An Evergreen is more than a tree
Written by Tony Tobias. Originally published in Music Publisher Canada 2002. #Ken Tobias #Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
So, who cares what you did in your past music life? Who cares about legacy? Isn’t it all about the hit you have today and anyway isn’t an evergreen a kind of tree?
This year’s East Coast Music Awards got me thinking about Canada’s music legacy. This was partly because I was hoping that my brother Ken would have been acknowledged this year for his contribution to the legacy of East coast music. After all, in the ‘60s he was a mainstay of the CBC television shows Singalong Jubilee and Music Hop, both shows having helped spawn the careers of artists like Anne Murray, producer Brian Ahern, Edith Butler, Catherine McKinnon, songwriter Gene MacLellan, Shirley Eikhard and many others. He was also one of the few Canadian artists at the time to have written a million selling single. What I realized is that in many cases those running the organization behind the ECMAs really didn’t know who Ken Tobias was. At the least they couldn’t match his music with a name or a face. They didn’t know that the songs Every Bit of Love, I Just Want To Make Music, Stay Awhile, Give A Little Love, songs that comprise the universe of today’s classic radio were his songs. They didn’t seem to be aware that these songs, which are played everyday from coast to coast, are just some of the “evergreen” songs that are part of the legacy of Canadian popular music, songs that keep generating royalties and new recordings.
Ken is just one of many Canadian music creators - some whose names have faded and others who, in their 50s still persevere making music, albeit out of the spotlight. These artists can be considered the pioneers of today’s popular music industry. They did it when there was no Canadian music industry or at the least when the Canadian music business was in its infancy. They made their music in the 1960s and ‘70s before the entrenchment of CanCon and FACTOR. It was a time when the mechanical rate (reproduction of a recording) for the sale of a single record was 2 cents and when sales plateaus were introduced and the status of a Gold Record was 25K units. It was the advent of FM radio, and radio music consultants and automated formats. Most certainly long before music videos.
Before rock ‘n’ roll took off in the sixties, Canadian music legacy was being seeded by vocal groups like The Diamonds (Little Darlin’) and instrumentalists like Moe Koffman with his hit Swingin’ Shepherd Blues. Canadian pop idle Bobby Curtola (Fortune Teller) was packing hockey arenas across the country with the same success as U.S. stars like Bobby Vinton (Blue Velvet) and Dion and the Belmonts. Curtola broke amazing ground as a pioneer of Canadian pop. Under the mentorship of producer Jack Richardson, Curtola became the first Canadian pop artist to tie sponsorship to his career (jingles and tour support with Coca Cola™). And during the beat generation era, which covered the late 50’s and early 60’s, Halifax was spawning The Halifax Three which included Denny Doherty (went on to the Mama’s And Papas) and who, like Ian and Sylvia, were breaking ground in the coffee houses of New York, Boston and San Francisco.
Over the last few years there have been a few books that have tried to celebrate and acknowledge the legacy of Canadian artists who have left a mark on the history of popular music. One of the best is On A Cold Road by Dave Bedini. Bedini, a member of the band The Rheostatics, acknowledges the tough cold road that those earlier music makers traveled. Although bands continue today to trek across the thousands of miles of Canada in search of audiences, their predecessors did so without an industrial infrastructure. They were the ones that confirmed to Canadian audiences that, although they may not appear in the U.S. trade magazines Billboard or Cash Box, their music was just as good. Unfortunately, Canadian radio continued to need convincing.
Later this year author Rick Jackson will be coming out with his long-awaited revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Canadian Rock, Pop & Folk Music (Quarry Press) which promises to be more accurate than the first edition. Rick has spent several years updating his data by expanded research and interviewing many of the artists from the earlier eras. Those that comprise the Canadian music business today and whose careers are less than fifteen years old, might benefit from knowing the history of those that laid the foundation for them to do what they do today.
Ken Tobias, is like many other songwriters who have had their prime in an earlier era… you may not remember their names or connect them with a hit, but that doesn’t mean that they are not reaping the benefits of their past creative efforts. Every professional songwriter prays for an “evergreen”, a song that will be around for decades and continue generating royalty revenue. That “evergreen” song becomes a financial annuity. In the case of Ken, his song Stay Awhile and its definitive recording by The Bells, is just such an “evergreen”. That million selling song reached #7 on the Billboard charts in 1971 and #1 on the CHUM charts. It has been recorded by singers, orchestras; been in movies, and for three decades, remains one of the most popular songs in East Asia. In the last eighteen months it has twice been recorded in Mandarin with releases throughout East Asia. It was recorded in 2000 by Universal recording star Daniel Chan and most recently by new Universal artist Ding Fei Fei. In fact, the Fei Fei recording has two covers… one by her and the other a duet between her and Daniel Chan. Stay Awhile appears on numerous karaoke discs and compilations such as Rhino’s Super Hits of the ‘70’s - Have A Nice Day (Vol. 4) collection and of course the million selling Oh What A Feeling – A Vital Collection of Canadian Music set.
Ding Fei Fei
Daniel Chan (Dong Dong)
The thing about a hit song is that just because it is a hit at a particular time does not mean that it will be destined to become an “evergreen”. It is rare that a song reaches the status of becoming an “evergreen” and as such transcend time, retaining relevance to generations of music lovers. These are the songs that are the gems of our music legacy. Soon with the launch of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, we will all be able to celebrate and honour Canadian songwriters, their bodies of work and their “evergreens”.