150 musical moments for our nation
Music is arguably Canada’s most beloved art form and one of our biggest cultural exports. To mark our 150th birthday, we offer a mix of 150 historical moments.
1
1880: French lyrics (AdolpheBasile Routhier of Saint-Placide, Lower Canada) and music (Calixa Lavallée of Vercheres, Que.) written for O Canada.
2
Dec. 18, 1904: Wilf Carter, known as the father of Canadian country, born in Port Hilford, N.S. He later moves to Calgary.
3
1908: Robert Stanley Weir (Hamilton, Canada West, later Ontario), writes English lyrics for O Canada.
4
May 9, 1914: Country legend Hank Snow born in Brooklyn, N.S.
5
Aug. 15, 1925: Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson born in Montreal.
6
Sept. 25, 1932: Classical pianist Glenn Gould born in Toronto.
7
Sept. 21, 1934: Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen born in Montreal.
8
Feb. 9, 1936: Singer-songwriter Stompin’ Tom Connors born in Saint John, N.B. He grows up in Skinners Pond, P.E.I.
9
June 5, 1938: Gould, 5, plays in public for the first time at a church in Uxbridge, Ont., to about 2,000 people.
10
Nov. 17, 1938: Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot born in Orillia, Ont.
11
1943: Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson drops out of a Montreal high school to pursue a career in music.
12
Nov. 7, 1943: Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born in Fort Macleod, Sask.
13
Nov. 12, 1945: Singer-songwriter Neil Young born in Toronto.
14
Sept. 18, 1949: Peterson makes his U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall.
15
1950: Snow, introduced by Hank Williams, takes the Grand Ole Opry stage for the first time.
16
1954: At the urging of Snow, Opry directors allow him to use Elvis Presley as his opening act.
17
Dec. 12, 1954: The Crew Cuts, four students from Toronto, perform Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream) on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town. The song spends nine weeks in top spot on the Billboard chart.
18
January 1956: Gould sets the classical world alight with his first album, Bach: The Goldberg Variations.
19
1957: Known as “a medley of my hit,” jazz flutist Moe Koffman (Toronto) releases Swingin’ Shepherd Blues. It reaches No. 23 on the Billboard pop chart.
20
Sept. 9, 1957: Diana, by 16-year-old Paul Anka of Ottawa, hits No. 1 on Billboard.
21
December 1961: Ronnie Hawkins’ band is the Hawks, including Robbie Robertson (Toronto), Richard Manuel (Stratford, Ont.), Garth Hudson (Windsor, Ont.) and Rick Danko (Green’s Corners, Ont.).
22
Sept. 12, 1962: Anka and Johnny Carson publish Johnny’s theme, used to open The Tonight Show from 1962-1992.
23
July 12, 1963: Recording with tenor-sax titan Sonny Rollins, Montreal-raised jazz pianist Paul Bley plays a solo on All The Things You Are that’s been called one of the greatest solos in jazz history.
24
October 1963: Four Strong Winds by Ian Tyson (Victoria) and Sylvia Tyson (Chatham, Ont.) cracks the top 10. In 2005, it’s chosen by CBC Radio One listeners as the greatest Canadian song of all time.
25
April 10, 1964: Gould gives his final public performance, in L.A.
26
Sept. 9, 1964: Peterson’s trio records his homeland tribute, Canadiana Suite.
27
Sept. 17, 1965: Country showcase The Tommy Hunter Show debuts on CBC TV. The London, Ont., native’s show runs till 1992.
28
April 11, 1966: Buffalo Springfield, featuring Young, debuts in Hollywood.
29
May 1966: Chad Allan leaves Winnipeg band The Guess Who, making Burton Cummings the lead singer.
30
March-September 1967: After touring with him in 1966, Robertson, Manuel, Hudson and Danko meet Bob Dylan in Ulster County, N.Y., to record the bulk of what would become the Basement Tapes.
31
July 1, 1967: Our centennial is immortalized by Bobby Gimby (Cabri, Sask.) with Canada (The Centennial Song).
32 March 30, 1968: Celine Dion born in Charlemagne, Que.
33
March 31, 1968: Maestro Fresh-Wes born in Toronto. He’s the first Canadian rapper with a top 40 hit (Let Your Backbone Slide, 1989).
34
July 1, 1968: Robertson, Manuel, Hudson and Danko and American Levon Helm, now known as The Band, release their debut album Music From Big Pink to critical and commercial acclaim.
35
September 1968: Around this time in Ancaster, Ont., 17-year-old Daniel Lanois builds a recording studio with his brother in his mother’s basement. Producer-musician Lanois goes on to win 11 Grammys and work with Dylan, U2, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel and many others.
36
Dec. 30, 1968: Frank Sinatra record his signature tune, My Way, with lyrics by Anka.
37
May 14, 1969: Young and Crazy Horse release the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, containing Cinnamon Girl.
38
July 14, 1969: Easy Rider hits theatres, featuring the biker anthem Born to Be Wild by Toronto’s Steppenwolf.
39
Aug. 13, 1969: The Guess Who records American Woman in Chicago. In May 1970, it would be the first song by a Canadian band to hit No. 1 on Billboard.
40
Aug. 16, 1969: Young’s other band, with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, debuts in Chicago. They perform their second gig two days later at Woodstock, N.Y.
41
September 1969: Mitchell, who passed on performing at Woodstock, debuts her Woodstock anthem in Big Sur, Calif.
42
Summer 1970: Springhill, N.S.’s Anne Murray releases the single Snowbird. Murray becomes the first solo Canadian female to top a U.S. chart.
43
June 24-July 5, 1970: Festival Express, featuring The Band and Ian and Sylvia’s Great Speckled Bird, hits Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary (Montreal and Vancouver stops were cancelled), with performers travelling by train. A film of the tour is released in 2003.
44
December 1970: Lightfoot records If You Could Read My Mind. The oft-covered song hits No. 1 here, No. 5 in the U.S.
45
June 22, 1971: Mitchell’s confessional masterpiece Blue hits record stores. 46
April 8, 1972: Young’s Heart of Gold tops the U.S. singles chart as his record Harvest tops the album chart.
47
December 1973: Terry Jacks (Winnipeg) offers a less sardonic take on a Jacques Brel song: Seasons in the Sun sells more than 14 million copies.
48
Jan. 1, 1974: Mitchell’s bestselling album, the jazzy Court and Spark, debuts.
49
March 25, 1974: Lightfoot releases what would be his only No. 1 U.S. single: Sundown. It also tops the charts at home.
50
July 29, 1974: Neil Peart joins Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee in Toronto power trio Rush.
Part 2 of the series will run Wednesday.