"Your Money Or Your Life" by Ishan People

LISTEN:

Reggae from the 1970s Jamaica-to-Toronto scene

Jamaican music has had a huge influence on the musical history of Toronto. A lot of that is thanks to the new Canadians who helped build a thriving reggae scene here in the late 1970s. One of the most successful groups was Ishan People.

Their lead singer, Johnny Osbourne, had already made a name for himself back home in Jamaica, recording his first single at the legendary Studio One. But on the day he finished his first album, he left Jamaica behind, moving to Toronto to be with his family. Here, he sang for a bunch of bands before finally ending up as the frontman for Ishan People. They helped to pave the way for reggae artists in Toronto, playing their laid-back tunes in clubs like the Horseshoe Tavern back in the days when Queen Street was still full of notoriously angry punk music.

"Your Money Or Your Life" was one of the tracks on their debut album, Roots, which came out in 1976 and was produced by David Clayton-Thomas (who had been part of the Yorkville scene in the '60s before becoming the lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears).

After Ishan People broke up, Osbourne headed back to Jamaica. But he wasn't the only great reggae artist to come to Toronto: immigrants like Jackie Mittoo and Jojo Bennett made sure that our city's reggae scene would be producing amazing albums for years to come.

-----

You can buy a copy of Ishan People's debut album here.

Listen to more from the Jamaica-to-Toronto scene here.

Listen to David Clayton-Thomas & The Bossmen here. 

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.   

"Elements Of Style" by Michie Mee & L.A. Luv

LISTEN:

Early Toronto hip hop

Michie Mee is known as Canada's first famous female MC and the first Canadian rapper to ever be signed to a major American label. She was born in Jamaica but moved to Jane & Finch as a kid, where she started rapping as a teenager in the mid-1980s. Soon, she'd developed her own unique style, combining early North American hip hop with raw Jamaican reggae and dancehall. She teamed up with Toronto producer L.A. Luv and they released their first single — "Elements of Style" — in 1987.

The duo got plenty of support from legendary hip hop artists like KRS-One and Scott La Rock from Boogie Down Productions, but they broke up after releasing just one full-length album: Jamaican Funk—Canadian Style in 1991. L.A. Luv would go on to join Dream Warriors, while Michie Mee still has her own solo career, is an actor, and was a founding member of the rap metal group Raggadeath.

-----

You can buy Jamaican Funk—Canadian Style here.

Listen to more early Toronto hip hop here.

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.   

"Angels With Dirty Faces" by John Paul Young

LISTEN:

1980s New Wave pop

John Paul Young was best known as the keyboardist and vocalist for a 1970s Toronto punk band called The Cardboard Brains. But by 1980, he was looking to explore some weirder, more experimental sounds — something vaguely in the vein of Brian Eno. That's when he released his first solo record, The Life of Ermie Scub, a wonderfully bizarre futuristic concept album full of synthesizers, looped drum beats and vocals that land somewhere between David Byrne and a Halloween monster. Songs titles like "Surrender To The Void", "The Monster In Ed" and "Boy In The Gutter With The Broken Mind" hint at some of the strange shit going down on this record. And while it's far from normal, "Angels With Dirty Faces" is easily one of the most radio-friendly tracks on the album.

-----

You can buy The Life of Ermie Scub on vinyl here.

Listen to more Toronto New Wave here. 

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.  

"Brain Washed" by David Clayton-Thomas & The Bossmen

LISTEN: "Brain Washed" by David Clayton-Thomas & The Bossmen

1960s rock 'n' roll from the Yorkville scene

During the 1960s, young people flocked to Yorkville from all over the continent. Some came for the music, some for the drugs, some to escape trouble at home, some just because it was the place to be. And for a few Americans, coming to Toronto also meant they could dodge the draft and the war in Vietnam.

David Thomas-Clayton didn't have to worry about the draft — he grew up in North York — but he knew plenty about trouble at home. He ran away as a teenager to live on the streets, got into trouble with the law, and eventually ended up in a reformatory where a fellow inmate taught him how to play guitar. When he got out, he headed down to the Yonge Street Strip, where he was hired to play in a series of awesome bands: Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks (who would later meet Bob Dylan and change their name to The Band); The Rogues (who were the house band at an after hours soul club on Yonge Street called Club Bluenote, where legends like Stevie Wonder and The Supremes would stop by to jam after their Toronto shows — The Rogues would eventually change their name to Mandala and become a kickass funk group); and finally David Clayton-Thomas & The Shays (a showcase for his famously powerful vocals).

