Below are some photos of Toronto based bands from the late 1960s and early 1970s and some related tracks from the era. First up, 3 characters from the Toronto music scene: Bill Graham, Bernie Fiedler, Bernie Finkelstein.
The original lineup of Three's A Crowd was Brent Titcombe, Donna Warner and Trevor Veitch - originally from Vancouver they moved to Toronto in 1966. Their first single was the above Bound To Fly. This is taken at the Riverboat in 1965:
Brent Titcombe, Donna Warner and Trevor Veitch.
These shots are from 1966:
The Stitch in Time was the resulting of merging an Amherst band The Continentals (Donnie Morris and Pinky Dauvin) with a Nova Scotia band The Untouchables (Bob Murphy, Grant Fullerton and John Yorke). They moved to Toronto and became The Stitch In Tyme and the first single in 1966 was Dry Your Eyes / Point Of View.
Bob Murphy, Donnie Morris, Grant Fullerton, Pinky Dauvin and John Yorke.
The Paupers in 1967 around the time of the release of their first LP (Magic People), when they were back from touring the US. At New York’s Cafe Au Go Go from February 21-March 5 they supported Jefferson Airplane and by accounts stole the show. They played Monterey Pop June 16 1967 and the combination of mechanical failures and a bad acid trip spelled their demise (no footage appears to have survived). Skip Prokop went on to co-found Lighthouse.
Denny Gerrard, Skip Prokop, Adam Mitchell and Chuck Beal.
Kensington Market in 1968 consisted of (left to right) Jimmy Watson, Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson, Keith McKie, Alex Darou, They put out two albums (Avenue Road and Aardvark) and by 1970 had disintegrated. The single "I Would Be The One" went to #59 in the 1968 top 100.
Kensington Market in Kensington Market.
This is Sugar Shoppe at the Friar's in 1967. The group was made up of Laurie Hood, Lee Harris, Peter Mann and Victor Garber.
Carole Pope: "I'd fantasized about dragging Sugar Shoppe into a back alley and slapping them around because they were so insipid. But Garber had an amazing voice."
Luke Gibson, when he was a solo act in 1969. He was a member of Luke and the Apostles (who opened for Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead at Nathan Philips Square on July 23, 1967) as well as Kensington Market, after which he went solo.
Robbie Lane and the Disciples at the Friars in 1970. They started as Ronnie Hawkin's back up band, had a couple singles, and ended up as the band for Canadian CTV-TV's It's Happening.
Robbie Lane at the Friars.
Syrinx - John Mills-Cockell, Alan Wells, Doug Pingle and Malcolm Tomlinson in 1972. John Mills-Cockell was a member of Kensington Market (for their second album Aardvark) and a pioneer of the Moog synthesizer. Syrinx put out 2 albums (Syrinx and Long Lost Relatives). They were on of the first bands to use a synthesizer in live concerts; they opened for Miles Davis, played with Ravi Shankar and had a hit with Tillicum.
Images courtesy of the Toronto Digital Archives.