Plus ‘Rock of Fame’ honourees like Alan Frew and Carole Pope talk about making it, fan moments and weird concert catering. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star On Thursday night, 13 legacy Canadian recording artists are to be inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame during a special ceremony at Massey Hall dubbed “Canada’s Rock of Fame.” The list is a who’s who of homegrown music talent from the ’70s and ’80s,…
As Blue Rodeo’s bestselling album celebrates 30 years, Jim Cuddy recalls how it was made on Greg Keelor’s farm and what it meant. by Nick Krewen Special to the Star Hard to believe that the classic Blue Rodeo album Five Days In July has accumulated three decades of memories. Recorded in 1993 on band co-founder Greg Keelor’s Clarington farm, the effort ended up becoming the group’s all-time bestseller, moving 600,000 copies…
By Nick Krewen Special to the Star It was initially a Prince of an idea. Toronto’s Donna Grantis, the ace guitarist who was a member of the Minnesota wunderkind’s 3rdEyeGirl before his tragic death in 2016, said it was a question that the iconic singer-songwriter posed to the band while they were in a Paisley Park studio that set her on the path to becoming a climate change activist. “Prince…
Amanda Marshall is back with Heavy Lifting, her first album in two decades. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Music comeback story of the year? Well, that would belong to one Amanda Marshall, the Toronto-born vocal powerhouse that is finally emerging from the mists of time following a 22-and-a-half-year hiatus between albums: Heavy Lifting, a 12-song opus featuring 11 Marshall originals and a cover of Floetry‘s “I Hope She Cheats”…
From 1972 until 1981, the band created five wonderfully idiosyncratic studio albums and toured incessantly — even headlining Maple Leaf Gardens three times within 18 months. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Up until very recently, Kim Mitchell had forgotten that day in Indianapolis in 1981 when he performed “Battle Scar” with his Toronto rockers Max Webster and a man wearing a mask of ex-U.S. president Richard Nixon snuck…
