Fonfarra worked with many of music’s best
Stevensville native worked with likes of Lou Reed, Foreigner and Rough Trade among others
If his musical resume is any indication, Michael Fonfara could keep up with anyone.
Sitting in with musicians of many genres — rock, blues and new wave throughout multiple decades beginning in the 1960s — the Stevensville native shared the studio and stage with the likes of Rough Trade, Lou Reed and, most recently, the iconic Canadian group Downchild Blues Band.
Fonfara, 74, died Jan. 8 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Fonfara got his start in the music business in 1963 as a member of Lee Jackson and the Checkmates. During the 1960s and ’70s, members of the Checkmates, including Fonfara, were integral in the formation of the bands Electric Flag, Rhinoceros and the shortlived Blackstone which existed in the first half of the 1970s.
It was at that time he hooked up with Lou Reed and contributed to former Velvet Underground frontman’s next nine records.
He also played on Rough Trade’s first effort, “Rough
Trade Live! Direct to Disc” and contributed keyboards to the Foreigner hit, “Urgent.”
Local resident Bev Arbour recalled hearing the young Fonfara playing from her home.
“They lived almost right across from our house on North Street,” Arbour said. “(Mike) could really rock a piano.”
Laurie Moore Nash saw Fonfara
perform in his early days with John Lee and the Checkmates at the old Fort Erie Secondary School back in the 1960s.
“They were really a professional band, more rhythm and blues band as opposed to rock and roll. They were part of the Toronto sound. Excellent.”
Ward 1 Coun. George Mcdermott, a musician himself, never crossed paths with the keyboardist but is familiar with his work.
“Like pretty much everyone, I heard him play and he was awesome,” Mcdermott said.
Donnie Walsh, Downchild’s leader and co-founder, called the keyboardist “the best musician I’ve ever worked with,” while bassist Gary Kendall called Fonfara “a creative genius.”
Fonfara’s final work was on
Downchild’s “Live At The Toronto Jazz Festival,” where the band was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019. The band was joined on stage by the likes of Dan Aykroyd, Paul Shaffer and David Wilcox.
Fonfara is survived by his wife Avril, his daughters Ashley and Ciara and grandchildren Brooklyn, Camden, Jamie and Jaxon.