Founding member of the hit Motown group, The Supremes, Mary Wilson died in her sleep on February 8, 2021 in  Las Vegas at the age of 76. The cause of death is unknown. Two days before her death, she had announced that she was planning to release new solo material with Universal Music Group with plans to release it out before March 6, her birthday.

She began her career in Detroit in 1959 as a singer in a group that was then called The Primettes, the female version of the male Motown group The Primes. They went on to become The Supremes, Motown's most successful group of the 1960s, with 12 number one singles including "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," “ Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone” a nd "Stop! In the Name of Love."

Wilson’s publicist, Jay Schwartz,  issued a statement, “Their influence not only carries on in contemporary R&B, soul and pop, they also helped pave the way for mainstream success by Black artists across all genres," He went on to say  Mary Wilson was a ”trendsetter who broke down social, racial, and gender barriers."  

Having the distinct one word name Goddo conjures up a musical history firmly etched in Canadian icon status. The man behind that name, Greg Godovitz, has had a reputation not only in his performances but in his personality.

“I was really direct in my early days, and I think that paved the way for my reputation of being rude, arrogant and outspoken. Truth is I lost many an opportunity because I spoke my mind. I have mellowed a bit as years have gone by, but I am still a bit of the unfiltered guy from back then.”

But underneath all of that reputation is an eager soul, excited to tell more of his stories and share this new (2^nd) book” Up Close and Umcomfortable.”

When a Canadian music festival has been running for 19 consecutive years — in the middle of winter, no less — rest assured, they’ve seen it all.

And this year, Toronto’s annual Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival can add ‘pivoting to online due to a pandemic’ to that list.

Undeterred, Winterfolk XIX is set to stream Friday, February 19th and Saturday, February 20th online. Registration to watch is free, and optional donations will be collected in support of the Daily Bread Foodbank.

Toronto’s 19th Annual Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival Back With FREE Virtually Streamed Performances on:
Friday, February 19th - 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Saturday, February 20th -7:00pm - 10:00pm

There’s little doubt that had Robbie Burns, the Ploughman Poet , been born a hundred years later he would have a certified triple A rock star. The ladies’ man, the poet, the eternal romantic. Burns was in fact regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic period, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that started in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, peaking from  about 1800 to 1850. Whether his subject was a man or a mouse or even a louse, Scotland’s National Bard had that rare talent of putting himself into others peoples place and circumstances and found a way to express  life's universal emotions

David Pomeranz's recording and songwriting projects have earned him a total of 22 platinum and 18 gold records and his solo albums and concert performances have delighted and inspired audiences all over the world.

Pomeranz has had songs that have been recorded and/or performed by scores of artists including Barry Manilow (who scored two Number One hits with David’s "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" and "The Old Songs") Bette Midler, Kenny Rogers, Clay Aiken, Phoebe Snow, Freddie Mercury, Cliff Richard (who recorded three Pomeranz' songs including the Top Ten U.K. hit, David’s and Dean Pitchford’s stunning, "I Still Believe in You") The Muppets, Kenny Loggins, Richie Sambora (of Bon Jovi), Dennis DeYoung (of Styx), Missy Elliott (who sampled one of David’s recordings for her million-selling hit, “One Minute Man”), The Carpenters, The Hollies, Harry Belafonte, Hubert Laws, Lou Rawls, Andrea Marcovicci, John Denver, Mary Travers, Leo Sayer, Eddie Kendricks (of the Temptations), Donna Summer, Glen Campbell, Lillias White and Kathie Lee Gifford.

I have been struggling for days to write this story after hearing that Gerry Marsden had passed away on January 3, 2021 from complications of a heart infection.

For me personally, it was a hard one to accept, Gerry Marsden was gone and I had lost a friend.

So writing this I struggled because Cashbox needed to acknowledge this amazingly talented singer, songwriter and philanthropist and truly a brilliant stage performer, but having worked with him on tour, I didn’t want to make this too much about me, and how his death affected me for the last few days.

I had called his mobile a few weeks ago to try to set up an interview with our Station Manager at Cashbox Radio, Peter Astedt, get some station IDs and do a story in both Cashbox Canada and Record World Magazine. I did not get to connect but I just put that down to Christmas and the holidays. Little did I know that a few weeks later I would hear Gerry had passed away.

