musicians

I have made the decision to finally haul my clarinet out of the closet and start playing again. Just doing some scales and studies to start. My embouchure ain't what it used to be and with my knuckles a bit swollen on one hand from arthritis, my fingers need some retraining on certain parts of...

Most people of my age and younger know Fleetwood Mac from the Rumours and later era, so Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks. But that wasn't the original band. Only Mick and John were original members. Today we lost Peter Green, who was the original...

Fans of the great band Spirit of the West knew this day was coming but it's still saddening. John Mann, lead singer and one of the main songwriters for the band has succumbed to early onset Alzheimer's at 57. He wrote or co-wrote most of the band's music and his distinctive voice was a key part...

It's Canada Day weekend and what better time to celebrate the fine music that has come, and is still coming, from Canadian artists. I'll kick it off with an old classic. I first heard Both Sides Now in Grade 5 or 6 when our school choir sang it during a concert we did at a nearby longterm care...

Pianist (in both classical and jazz), composer, conductor Andre Previn has left the world at 89. Born in Germany as Prewin, his Jewish family fled first to Paris and then finally Los Angeles to escape the Nazis. Once in LA, he started his piano career in Hollywood. He moved easily among styles...

No. This is not what I expected or wanted to see on Twitter tonight. Mike Taylor of Walk Off the Earth, better known to fans as "Beard Guy," died in his sleep last night. No cause known yet nor do they mention his age. He's the father of two children, one of whom appeared in the band's Christmas...

The great singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot turns 80 today and is apparently celebrating with a charity gig in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario. The list of classic songs that have come from his pen goes on for a while: "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "If You Could Read My Mind","Canadian...

Another musical great is gone. We've known since 2011 that country and pop legend Glen Campbell was battling Alzheimer's. He lost today. I am not a country fan in general, but Glen was one of those singer-songwriters who defies genre. His songs are solid, powerful short stories set to music. As...

Okay, I'm not literally expecting us to come up with 150 Canadian songs/pieces of music. But the more the merrier. This country has produced a lot of great musicians, singers, composers, and songwriters. So, I figured one way to honour Canada Day here would be to get a thread going for...