Canadian Disco & Disco Artists

[Cdnbob]

Hey does anyone know of any sites on the net that deals with Canadian disco and the performers who were part of the Canadian disco scene?

I'm also hoping to put together a list of Canadian disco artists. Ones that come to mind are:

Patsy Gallant
Lime
France Joli
Claudja Barry
The Raes
Gino Soccio
Charity Brown (I know she did a few disco tracks but can she really be categorized as disco?)

Anyone know of any others?

[BrunoRepublic]

Anyone know of any others?

Various Three Hats Productions, such as
THP Orchestra (later just "THP")
Duncan Sisters (not sure, need to check on that)
The Immortals
Wayne St John

Tony Green's acts, like
Caroline Bernier
Black Star
(there are others, I just can't think of them right now)

Joe La Greca and associated acts
like later Katmandu

Pat Desario acts, like
Bombers
Bob-A-Rela

Denis/Denyse Lepage acts like
Katmandu
Mother F
Carol Jiani (more Hi-NRG than disco, if anyone's counting)

Other Gino Soccio productions like
Kebekelektric
Witch Queen

The Michel Daigle/Domenic Sciscente (sp?) and Co stuff, like
Black Light Orchestra
Patrick Norman (I think he only did one disco album, but it's a good one)
Space Project

Loads of other stuff out of Québec. Early Unidisc, Celsius, Disques Direction, Unison...

...and of course, Bryan Adams, although he doesn't want you to know that. ;)

[The Boogie Doctor]

And don't forget:

Pierre Perpall (Purple Flash)
Trans-X

also check this thread for some discussion:

http://www.discomusic.com/forums/eur...ian-disco.html

cheers
the boogie doctor

[Cdnbob]

Did some searching and also came up with:

Freddie James
Denise McCann
Laurie Marshall
Stratavarious (aka John Usry)
Katmandu (aka Jimmy Ray)
Goldie Alexander
Geraldine Hunt
Rosalind Milligan Hunt
Suzanne Stevens (she really only did the disco inspired "Make Me Your Baby")

From the 1980's:

Candi & The Backbeat
Jane Child
Eria Fachin
John James
Kon Kan
Mitsou

[Cdnbob]

Found this on The Encyclopedia of Music In Canada that you might find interesting:

Disco. Beginning in the early 1960s, 'discothèque' (the French word for 'record library') has been used to designate nightclubs in which recordings, rather than live performers, provide music for dancing. By the 1970s, an abbreviated term, 'disco,' was used in reference both to these venues and to a new musical genre usually heard in them. 'Disco' music, which flourished from the early 1970s until the beginning of the 1980s, was an eclectic hybrid of American soul, Latin rhythms and synthesizer-based European rock, and was characterized by the dominance of rhythm tracks over vocal and melody lines, a reliance on traditional instrumentation (eg, strings, brass and woodwinds) rather than the electric guitar of rock, and by songs of greater length than was typical of most other pop genres in this period.

Disco music was a significant economic and cultural force in the Canadian pop music industry during the mid- and late 1970s. Small record companies such as Inter-Global and Les Disques Parapluies in Montreal and Direction and Rio Records in Toronto produced recordings by Canadian singers and studio-based groups, both white and black, for the international disco audience. Among them: THP [Three Hats Productions] Orchestra ('Theme from S.W.A.T'.), Black Light Orchestra ('Once Upon a Time'), Gino Soccio ('Dancer'), Cherrill and Robbie Rae ('A Little Lovin''), Claudja Barry ('Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes'), Freddy James ('Everybody Get up and Boogie'), Laurie Marshall ('Disco Spaceship'), Denice McCann ('Tattooed Man'), and Wayne St. John ('Something's Up').

The circuit of discotheques operating in Canadian cities during the 1970s became an important channel for the promotion of dance music recordings, and disc jockeys playing records in them emerged as significant taste-makers in the Canadian recording industry. Disc jockey associations, or 'pools' first appeared in Canada in 1976, when the Canadian Record Pool was formed. The CRP organized the Canadian Disco Awards, published a newsletter, and co-ordinated the distribution of promotional copies of new recordings to disc jockeys. By 1980, nine pools existed in Canada.

