Look who’s back
’80s heartthrob will be front and centre at this weekend’s ceremony
Corey Hart may have advised fans to Never Surrender in his 1985 hit, but in real life he let go of his music career two decades ago.
The 2019 inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Sunday night’s Juno Awards stopped making records and touring in 1998 to be a full-time dad to his four kids with wife Julie Masse.
“My type of job does not permit me to have the luxury of me coming home and having dinner (every night),” said Hart, now 56 and sporting lighter-coloured hair (and a beard) than his ’80s heartthrob heyday.
“And I had a choice to make. Either continue doing that and be a tourist dad (or stopping) because I didn’t grow up having my dad in my life and I did not want my kids to have the same experience.”
But now the Montreal native with such hits as Sunglasses At Night is back in a big way.
First up is the Canadian Music Hall of Fame honour, which will also see him perform at the Junos — for the first time since the ’80s — which will be broadcast on CBC platforms from Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont.
That’s followed on May 3 by a new EP, Dreaming Time Again, produced by Toronto’s Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, KISS) and featuring Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy on the track First Rodeo and a
17-city Canadian tour starting on May 31 that marks his first trek since 1986.
Q It sounds like being a child of divorce really affected your parenting?
A My parents split up when I was nine or 10 and I only saw my dad three or four days a year. There was very little communication. He wasn’t a bad man, but I think by the time me and my older brother had come around, he had decided that he just didn’t really want to be around. He passed away in 2004. Q So we can credit your mother that you didn’t lose your mind during your ’80s heyday? A My dad abused drugs a lot. And I saw a lot of things that a little May 31: St. John’s
June 4: Halifax
June 5: Moncton, N.B.
June 6: Quebec City
June 8: London
June 10: Sudbury, Ont.
June 11: Kingston
June 12: Ottawa
June 14: Toronto
June 15: Montreal
June 17: Thunder Bay
June 18: Winnipeg
June 20: Calgary
June 21: Edmonton
June 22: Kelowna, B.C.
June 24: Victoria
June 25: Vancouver kid shouldn’t see ... So I decided really early on in my life that I was never going to drink. I was never going to do drugs. I’m a teetotaller. In the music business that’s like weird on steroids. So, all in all, I think that that helped when I went through what you were alluding to — the ’80s. It was quite a phenomenon.
Q So how are you feeling about re-entry into the music business?
A I never thought that I would be doing this again. It wasn’t some plan to say that after a certain point I would return to doing what I used to do. It’s unfolded in a very magical way in the last year. Q You seem incredibly excited about that Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction despite being a music vet?
A I try not to think about it too much or else I won’t fall asleep at night. It’s the Juno Awards. It’s Canadian music. I think of all the names that are there that preceded me — legends, absolute legends. And to think that I’m in that company is mind-blowing. Q You performed what you said would be your farewell concert at Montreal’s Bell Centre in 2014 but now you’re back on tour. What changed your mind?
A I did the show and then as the years progressed, slowly the stars started to align. I’m going to be able to go out there (this summer) and play all the hits that (the fans) grew up listening to and then some scattering of some new songs and some surprise cover songs.
Q Are you ready for thousands of screaming 50-year-old women (among others)? A Well, screaming is not a bad thing. Screaming and singing. Q What do you think of the social media that pop stars have to deal with now?
A I wish that I had had the ability to take my phone and write my fans directly in the ’80s — absolutely — because it’s coming right from me to them. I would have loved to have had that. But I don’t think the ubiquity of it and the navel-gazing is healthy. Q Why make an EP?
A Bob Ezrin was the catalyst. I didn’t just want to go out (on the road) as a jukebox artist. I had never met him until last year. I met him at a fundraiser for Canada’s Walk of Fame. I performed three songs unplugged. It was at Casa Loma in Toronto and as I left the stage, he got up, and he grabbed my shoulder and he said, ‘That was really good. Where have you been?’ And I pointed to my table and my kids were there so he said, ‘That’s fabulous but I’m going to call you. You should be doing music.’ And when he told me, ‘You ought to share your music with the world again,’ it made me think.