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The Nylons in 2016
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Obituaries: The Nylons Vocalist and Co-Founder Claude Morrison, Toronto Jazz Pianist Mark Kieswetter
This week we also acknowledge the passing of post-punk visionary David Thomas of Pere Ubu, rock hitmaker Roy Thomas Baker and the Hoodoo Gurus co-founder Kimble Rendall.
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Mark Kieswetter, an in-demand Toronto jazz pianist, arranger, music director and composer, died on April 21, at age 71, after a long battle with stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer.
The U.S.-born Kieswetter earned a degree in classical piano from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before discovering his affinity for jazz and relocating to Toledo.
A JAZZ.FM obituary reported that "he left a lasting impact on the jazz scene in Toledo before immigrating to Canada in 2004. Prior to his move, Kieswetter collaborated alongside jazz greats including Zoot Sims, Jack Sheldon and James Moody. For over three years, he was the musical director for the legendary Jon Hendricks, working with him in developing the large vocal ensemble Vocalstra.
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"Settling in Toronto, he became a fixture in the city’s jazz scene performing with the likes of Dave Young, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Amy McConnell, Whitney Ross-Barris, Ori Dagan and JAZZ.FM91 host and jazz vocalist Heather Bambrick, who was a close friend and frequent collaborator.
“It is difficult to put into words the true essence, depth, and range of Mark’s importance to the Canadian music scene,” Bambrick expressed in a statement. "His role is varied, and I – personally – have worked with him in his capacity as an accompanist, music director, arranger, and producer.
"From the moment I first performed with Mark, he demonstrated a unique and inherently special ability to 'accompany' perfectly. This is a rare and difficult skill and Mark executes it to perfection – just ask anyone with whom he’s worked! From there, he began arranging music for me, demonstrating his astounding capacity to bring to fruition my initial musical ideas. His ability to 'get inside' the musical minds of the people he works with is so very special and is evidenced in the results of each performance and recording of which he is a part.”
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Other Toronto artists with whom he performed and/or recorded include Gigi Marentette, Pam Hyatt, Sam Broverman, Don Francks and Laura Marks. He was featured on CDs including the Juno-nominated The Beat Goes On (Emilie-Claire Barlow) and Bread and Buddha (Harry Manx).
Kieswetter also acted as Musical Director on albums including Stealing Genius (Amy McConnell & William Sperandei), I Could Laugh Out Loud (Ilana Waldston) and Everybody’s Here (Whitney Ross-Barris).
In 2011, Kieswetter and bassist Ross McIntyre released a collaborative album, Green Edge Sky, Green Edge Sun. A WholeNote review termed it an album that “captured the true essence of what the best piano/bass duos are all about: elegance, economy, precision, fluidity, style, intimacy, grace, and that magical, intangible chemistry.”
He also released two albums with San Murata, These Foolish Things (2012) and Sansongs (2014)
During that time, Kieswetter became Director of Music Emeritus at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church in Etobicoke, a position he held despite his cancer diagnosis in December 2016. JAZZ.FM notes that "The illness left Kieswetter unable to walk, stand up unaided or play the piano. Friends launched GoFundMe campaigns over the years to cover his medical expenses as he lost the ability to work or play music."
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Toronto jazz impresario, bandleader and radio host Jaymz Bee tells Billboard Canada that "When Mark got ill, everyone sent money to his GoFundMe and he knew he was loved. He will be missed."
Bee also notes that "When I started at JAZZ.FM91, half of the albums I played had Mark Kieswetter listed as the pianist. He worked with more singers than anyone in Toronto and when I finally met him at a live concert I was completely blown away. He was a kind man with a dry wit."
Noted jazz vocalist Ori Dagan also paid tribute to Kieswetter to Billboard Canada: "Mark was a master musician with an encyclopedic knowledge of music – not only of the jazz tradition, but also classical, blues, pop and liturgical music. He was humble about his gifts and generous about sharing them; as a genius accompanist, he guided singers to be at their best, from suggesting tunes to writing charts to his impeccable performances and focused recording sessions.
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"Anyone who ever worked with Mark knows he was as precious, sharp and rare as a naturally occuring diamond. His memory will shine on in the lives of all those lucky enough to have crossed his path.”
Another frequent musical collaborator, bassist Ross McIntyre paid tribute to Billboard Canada: "Mark stood out in a city full of great pianists as someone whose playing made everyone around him sound better. He often spoke to me about the importance of being a generous musician – supporting others both on and off the stage. It was that generosity, as much as his talent, that made him so deeply loved by an entire community, both as a musician and as a friend.