My father used to say you can’t wait to be 18 then suddenly you are 40. Life speeds up and we all know how quickly that happens as we go from teenagers to adults. (although luckily in the music industry we never really accept being adults, or as the song says ‘Forever Young’.

But 2020 has been a slow and painful year on so many levels. I call it COVID-time; where you don’t know what day it, not that it really matters anyway. You look at the time and expect to see it be around 6 or 7pm then it shows that it is only 2 or 3 pm. The weird part of that it is Monday then suddenly it is Friday again. We have lost so much time and missed our business colleagues, friends and families on so many special occasions. Sadly, some of us have lost people we love as well to this terrible pandemic.

But the human race is a resilient one, and the feedback I get from my music friends is everyone is ready to come back stronger and better in 2021.

Of course we all know that famous line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

I have been reflecting about many things this Christmas and on how the world changed for all of us this year.

As a member of the media and the music world my friends, artists and colleagues all got hit hard and it went down slowly and painfully. In my world, one by one major festivals I was supposed to be attending were canceled, postponed or switched to a virtual format. It was like slow motion watching it happen, surreal and hard to handle.

Charley Pride has left this earthly plane but his legacy and music will live on forever. A trailblazer, pioneer, role model, superstar and one of only three African American members of the Grand Old Opry the others being DeFord Baily and Darius Rucker. Pride passed away of complications of COVID-19 at the age of 86.

On November 11th, Pride was onstage performing at the 2020 Country Music Association Awards where he received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, an honour given  to “an iconic artist who has attained the highest degree of recognition in Country Music.” Charley performed his first #1 hit “Kiss An Angel Good Morning “ along with another young black artist Jimmie Allen.

Our library statistics in Record World Chart history show Charley Pride had 49 hit records of which 33 reached #1. In 1972 he had a duet hit with Henry Mancini, “All His Children” peaked at # 1.

Cashbox Magazine Charts show he had 67 Hit Songs of which 30 peaked at #1.

Charley Pride’s biggest hit was “Kiss An Angel Good Morning"

“We’ve waited 34 years to create an original release for Christmas and this Christmas, is one that most people will never forget.”

Created during the summer of 2020, with the world continuing its fight to recover from the massive impact of a global pandemic, “Songs For A Winter’s Night” is primarily a collection of original Christmas/Holiday songs written by Glass Tiger and joined by guest artists such as Roch Voisine, Natalie MacMaster, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Steve Sidwell Orchestra and of course the legendary Gordon  adds his voice to a very special poem written by Alan Frew, “Ode For A Winter’s Night”.

In doing so, the legendary Mr Lightfoot, is giving his personal thumbs up to the lads, for their covering of his classic hit, “A Song For A Winter’s Night.” With this eclectic mix of holiday music, Songs For A Winter’s Night, stirs the spirit and soul with the central theme focussing on gratitude for the things in life that matter most, like love and kindness; equality & friendship; and of course, family.

The single release is Happy Holiday (Joyeux Noel Mes Amis) Glass Tiger & Roch Voisine – check it out here:

The 16th Annual Andy Kim Christmas Special, presented by AIR MILES will make its national television debut on Citytv and Citytv.com as well as streamed globally at LiveNation.com. The two-hour music special will broadcast from Toronto’s one and only, El Mocambo on December 19 at 8 p.m

The Television Special in support of Crew Nation, CAMH Gifts of Light and Food Banks Canada airs Saturday, December 19 at 8 p.m. on Citytv and Citytv.com

Canadian legend and folk icon Murray McLauchan is raising his voice again, and we’re glad he is.

I believe it was Woody Guthrie who said “ A folksinger’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable and McLaughlan is rising to the occasion.

Watch the video for “I Live On a White Cloud here:

For 32 Christmases Tom Jackson’s Huron Carole has been a staple in Canada, touring the country bringing cheer and hope to the nation. But with the current pandemic, what will happen to Year 33? The need to social distance and travel limitations made for a huge obstacle in continuing this tradition.