Eventually, he started spending more time in Yorkville, where he could be found playing his guitar into the wee hours of the morning on the steps of a church on Avenue Road. That's when he formed yet another band: David Clayton-Thomas & The Bossmen. He wrote "Brain Washed" in 1966 as an angry protest against the war in Vietnam.

The song was a hit. It roared up the CHUM charts all the way to #6 — and stayed in the top 50 for 11 straight weeks.

Soon, he would leave Toronto. After playing a gig with the blues giant John Lee Hooker, he followed him south to New York City. That's where David Clayton-Thomas finally started singing with the band that would make him famous: Blood, Sweat & Tears.

-----

Listen to more songs from Yorkville here.

Listen to more songs from the Yonge Street strip here.

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.

"Big Town Boy" by Shirley Matthews

LISTEN: "Big Town Boy" by Shirley Matthews

1960s soul from the Yonge Street scene

Back in the 1960s, more than a few Toronto musicians made a name for themselves at the legendary Club Bluenote. It was an after hours soul club on Yonge Street just north of Gerrard. And for a while, Shirley Matthews was the singer with the house band. She'd gotten her start by performing at high school dances while she worked a full-time job as a switchboard operator for Bell. But before long she had a regular gig singing into the wee hours of the morning at the Bluenote, where some of the biggest names in the history of soul music — Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Edwin Starr, The Righteous Brothers, Jackie Wilson — would stop by to jam after their Toronto shows.

She recorded "Big Town Boy" in 1964 and it became a hit — selling more than a million copies.

-----

Listen to more songs associated with Club Bluenote here.

Listen to more songs from the Yonge Street strip here.

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so. 

"It's Alright (This Feeling)" by Crack Of Dawn

LISTEN: "It's Alright (This Feeling)" by Crack Of Dawn

1970s funk from the Jamaica-to-Toronto scene

In 1970s Toronto, there were plenty of bands mixing Canadian and Caribbean sounds. Crack Of Dawn was one of the best. When they formed, the group had members from Toronto, Nova Scotia, Jamaica and Grenada. Three of them had already played in The Cougars — a Toronto R&B band featuring the legendary Jamaican reggae musician Jackie Mittoo — and the new group carried on that tradition. Crack Of Dawn blended funk with R&B and a bit of reggae — a dance floor-friendly mix that earned them a reputation for an incredible live show.

By 1977, Crack Of Dawn had become the very first Black band from Canada to ever be signed to a major label, releasing a self-titled debut with Columbia Records. "It's Alright (This Feeling)" was one of the singles off that album — and it became a hit.

"I remember pulling into Edmonton and seeing thousands of people waiting for us and all these girls screaming," guitarist Rupert Harvey recently told the Toronto Star, "We were shocked that all those people were there for us." The band was breaking new ground by touring Canada at a time when a lot of the country hadn't seen many Black immigrants yet. "The first time we played in Saskatoon," Harvey says, "I remember walking back to the hotel early in the morning and a van came up beside us really slowly. This guy looked at us and said 'Howdy, never seen one of you guys before, only on TV.' It was friendly but strange."

Crack Of Dawn broke up only a year after releasing their debut record, but would have a lasting impact. Some of the members would go on to play for bands like Toots & The Maytals and Messenjah, while others became record producers, managers and music professors, passing down their experiences to the next generation of Torontonian musicians.

The band has also reunited a few times in one form or another: to record a second album in the early '80s; to play a reunion show at the Club Bluenote (an after hours soul club on Yonge Street); and again for a few shows in 2012.

-----

You can learn more about Crack Of Dawn on the band's website here.

Listen to more from the Jamaica-to-Toronto scene here.

Listen to more songs associated with Club Bluenote here.

Photo via CanadianBands.com.

Song posted with permission of the artist. 