"For years, he was a regular accompanist at a weekly open mic jazz jam session called Girls Night Out. The singers who would come to the sessions were often enthusiastic amateurs who were very tentative and nervous about getting up on a stage. Mark would always encourage them and make them feel welcome and supported. His incredible musicality would give the singers the confidence to come back week after week, and he helped launch many musical careers because of his generosity. I love you, Mark. Thanks for the music, and for the friendship."
A Celebration of Life will take place on May 3 at 11 a.m. at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church, and a livestream can be accessed here.
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Claude Joseph Morrison, a vocalist best known as a founding member of platinum-selling Toronto a cappella group The Nylons, died on April 22, at age 72.
A tenor, Morrison helped found The Nylons in Toronto in 1978, alongside Paul Cooper (baritone), Marc Connors (tenor) and Denis Simpson (bass).
In a 2016 interview with Eric Alper, Morrison recalled that "We didn’t really set out to do this [a capella]. We just wanted to have a vocal group. Whether or not there were instruments in there, was not really expressly a key. It was all about the vocals but then, as I said, there happened not to be a piano around. So the medium of a capella found us. It just kind of happened and it happened quickly. Before long we got our start in Toronto. It just all caught on, there was a buzz."
The group went on to gain national popularity with their covers of pop songs such as The Turtles' "Happy Together," Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," and The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
The Nylons underwent many personnel changes, and Morrison was the only original member in the final lineup, one that retired after a final tour in 2017.
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During the 1980s, the group's popularity was boosted by appearances on such television shows as Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show, in 1986, and Super Dave Osborne Show, in 1987, as well as singing (with the show's lead actress Diana Canova) the theme to the mid-1980s syndicated sitcom Throb.
Wayne Thompson, manager of The Nylons from 1979 to 1992, tells Billboard Canada that "The Nylons were a club act when I started. Eventually, they toured the world playing Massey Hall type venues in Australia, Japan, Europe, and of course the U.S. They earned gold records consistently in Canada through the '80s, and in Holland."
The Nylons were prolific recording artists, releasing over 20 albums, EPS and compilations over their long career on such labels as Attic Records, Windham Hill, Scotti Brothers and Shoreline. Their self-titled 1982 full-length album reached No. 8 on the Canadian charts, and follow-up One Size Fits All reached No. 59 in Australia and 25 in Canada. 1987 album Happy Together was the group's biggest hit in the U.S., reaching No. 43 on the Billboard 200.
The Nylons underwent many personnel changes over their career. Other prominent vocalists featured in different lineups of The Nylons included Arnold Robinson, Mark Cassius, Billy Newton-Davis, Micah Barnes and Gavin Hope.
Fellow vocalists and industry figures paid tribute on social media and to Billboard Canada.
The official Facebook page of The Nylons posted this tribute: "Dear Nylons fans, we have lost our founding father, and the longest running Nylons member, Claude Morrison. He’s been one of the most recognizable voices of the group and has seen each and every incarnation of the vocal band.
"Spunky, sensitive, silly, original, sweet, sassy and occasionally a proud diva, he will be dearly missed by his surviving bandmates, family and friends, and of course, all of his wonderful fans. He’s definitely in a better place now after a tough battle with Cancer. May his legacy of The Nylons live on, and provide joy to many for years to come."
Wayne Thompson, to Billboard Canada: "From the outset, Claude was a major contributor to the success of The Nylons. Whether at a rehearsal, or an interview, or a gig, Claude had an infectious joyous air about him. Always singing, and dancing wherever he was. The last of four outstanding vocalists who changed how we listened to and viewed a capella music. A true showman."
On Facebook, Micah Barnes posted that "Our former Nylon brother Claude Morrison has left us to join that heavenly choir. Claude was the last surviving original member of The Nylons."
A member of the final Nylons lineup, Gavin Hope sent Billboard Canada this tribute: "Claude was always the wryest and most effervescent member of our group when onstage. He was such a showman. As the youngest member of the group, I was taken in under his wing and we became quick friends, often pairing up on stage and reveling in being our campy goofy selves. He loved performing, and he loved his fans."
"He’ll be remembered for the legacy he left by creating The Nylons, and I’ll always be grateful for the gig that changed my life and the trajectory of my career. He’s now his own Heavenly Body.. Rest well, Claude, and rest in Harmony."
Sing! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival reported in its Facebook tribute that "The Nylons performed several times to sold-out crowds at SING!, always earning a standing ovation. The Nylons received the Slaight Music SING! Toronto Legacy Award in 2016. On behalf of our entire SING! team, our sincere condolences to Claude's family. We were so fortunate to be the beneficiary of his magic. He will be missed by so many."