Festivals and live events were being cancelled and postponed across the board but this was Tom Jackson we are talking about here. Tom is no stranger to stones in the road and fallen trees in his path. We caught up with him at his home in Calgary and the calmness and sense of resolve in his voice is something that soothes the nerves and gives a sense that every problem has a solution.

If you’re a Kim Mitchell fan then you’re in for a treat and if you’re not a Kim Mitchell fan yet then you will be after listening to this latest offering from this legendary Canadian icon.

This latest album, ‘The Big Fantasize’, is his eighth studio collection as a solo artist, having  previously had five albums as the front man of the highly successful band Max Webster. The last time his fans heard from Mitchell was his 2007 album ‘Ain’t Life Amazing’, an album of rock tunes in the tried and true Kim Mitchell style.

Catching up with Don McLean at his home in the USA, his personality is as strong and as free spirited as he was decades ago when his career soared to the top of the charts in 1971 with the legendary hit song, ‘American Pie’. The charttopping hit was an 8.5-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation.

“I have always been the type of man who needs his freedom and I have a strong need and urge to be creative, even as a kid I knew I wanted to be a performer. I was an only child and my parents and friends were my first audiences. I was brought up in a typical middle class family in New Rochelle, New York and listened to every recording I could get my hands on growing up. I didn’t fit with what my father (Donald McLean ll) wanted me to be, and it was a strict upbringing so not an easy way of life to accept when you are an artist wanting to follow your dreams. He thought a musician was the lowest thing you could be. But when I was just 15 years old, he died and I didn’t know what I was going to do without him. He was the king, the boss. He knew everything.”

Photo Credits John Rowland

In 1965, at the onset of the British Invasion, the kids were ready for a shift in the music they could  all their own. The 1950’s had changed the culture and the music with the advent of  rock ‘n’ roll with Elvis, Buddy and Jerry Lee Lewis. There was a rebellious attitude that seeped into the mindset of the youth of the day. After Elvis joined the Army and around 1960 the trend softened with the Bobbys, Frankies and Johnnies singing more love ballads. So in 1964 the timing was right for a new kind of music, a new style and attitude.

The Prussians are Dominic Massó, Tino Lucena, Ferchu Vallejos, Pau Enric Serra and Juan David Ayora, a band from the island of Mallorca (Spain) that creates music with an electronic groove vibe influenced by Glass Animals, Balthazar, RY X, Crooked Colours and ALT-J.

Over the years, the band has performed at the main festivals and venues in Spain as well as performing in 2018 in Sweden at Live at Heart, and a mini tour of the USA in 2019, including a slot at the prestigious "Summerfest", Milwaukee. The Prussians has always had great support from national media as well as having several National TV appearances and music videos on high rotation on MTV and Sol Music TV Channels.

Debut EP ‘The Hills’ (2013) was followed by 2 albums (‘Mul Mul’ in 2014 and ‘Karma’ in 2018) and another EP (‘Kerala’ in 2016) but as The Prussians evolve constantly with different sounds and melodies, they launched several singles over the last year to show a more soulful and electronic to shift from a pure "indierock" style.

Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Recently, Parton reached #1 on the Billboard Christian Airplay Chart for the first time for her duet with Grammy award-winning Zach Williams of “There Was Jesus.”

Parton is the first artist to have topped the Billboard’s Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton recently became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year given out by NARAS. She has 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. In 2014 the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. Her 2016 #1 album, “Pure & Simple,” which topped the Billboard Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts and debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia, added to that massive tally.

Multi-award winning singer/songwriter Maria Manna shares a message of love’s bliss and female empowerment alike in her sassy new single, “I Like It In The Water” – currently now a Top 20 Pick Hit on the October Chart on Cashbox Radio.

An indefatigable dynamo across her 45-year career and pure gem in Canada’s creative crown, “I Like It In The Water” lands as a moment for pause to revel in the fruits of a life well lived. “My inspiration while filming the video was my husband, who sat in the audience,” Manna shares. “He knows I like to dance in the water…”

Check out “I Like It in The Water” here:

I got my first Eric Andersen album,” ‘bout changes & things’” in 1966 at the height of the great Folk Explosion coming out of Greenwich Village in New York City.