"CN Tower" by The Poles

LISTEN: "CN Tower" by The Poles

1970s new wave punk from the Queen Street scene

"We were the first new wave punk rock group in this country," says lead singer Michaele Jordana, "It didn't exist before us." She was an artist before she was a rock star — a trip to the Arctic with the experimental electronic musician Douglas Pringle inspired a landmark series of paintings about the whale hunt, a performance art piece, and the name of their new band: The Poles. According to Pringle, "We just got back to the city from this white out and walked into the punk scene and said, 'Hey, this is survival. This is the same thing. It was amazing.'"

The Poles were on the artsy, new wave end of the punk rock spectrum taking over Queen West in the late 1970s. They were one of the bands who played Crash 'n' Burn — the club at centre of the scene for a few brief and glorious months during the summer of 1977, before it got shut down for noise complaints. They shared the bill with local punk legends like The Diodes, The Viletones and Teenage Head. Eventually, they'd find success in New York City, too. They played CBGB's and Max's Kansas City with acts like The Ramones and Patti Smith, and were produced by The Velvet Underground's John Cale.

"CN Tower" was released that same year, 1977, when the iconic tower was a brand new landmark in Toronto, towering over the city as a symbol of modernism and cutting edge communication.

------

Listen to more Queen Street punk here.

Learn more Michaele Jordana on her website here or here and in an archival video on YouTube here.

Song posted with permission of the artist. 

"Blue Lipstick" by Patrician-Anne

LISTEN: "Blue Lipstick" Patrician-Anne

1960s girl group rock

Patrician Anne McKinnon was just 16 years old when she recorded "Blue Lipstick". It was written for her by the famous songwriter P.F. Sloane, the same guy who wrote "Eve of Destruction", "Secret Agent Man" and hits for bands like The Turtles, Herman's Hermits and The Mamas & The Papas. The song would wind up being her biggest hit, but it was far from her only claim to fame. By then, she had already been singing on the CBC for years — as part of the choir in the 1960s music show Singalong Jubilee (which is where Anne Murray got her start, too). Patrician-Anne — and her better-known sister, the singer and actor Catherine McKinnon — split their time between the East Coast and Toronto. Sadly, her career would slow down after she was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1970s. She released a full-length self-titled album in 1984 and died of Hodgkin's in 2001.

-----

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so. 

"Take It Slow" by Jack London & The Sparrows

Jack London & The Sparrows at Chez Monique, 1966

 
LISTEN: "Take It Slow" by Jack London & The Sparrows

1960s rock 'n' roll from the Yorkville scene

You probably know Jack London & the Sparrows as the band they would later become: Steppenwolf. But before they moved to California and became famous for songs like "Born To Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride", they were a British Invasion-style group playing as part of the rock scene in Yorkville in the 1960s — first as Jack London & The Sparrows and then later just as The Sparrows. They were best known for playing a residency at Chez Monique (a club on Yorkville Avenue near Bellair) and for regular gigs at El Patio (down the street, closer to Avenue Road).

"Take It Slow" is a track off their self-titled record released in 1965.

-----

Buy more music by Jack London & The Sparrows here.

Listen to more songs associated with the 1960s "Toronto Sound" here. 

Photo via York University's Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections here.

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.

"Wasn't It You" by 3's A Crowd

LISTEN:

1960s folkpop from the Yorkville scene

3's A Crowd first formed in Vancouver, but moved to Toronto to be part of the Yorkville folk scene in the mid-1960s, playing regular gigs at the famous Riverboat Coffeehouse. Their radio-friendly folk-pop sound is frequently compared to The Mamas & The Papas — and that's not a coincidence. Papa Denny was another familiar face in the Yorkville scene and when 3's A Crowd headed to California to record their first full-length album, Christopher's Movie Matinee, it was co-produced by Mama Cass.

A few of the songs on the record were written by Bruce Cockburn, another Yorkvillian, and he would join a later version of the group. Meanwhile, the band's bass player, Ken Koblum, had played in one of Neil Young's first Toronto bands — The Squires — and even traveled with him when he moved to California, briefly playing bass for Buffalo Springfield.

-----

You can buy Christopher's Movie Matinee on vinyl here. 

Listen to more songs from Yorkville here. 

All songs are posted to promote the artist and the history of Toronto. When possible, I've sought permission from artists, but if you're the copyright-holder and would like the song removed, please contact me here and I'll be happy to do so.