International
Roy Thomas Baker, the superstar rock producer behind some huge hits, including Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody, died on April 12, at age 78. His family announced his passing on April 22. A cause of death has not been given.
"The producer’s credits feature a who’s who of rock stars over the past half-century, including Journey, Yes, Foreigner, The Cars, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Devo, Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses and Smashing Pumpkins," Billboard reports.
"Baker worked with Queen on five of the band’s 1970s albums, including on their bombastic A Night at the Opera lead single 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' which is reportedly the most-streamed song recorded in the 20th century. The 1975 single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1976 but didn’t hit its No. 2 peak on the chart until its inclusion in the film Wayne’s World in 1992."
In an interview withMixonline, Baker called the making of “Bohemian Rhapsody” "totally insane, but we enjoyed every minute of it. It was basically a joke, but a successful joke. [Laughs]. We had to record it in three separate units. We did the whole beginning bit, then the whole middle bit and then the whole end. It was complete madness. The middle part started off being just a couple of seconds, but Freddie kept coming in with more Galileos' and we kept on adding to the opera section, and it just got bigger and bigger. We never stopped laughing."
“Bohemian Rhapsody” and The Cars have both been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry, two of the most prestigious honors for classic recordings. In addition, Queen’s A Night at the Opera album, which houses “Bohemian Rhapsody,” was separately inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Born in Hampstead, London, Baker’s career began as second engineer to Gus Dudgeon and Tony Visconti at London’s Decca Records. He graduated to chief engineer in the ’70s and moved to Trident Studios to begin working with the then-unknown Queen. Columbia Records later asked him to relocate to the U.S. to work with Journey and others.
Elektra Records, Queen’s U.S. label, connected Baker with Lindsey Buckingham, Dokken and The Cars — for whom he produced their first four albums.
In its obituary, Forbes noted that "If there were a record producer who became the go-to guy for musicians wanting a distinct hard rock sound, it would be Roy Thomas Baker. His list of production credits reads like a who’s who of classic rock from the 1970s and 1980s — among them were Queen, the Cars, Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Journey, Ozzy Osbourne and Yes. Additionally, he worked on records by Devo, the Stranglers, the Smashing Pumpkins and Mötley Crüe.
"In his works, Baker brought the best out of the artists he collaborated with through state-of-the-art techniques and atmospherics that defined the stadium rock aesthetic."
Kimble Rendall, an Australian musician and video director who co-founded the XL Capris and the Hoodoo Gurus, died on April 20, at age 67. A cause of death has not been reported.
A Billboard obituary reported that "the Sydney-born Rendall showed interest in the world of films at a young age. Completing a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Mass Media, he later trained as a film editor with the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
"In 1978, Rendall co-founded the Sydney punk outfit XL Capris alongside Tim Gooding, Johanna Pigott, and Julie Anderson. Their debut single, “My City of Sydney,” has since become regarded as an influential snapshot of Australia’s then-burgeoning punk scene.
"Rendall would depart XL Capris in 1980 and co-founded the Hoodoo Gurus alongside guitarist and vocalist Dave Faulkner, guitarist Roddy Radalj, and drummer James Baker the following year. While Rendall and Radalj would depart the group in 1982 before the release of 1984’s Stoneage Romeos debut, they would appear on the band’s debut single, 'Leilani,' for which Rendall also directed the music video."
That band found international recognition with their high-energy garage-rock sound and are still active. Earlier this year, Rendall reunited with his former bandmates in Brisbane to join them for a performance of “Hoodoo You Love” as part of their Back to the Stoneage Tour. In 2007, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in their native Australia.
Post Hoodoo Gurus, Rendall concentrated on his directing producing music videos for such top Australian groups as Cold Chisel, Mental As Anything, Paul Kelly, and Johnny Diesel & The Injectors. In 1987, he was nominated for best video at the ARIA Award for his work on Boom Crash Opera’s “Hands Up in the Air.”
Rendall also worked on a number of high-budget films as a second unit director, working on titles such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions; I, Robot; and the Nicolas Cage films Ghost Rider and Knowing.
Rendall was also married to noted television presenter Basia Bonkowski from 1982 until her passing in 2022.
David Lynn Thomas, frontman of the highly influential Cleveland post-punk band Pere Ubu, died on April 23, following what the band said was a "long illness." He was 71 years of age.
The band posted on Facebook that "Thomas died in his home town of Brighton & Hove [in the U.K.], with his wife and youngest step-daughter by his side. MC5 were playing on the radio. He will ultimately be returned to his home, the farm in Pennsylvania, where he insisted he was to be ‘thrown in the barn.'”