In 1979, the American trade magazine Billboard called Montreal the second-most important market in North America for disco music, with its 50 dance clubs (eg, Kébek Elektric, the Limelight, and Régines) and close ties to the discotheque scene in New York. In that same year, it was estimated that some 90 stations across Canada were playing disco music as part of their programming, including CHIC-AM in Toronto, which broadcast disco music 24 hours a day.

During the 1980s, the term 'disco' gradually gave way to the more inclusive 'dance music,' represented by such Canadians as Candi and the Backbeat, Jane Child, Céline Dion, Eria Fachin, John James, Kan Kon, Mitsou, Simply Majestic, Spunkadelic, and encompassing the many artists associated with rap. While the life span of clubs, record labels and indeed performers' careers in dance music was often shorter than has been the norm in pop music, dance music in a general sense remained popular in Canada at the beginning of the 1990s. Specialty magazines (such as the Toronto-based Streetsound, established in 1987, and Montreal's Upfront), disc jockey associations like the Quebec Record Pool (Montreal), the CHEER Pool (Toronto) and the Calgary Association of Professional Disc-Jockeys, and such dance-oriented recording companies as Somersault and Blast in Toronto and Sizzle in Montreal provided the infrastructure through which dance music was produced and promoted in Canada.

[markydefad]

Don't forget Karen Silver...originally from the Gino Soccio factory...

[discokicks]

Here's a few more....

Toulouse (from la belle province eh!)
Alma Faye Brooks
Kumano (from London Ontario!)

From the 80s...

Tapps
Cyndi Cee
Barbara Doust
Lois and Lane
Men Without Hats

[Disco Funk]

Here's another old thread discussing Canadian disco:

http://www.discomusic.com/forums/dis...sco-music.html

I haven't browsed through that old thread, so I don't know if it's got contributions from me.

Here's some Canadian disco I can think of:

Montreal Sound - Music
Bryan Adams - Let Me Take You Dancing
Dominic Troiano - We All Need Love
Andre Gagnon - Surprise, Wow, etc...
Martin Stevens - Love Is In The Air
Boule Noire
Chatelaine (maybe?) - Corps A Corps
Metal Weeds featured the same guys in the Black Light Orchestra.
I think most of the disco music production in Canada was based in Quebec. Not sure why...

Disco Funk

[BrunoRepublic]

Metal Weeds featured the same guys in the Black Light Orchestra.

Written by Sciscente, but produced by Tony Green.

I think most of the disco music production in Canada was based in Quebec. Not sure why...

Different culture.

[canadiantire]

I think most of the disco music production in Canada was based in Quebec. Not sure why...

Disco Funk

I think Quebec always been a fertile land for experimentation.

It may come from the latino roots or from the fact that the creativity is stimulated by a desire to be distinct from the mostly "American cultured" mass.

There used to be great recording studios and engineers down here.

There were and there is still a lot of great voices in Quebec.

It is yours to discover...:icon_razz:

- Marcus

[Cdnbob]

I seem to recall a show that came from Montreal (?) that was a disco show along the lines of American Bandstand/Soul Train that featured a lot of Canadian disco and disco artists in general. It featured dancers, dance performances etc and was about 1 hour long. It may have been hosted by Robert Quimet (excuse the spelling). This was one from around 76-79 maybe. Is this correct or is my memory playing tricks on me? Anyone else recall this show? And I do know its not "Boogie" that was done by the CHUM network.

[canadiantire]

I seem to recall a show that came from Montreal (?) that was a disco show along the lines of American Bandstand/Soul Train that featured a lot of Canadian disco and disco artists in general. It featured dancers, dance performances etc and was about 1 hour long. It may have been hosted by Robert Quimet (excuse the spelling). This was one from around 76-79 maybe. Is this correct or is my memory playing tricks on me? Anyone else recall this show? And I do know its not "Boogie" that was done by the CHUM network.

