Joy and Hope, Love and Laughter, to Peace on Earth and Good Will to all men.
  I hope there is something for everyone in the twelve songs of Christams I have chosen for both the young and the old.
  A Merry Christmas to one and all.
Ray Francis

Ray was born Feb. 9th 1931.

Album Cover: The sisters on the album cover are Angela (Front) and Denise (Back). They are the daughters of Roland Lozon (The Jubilaires).

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Ray Francis The Country Way Album

Ray Francis Cover

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Band: Ray Francis
Release: The Country Way
Format: LP Album
Year: 1973
Label: Marathon Music
Genre: Country Music

This is the first solo record from Ray Francis. He had recorded two records previously under the name “Ray Francis and the Whippoorwills”.

Tracks
Side one:
01. Grazing in the greener pastures
02. Drinking champagne
03. Deep water
04. I’ll be there
05. Happy tracks
06. Running gun
Side two:
07. Restless woman
08. If you leave me
09. Son of hickory holler’s tramp
10. You can take the boy out of the country
11. Four in the morning
12. Black jack

Cover Photo by: John Haslip

  This debut solo record charted number one on radio. From coast to coast, the first single “Restless Women” did very well especially on the east coast. This song was an original that Ray had co-wrote and was not sure if it would make it on the album, but the record label liked it and rightfully so.
  Ray had told me how he first heard it on the radio while driving home on the 401. He pulled over. He called his record company to see if they knew it was being played. He was informed that it was tracked and being played all over the country. The musician is always the last to know, and this is the perfect example. S. Beaulieu.

Liner Notes:
      In a world of music, there is the entertainer and there is the singer, Ray Francis is both.
     Ray Francis the entertainer, is a well known name throughout Southern Ontario…where he has been performing since the late 1950’s. He formed his first band, The Whippoorwills which soon gained the reputation of the best country band throughout the area. The group often appeared on “Opry” shows and for awhile the boys toured the U.S.A.
     Ray was offered a job playing drums and fronting the Gary Buck band, so he moved his wife and son to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Being constantly on the road and away from his family wasn’t the life for Ray so after a few months he moved back to Southern Ontario taking a job outside the music business. However his love of entertaining soon became strong again, so he formed another band and with his teenaged son, Mike, as lead guitarist. Shortly after Mike was offered a full time job in the music industry, so the band was dissolved. Ray joined another local group, The Rancheros (1973). The band enjoys a great success and is constantly in demand.
    As one of the best “Front men” in the business today, Ray is always in demand to M.C. and his impersonations are always a hit of any show. As an entertainer he is superb.
    This is Ray’s first album and listening to his beautiful rendition of “If you leave me tonight I’ll cry”, you’ll hear Ray the ballad singer. He’s equally at home with Country as witness, “Running Gun”. Listen to Ray the composer as he does his own “Restless Woman”. In face just buy this album and give yourself a treat.
     I’m proud to have had this chance to introduce you to my friend, Ray Francis… all ‘round great person…husband…father…singer…composer and most of all entertainer.
Marilynne Caswell, M.C. Talent Agency. London Ontario.

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Rosco 1973

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Band: Rosco
Circa: 1972-73
Home: Chatham

Members
Rick Chrysler – Drums
Tom Lockwood – Guitar
Female singer (name N/A) – Vocals
John Larmer – Bass
Mark Tremblay – Keyboards

  The costume wearing idea was pushed on the act by their management who wanted to turn them into a show band. Management hired designers to create their outfits and arranged the photo shoot. The phase was short lived, as the band soon rejected it and moved on.

  The group was made up of highly skilled hard working musicians who were exploring what would be the next step in a bands evolution beyond local performances.  The female vocalist joined the band shortly after hearing they were looking for a new singer. She is from Kansas and joined them after their show in Kansas City.

  Let’s not forget that in 1972-73, it was the norm to wear flamboyant costumes on stage. Just like any passing of time, it may look odd from today’s perspective, but that is what the scene was like and it makes that a unique period in music.
  The glam costume era would resurface in rock during the mid 80’s hair band years.

Note: Largely a British phenomenon, glam rock visuals peaked during the mid 1970s. According to many researchers, the most famous exponents of the fashion were David Bowie, Marc Bolan , T.Rex, Gary Glitter, and Slade. Other influential British and American performers include: Queen, Sweet, Wizzard, Roxy Music, Mud, Mott the Hoople, The Glitter Band, Elton John, and Suzi Quatro.

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Sixth Concession (1973)

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Band: Sixth Concession
Home: Chatham Kent Ontario
Year: 1973

Members:
In order of the picture (left to right)
Jim Smith
Shelley Browning
Eldon Brown
Doug Smith
Vaughn Pugh.

Notes: The band is made up of members from their 1970 line up as ‘Seven’. Throughout the seventies, Doug, Vaughn, Jim, and Eldon, along with guitarist Shelley Browning, continued performing under the name “Sixth Concession”. Although lacking a full horn section, the group nevertheless continued to polish and perform tunes by groups such as Chicago and Blood, Sweat, & Tears, utilizing Vaughn on trumpet, and adding St. Clair Shadd on tenor sax.

   As the seventies drew to a close, the band went into a period of inactivity, due in part to the family and career commitments of its members. Their love of music and performing was never lost, however. In the early eighties, inspired by the movie “The Blues Brothers”, and in particular by the line “We’re putting the band back together”, the boys decided to revive the group, this time under the name “Niteflite“. The band initially consisted of the same members as “Sixth Concession” and performed in that configuration for several years. For a short time in the late eighties, a three-piece horn section was added, featuring George Willson on trumpet, Jack Drobko on trombone, and St. Clair on tenor sax.

   Throughout the nineties, Niteflite continued to perform primarily as a 5-piece group, but their love of the horn-band sound never diminished.
   In 1984, Vaughn Pugh, himself an accomplished musician on both keyboards and trumpet, had become the director of the Chatham Concert Band. As such, he had access to many fine Chatham-area musicians, and in 2003 was thus able to select several of these talented people to form the present Niteflite horn section. The new members include Al Rathwell on trumpet, Pat Bates on trombone, Rocco Desantis on alto sax, St. Clair Shadd on tenor sax, and John Leigh on baritone sax. The group’s playlist includes tunes by Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Lighthouse, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Ides of March, The Beatles, and many, many more.

 

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