The Miami-born Thomas "began his career in rock as the lead singer of the short-lived proto-punk Cleveland band Rocket From the Tombs after a stint writing for the Cleveland Scene alternative weekly newspaper under a variety of aliases, including Crocus Behemoth. Though they reveled in obscurity during their original one-year run from 1974-1975, and never released an album, the band’s distorted, frenzied sound — inspired by Detroit punk godfathers the MC5 and The Stooges — was a precursor to the worldwide punk revolution that exploded in the U.S. and U.K. in the mid-1970s," reportsBillboard.
"After the band’s split, two members, guitarist Gene “Cheetah Chrome” O’Connor and drummer Johnny “Johnny Biltz” Madansky, went on to form legendarily shambolic Cleveland punk band the Dead Boys. Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner teamed up to launch the artier, spikier Pere Ubu, whose name was a riff on the outré 19th century French play Ubu Roi."
The avant-garde group released its debut single, “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” in late 1975 on Thomas’ indie label, Hearthan Records. After a handful of follow-up singles, their debut album, The Modern Dance, was released in 1978, signaling a purposeful deep-dive into the noise pool. Billboard notes that "Thomas’ unhinged howl and saxophone/keyboard player Allen Ravenstine’s free jazz strangulated stabs and otherworldly synth tones were an astringent antidote to mainstream AM radio fluff."
Following albums included 1978’s classic, Dub Housing and 1979’s New Picnic Time, works that had a major influence on bands from Sonic Youth to the Pixies and Gang of Four. The band released three more albums, 1979’s New Picnic Time, 1980’s The Art of Walking and 1982’s Song of a Bailing Man before breaking up.
Thomas then released experimental solo albums with his bands the Pedestrians and and Wooden Birds in the 1980s, before reforming Pere Ubu in 1987 for the recording of The Tenement Year, featuring a more pop direction), followed by 1989s’s Cloudland.
Pere Ubu continued into the 1990s and early 2000s, releasing a string of albums including 1995’s Ray Gun Suitcase, 2002 St. Arkansas and their 19th, and final, studio effort, 2023’s Trouble on Big Beat Street.
In its Facebook tribute to Thomas, Pere Ubu noted that Thomas had been working on a new album with his band, aware that it would be his last. They stated that “We will endeavour to continue with mixing and finalising the new album so that his last music is available to all. Aside from that, he left instruction that the work should continue to catalog all the tapes from live shows via the official bandcamp page."
The group added that it will finish the singer’s autobiography that was “nearly completed." They ended with a quote from Thomas, which they said, “sums up who he was better than we can”: “My name is David F–king Thomas… and I’m the lead singer of the best f–king rock n roll band in the world.”
Thomas occasionally reunited the seminal Rocket From the Tombs and worked with experimental theater projects.
Especially in its early years, Pere Ubu often played in Toronto, booked by the legendary two Garys (Topp and Cormier). In a Facebook tribute, Topp posted this: "RIP David Thomas, front man of Pere Ubu, one of the most creative bands that ever existed. His later individual projects carried on the tradition. He had a style that could not be duplicated."
Other area musicians and industry types shared fond memories of Thomas and the band in Facebook tributes.
Toronto musician Neil Exall posted that "My band The Mercurymen opened for Pere Ubu at Lee's Palace on their St. Arkansas tour. I found Dave Thomas somewhat inscrutable but nonetheless funny and engaged. At the end of the night he told us that he thought we sounded like the Suicide Commandos. In that moment I wasn't sure how I felt about the comparison, but over time I came to realize what a huge compliment it actually was. R.i.p. Dave Thomas/Crocus Behemoth." "
Hamilton music promoter Lou Molinaro worked with Thomas, and he recalled to Billboard Canada a Rocket from the Tombs show at This Ain't Hollywood in 2012: "The soundcheck for the show was pretty unique. David sat on one of the benches along the north wall of the bar and watched his band set up and get ready. He went up on the stage to suggest a few things, then sat back down. He did this a few times until he was comfortable with everything. A leader."
On Facebook, Molinaro also recalled that "I booked a Pere Ubu show in Hamilton in 2008. During their visit, I hosted a private Pere Ubu get together at [famed Hamilton studio] Grant Avenue with Chris Houston. Select guests witnessed a jaw-dropping set. David was unique. A true artist who was totally absorbed by his music. His performances were full-on intense and brilliant. You couldn't help but be completely captivated by his singing. His voice had these incredible destinations that flowed so well into his music. Thank you for your music, David."
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