Founding member of Steppenwolf dead at 72
Canadian Goldy McJohn played organ on the group’s defining hits in the late 1960s
Goldy McJohn, a Canadian founding member of Steppenwolf whose roaring organ sounds and big hair brought a powerful presence to the group behind the classic-rock staples “Born to Be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” has died.
The keyboard player, whose given name was John Goadsby, died on Tuesday of a heart attack, according to a post on his Facebook page. He was 72. A funeral service is scheduled for next Friday in Seattle.
McJohn and husky-voiced lead singer John Kay were among the founding members of Steppenwolf. The group, which also included Canadians Jerry Edmonton on drums and Nick St. Nicholas on bass among its core members, got its start in Toronto as the Sparrows.
St. Nicholas, who was McJohn’s roommate in Toronto’s trendy Yorkville neighbourhood in the 1960s, loved his distinct playing style and recruited him for the Mynah Birds and then the Sparrows.
“The organ was sort of like the bridge. It covered the space between the notes when he’d hold a note,” St. Nicholas said Friday. “He had a percussive style like no other keyboard player and it stood out.”
Rockabilly musician Ronnie Hawkins recalls seeing the Sparrows playing at his club, the Hawk’s Nest, above the Le Coq d’Or Tavern on Yonge St. in Toronto.
“They were just starting when they were at the Hawk’s Nest, but I remember them, and (McJohn) had that afro or whatever you call that great big head of hair,” Hawkins said by phone.
“(The crowd) loved them. That’s what got them started.”
After securing a deal with Columbia Records, the Sparrows spent time in New York and then migrated west to the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles, where they broke up and reformed as Steppenwolf.
As St. Nicholas tells it, they were ordered to leave the country by U.S. immigration officials after his parents in Toronto had filed a missingperson report on him.
Within the 60-day period of their deportation, they got signed to ABC/ Dunhill Records and recorded the group’s self-titled 1968 debut album, which included the iconic track “Born to Be Wild.”
The gritty biker anthem, as well as the group’s hit cover of Hoyt Axton’s “The Pusher,” were on the soundtrack for Dennis Hopper’s cult classic 1969 film Easy Rider.
Steppenwolf also achieved success with the psychedelic “Magic Carpet Ride” and subsequent tracks.
In ’72, Steppenwolf “had kind of burned out” and disbanded, Kay told The Canadian Press last October.
While they did reform, putting out a few more albums, they eventually broke up again.
McJohn also went on to play in other groups including Manbeast and Humble Pie.
St. Nicholas described McJohn as an adventure-seeker who often found himself in precarious situations, like the time he flew his hang glider into a cactus tree.
“We were going to get together when I heard he passed away,” he said. “I felt like I lost one of my good friends.”