The show you are referring to is most probably "et ça tourne (et ça danse)".

It was hosted by Alain Montpetit:

TV PROGRAM THEME

If it is the TV show you are thinking about, you are right to say that this is where some of the most prestigious Disco artists appeared.

Unfortunately, there are to date no known visual archive of that TV show on the Web.

Alain was for a long time, one of the most popular individual associated with the Montreal Disco scene. He was also a multi-talented person.

At some point, he was everywhere on TV and radio. He has been hosting shows at CKGM (AM), CFQR and CKMF (FM) - all local radio station from Montreal.

CKMF was the first Canadian Disco music dedicated radio station.

BITD, the radio and TV D.J.s or (M.C.s) were a lot more knowledgeable, competent and well informed about the music style they were covering. Because of the fact that his colleague and himself were actively involved in the New York Disco jet set, they were literally a goldmine of information. I wish I would have archives of the info he was providing on the air.

You could compare Alain Montpetit to Kasey Kasem per say.

As jet set life equaled sex and drugs, you can probably guess what eventually happened...he got into drug addiction.

He died of an overdose June 10, 1987.


On Thursday, December 13th 2001, 2:24AM, the following came on the news press:

MARIE JOSEE SAINT ANTOINE, 24 - found dead June 18, 1982
Alain Montpetit - may have been the murderer
New York
Anchorman eyed in supermodel murder mystery -- (New York Daily News) early two decades after a top model was found slain in her Manhattan apartment, detectives believe they may have identified her killer: a TV anchorman from Montreal.

For most of us who had respect for his achievements and professionalism, this revelation came like a bad nightmare.

He was never found guilty.

In a few TV interviews, most of his co-workers believe that he would have never did something as such.



- Marcus

[disco1999]

As I said previously, I was a huge fan of Alain Montpetit back then when disco music was ruling the night scene, it was a huge disapointment to find out he killed that top model Marie-Josée Antoine in her NYC appartment back in 82.



For those who don't know this guy . . .
here's an interview of Alain Montpetit (starts at 3:48)
YouTube - Richard & Erica on Musi-Video Show

and a clip of one of his TV show "Et ça tourne" TV show featuring Raffaella Carrà (better known for her "53.53.456" song)
YouTube - Raffaella Carra ET CA TOURNE' Canada 1977 in francese

[Cdnbob]

The show you are referring to is most probably "et ça tourne (et ça danse)". It was hosted by Alain Montpetit...

Ummm.... no I don't think that was it. I'm assuming the show you mention would have been in French by the title and I highly doubt CBC or CTV would have aired a French language program on their main networks. I'm assuming this show you speak of would have likely been on the French CBC channel?

No, the show I recall was all in English, (I think I use to watch it on Saturday afternoons ??? or I seem to recall it was this time on the prairies), and I think.... aired on a CTV station. Patsy Gallant and the Raes I think were on this show at some point. I recall that they use to have a lot of singers on I'd never heard of and a lot of times I hated the stuff these singers sang. I think when Patsy Gallant was on she did 3 or 4 songs as she was a big guest.

[srg]

I remember Toronto's CITY-tv had a disco show called "Boogie!" around 75-77- mostly white teens and early-20-year olds in polyester suits and big glasses shuffling to the disco beat in a studio...the comedy troupe SCTV did a terrifically funny spoof of this show...

[canadiantire]

I remember Toronto's CITY-tv had a disco show called "Boogie!" around 75-77- mostly white teens and early-20-year olds in polyester suits and big glasses shuffling to the disco beat in a studio...the comedy troupe SCTV did a terrifically funny spoof of this show...

Would that be this show by any chance?

Boogie Show Excerpt

- Marcus

[BrunoRepublic]

I remember Toronto's CITY-tv had a disco show called "Boogie!" around 75-77- mostly white teens and early-20-year olds in polyester suits and big glasses shuffling to the disco beat in a studio...the comedy troupe SCTV did a terrifically funny spoof of this show...

