Singer started performing at the age of six
Kenny Shields, the lead singer of Winnipeg-based rock band Streetheart, has died at 69.
Shields died on Friday at St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg, according to Robyn Stewart, executive director for the Western Canadian Music Alliance.
Juno-winning Streetheart was known for a number of hit songs throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Action, Look in Your Eyes, What Kind of Love Is This, and a cover of the Rolling Stones classic Under My Thumb.
Shields was born and raised in the farming community of Nokomis, Sask., where his knack for playing music started taking shape around the time he enrolled in an amateur talent show at six years old.
He moved to Saskatoon to attend university where he joined local band Witness Incorporated.
Shields began travelling Canada with the band, touring with legendary acts like Roy Orbison and Cream; but his career was sidetracked in 1970 following an automobile accident that left him critically injured.
After the dissolution of his first band, Shields moved to Winnipeg in 1975 to return his focus to music. He teamed up with another group from his home province, and in the years that followed, they would shuffle band members to eventually become Streetheart.
The band would record six studio albums and a double-disc live album, garnering six gold albums, four platinum albums, a gold single among its achievements.
Streetheart also brought home a Juno Award for most promising group of the year in 1980.
The band was inducted into the Western Canadian Music Association Hall of Fame in 2003.
“I never really ever aspired to be in anything like this,” Shields said during the ceremony. “I never would have planned it.”
Shields was planning to join the band for a run of 2017 tour dates before illness forced him to back out.
Streetheart planned to play a farewell concert at the Winnipeg Classic RockFest next month as a tribute to Shields.
Organizers say that event is still moving forward on Aug. 29 as scheduled. The Canadian Press