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, including bestselling acts April Wine, Loverboy, Glass Tiger and Trooper.
Enduring Montreal rocker Michel Pagliaro, 74, also made the list. The musician affectionately nicknamed “Pag” is a bit of an anomaly: his lengthy Quebec career has seen him score big hits in both English and French.
“It’s an honour, obviously,” said Pagliaro, 74, over the phone. Pagliaro makes a rare Toronto concert appearance Saturday at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
Pagliaro’s path to success started early. After entering the recording studio with Les Chanceliers as their bassist and becoming their singer for the Quebec hit “Le P’tit Poppy” in 1967, Pagliaro turned solo two years later at age 20. He hit pay dirt with his French-language album Michel Pagliaro and the hits “Comme d’habitude” and “Avec la tête, avec la coeur,” selling 50,000 copies and enjoying his first gold record.
Credited as Quebec’s first real rock star, Pag enjoyed success in his native province with the megaselling “J’entends frapper,” “J’ai marché pour une nation” and later “Aujourd’hui,” but also kept up with English hits like “What the Hell I Got” and “Run Along, Baby.”
His work has taken him to stages opening for David Bowie and Peter Frampton in their heydays, headlining several tours of his own, and earned him a 2008 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and recognition from the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.
But Pagliaro insists that whatever accolades have come his way haven’t been due to any grand career plan.
“Maybe I’m sort of a hippie,” he said.
“Life’s dreams brought me to different situations and I floated through them. Sometimes there was less floating. You don’t become an artist because you want to get rich, you know? I just had fun playing music with my friends.”
Although he hasn’t released any new material in decades, Pagliaro said he’s written plenty of songs and is waiting for the right opportunity to release them.
“I work very hard at creating destiny, but it doesn’t always come out that way,” he said. “I’d rather keep my material and wait for the opportunity to do it right, then to put it out and not be interesting.”
Pagliaro’s most immediate destiny is Saturday’s concert. He said he can’t wait to return to the city with his band, “who are a lot of fun.”
“I like to go to Toronto because people love me,” he said.
Face time with a few of this week’s rock ’n’ roll honourees
When did you know that you had “made it?”
Alan Frew, Glass Tiger: “I was a health-care provider; orderly; then RN. I was also a pathologist’s assistant. I held these jobs down and performed in bars, basically killing myself. The hospital administrator asked me to take a leave of absence for this ‘music thing.’ I did, during which we wrote a little ditty called ‘Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone.)’ That’s when I knew it was gonna be full-time!”
Lee Aaron: “I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never had to rely on another job. Even after being on the cover of Sounds and Melody Maker magazines, and having a couple of platinum albums, I still didn’t feel like I’d ‘made it.’ But when I was finally on the cover of TV Guide, my parents called because they were so excited. I was in their living room on their coffee table. That’s probably when.”
Bill Henderson, Chilliwack: “I was first a jobbing musician: weddings, parties, dances and a steady job at the Hotel Vancouver Panorama Roof in a strolling trio, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘The Anniversary Waltz’ several times a night. Then it was on to the Torch Cabaret playing R&R, R&B and backing up strippers. None of it was glamorous work; I had no thought of making a record — and certainly nobody told me I’d made it — but I was doing what I loved to do. It paid the bills and I knew I’d never again have to be a bricky’s helper or spend my days working in the box factory.”
Lorraine Segato, the Parachute Club: “In the fall of 1982, when the Parachute Club did its first gig at the Toronto film festival, I remember thinking that I was going to have to decide whether to try and make my full-time living either as a filmmaker or a musician. I gave myself six months to make some headway in both. Within that first month, we were offered a demo deal from Current Records in which we recorded several songs. That immediately led to a recording contract with RCA with worldwide distribution. By Jan(uary) of ’83, I knew I was going into music full-time.”
What is your most memorable fan moment?
Myles Goodwyn, April Wine: “Whenever a well-known American act tells me that April Wine was a big influence on their career, I’m wowed and appreciative. Garth Brooks is an example. He’s a fan and mentioned April Wine as an early influence for him. The same here in Canada. You never know who’s listening and a fan of your music.”
Paul Dean, Loverboy: “When Loverboy played San Antonio, Texas, in around ’84, we were exiting the arena after the show. The loading bay doors came up and there were at least 100 fans waiting on the other side. They proceeded to literally crawl all over the limo — like an ant colony on a grasshopper — screaming, banging on the windows. I have no idea how we got out of there without driving over someone.”
Carole Pope, Rough Trade: “The first night we opened for (David) Bowie and he came and hugged me backstage and said I was great.”
Alan Frew: “There have been many, but one which stands out is when I sang for an elderly lady named Jean in a nursing home in Alberta after being told she was my biggest fan … at the ripe young age of 96! Unbeknown to me at the time, someone filmed it on their phone and it went through-the-roof viral! Such a lovely moment between us. She turns 100 soon and it is my hope to sing for her again!”
Lorraine Segato: “We used to play several nights at Ontario Place every summer. One summer, a fan was wheeled into the dressing room who had been told they would never walk again after an awful car accident. They told us that every day they would do their rehabilitation exercises with their nurse, listening to our song ‘Rise Up.’ That was touching enough, but then they returned the following summer and I didn’t recognize them because they were now walking with a cane. It was an amazing moment for us to reconnect with this fan and it was so deeply touching to know we inspired in that way.”
What’s the weirdest thing that ever showed up on your concert catering rider?
Myles Goodwyn: “Not exactly a catering story but once in Los Angeles, the record label took us for supper and the ‘starter’ was a giant 110-pound lobster.”
Paul Dean: “A bowl full of brown M&M’s. I guess they were Van Halen’s rejects.”
Lee Aaron: “Deep fried grasshoppers was a pretty weird one. We were told they pair well with beer, but I think the record label staff were just messing with us.”
Carole Pope: “Nothing that weird, just scary-looking luncheon meat that we used to throw at the dressing room walls to see if it would stick.”