It was utterly hilarious. One thing SCTV brilliantly captured was how all the kids on the show had this "I'm too cool to be here" act going on, looking very bored and disinterested in the entire thing. I didn't realize until I saw the MuchMusic retro show (which includes excerpts from "Boogie" between videos) how dead-on SCTV's parody was, right down to the awkward host.

Except SCTV's take actually tried to look like it was shot at a club, whereas they didn't even try on the original show. It's obviously a regular TV studio. :)

[Cdnbob]

Would that be this show by any chance?

Boogie Show Excerpt

- Marcus

No, sadly its not. I've seen numerous clips from "Boogie" on Much Music and its not that show. Besides "Boogie" and "et ça tourne (et ça danse)", were there any other discos shows made around this time in Canada? I know its definitely pre-Rene Simard show and the Raes variety show and as I mentioned earlier I'm fairly sure the show was on CTV - I use to watch it on the CTV affilliate in Calgary. Let me see if I can find some info out.

[Cdnbob]

I did a little searching on the net and found this:

Downright Disco - CTV, 1978-79, 1/2 hour disco program with guests.

I wonder if this was it? Does this ring a bell with anyone? The show I seem to remember was around 1 hour

[disco1999]

Alain Montpetit was hosting "Disco tourne" between 76 & 79, then "Et ça tourne" was produced between 79 & 81 on CFTM channel 10 now known as TVA

hope this helps

[Disco Funk]

I came across another Canadian disco band, a group called 'Surprise Band'. The music is okay. Kind of like Sweet Blindness, if you're familiar with them, except they sing in French. I bought it because I thought the track 'Disco Conga' might be cool, but it's pretty lame. The album overall is 'comme ci comme ca'. :)

Disco Funk

[SandraDee]

I love canadian disco. Some that I think haven't been mentioned are Nightlife Unlimited & Gotham Flasher. Weren't Queen Samantha & Watson Beasley canadian too?:icon_confused:

[disco1999]

I love canadian disco. Some that I think haven't been mentioned are Nightlife Unlimited & Gotham Flasher. Weren't Queen Samantha & Watson Beasley canadian too?:icon_confused:

Yes, actually ABEASLEY1 is a member here in this forum
and Alfred Beasley of "Watson Beasley" is apparently living in Ohio now.

Dayna! you are due for another interview ;-)

[boogyjuice]

Some which popped up :

YouTube - Delight - Is It Too Late ?

Video Maurice Massiah - 5050 love - funky, music - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Video MAURICE MASSIAH - modern, soul, funk, boogie, modernsoul - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Video LONI GAMBLE - dance to it - funky, music - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Video Loni Gamble - Steady Love - funky, music - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Video ROCKET - it keeps me coming back - funky, music - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Video SWEET ECSTASY - pull our love together - funky, music - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

[kdavid13]

Ummm.... no I don't think that was it. I'm assuming the show you mention would have been in French by the title and I highly doubt CBC or CTV would have aired a French language program on their main networks. I'm assuming this show you speak of would have likely been on the French CBC channel?

No, the show I recall was all in English, (I think I use to watch it on Saturday afternoons ??? or I seem to recall it was this time on the prairies), and I think.... aired on a CTV station. Patsy Gallant and the Raes I think were on this show at some point. I recall that they use to have a lot of singers on I'd never heard of and a lot of times I hated the stuff these singers sang. I think when Patsy Gallant was on she did 3 or 4 songs as she was a big guest.

Back in the late 70's there was indeed another disco show based in Montreal and airing on CTV.It was called FEEL LIKE DANCING and was hosted by IAN FINLEY.

Every time an international disco star would show up in Mtl ; they would automatically do both ET CA TOURNE [DISCO TOURNE] and FEEL LIKE DANCING.

That's where I first spotted LINDA CLIFFORD doing the whole 10 minutes long version of IF MY FRIENDS COULD SEE ME NOW and also a then unknown CAROL JIANI running through the studio while performing HIT & RUN LOVER.

Let's also remember THE PATSY GALLANT SHOW in which she had people like THE RAES,CLAUDJA BARRY and CHANSON as guests.