Obituaries: Irish Folk Legend Dolores Keane, Founding MuchMusic producer Anne Howard

Anne Bacon Howard, a Toronto TV producer who was a key figure in the launch of MuchMusic, died on Feb. 6, at the age of 74.

An official obituary reports that "Anne graduated from Ryerson University's Radio and Film program [now Toronto Metropolitan University] in the early 1970s and worked at MuchMusic. Music was her lifelong passion. She also loved sports, travel, and adventure, lived life fully, and will be greatly missed."

Fellow music TV producer Michael Heydon worked closely with Howard at CityTV and MuchMusic in Toronto. He recalls to Billboard Canada that "We met when we worked together in the early days of [groundbreaking CityTV show] The New Music. She was PA, or production assistant, and I was editor.

"On Halloween 1983, producer, John Martin (who’d conceived The New Music) launched a new all night video show called City Limits. Anne was PA and I was line producer, overseeing the live show from dusk till dawn. That was on Thursday and Friday nights. During the week, we both continued working on The New Music.

"It turns out that show was a pilot for MuchMusic. I edited the demo tape that was presented to the CRTC in Moses Znaimer's application for the music channel. Moses and John won the license over other applicants like Allan Slaight. And nine months after the start of Limits, we were on the air. August 31, 1984."

Heydon recalls that "The early days were full of mountains of work and fun. Not much sleep, but we were young and full of piss and vinegar. The live show took place in a hastily-built combination television studio and our office. Money was tight, staff was small. John and Nancy Oliver ran it. I was Senior Producer. Anne was Producer. There were two Associate Producers, Simon Evans and Morgen Flury, and two VJs — J.D. Roberts and Christopher Ward.

"Anne and I, along with the associate producers, programmed every hour of the show, floor directed, dealt with talent — VJs and guests — the television crew, the music meetings, creating special segments — live and taped — so many things. It was everything all at once; it was exhausting; it was exciting. We knew we were getting to do something special. We lived to work. We spent more time and shared more things together in that work family than we did with our real families."

To Billboard Canada, Heydon singles out one memory: "Anne and I worked on specials together as well, like the Motörhead concert, Motörhead Live in Toronto. Anne was unit manager. I edited. We didn’t have the means to do anything like that at the time, but John, an Englishman thought, ‘it’s f*kin Motörhead. We gotta record them.’"

"Anne and I had many extraordinary experiences before she left MuchMusic later in the '80s. We travelled to England together to help plan a worldwide live music event in conjunction with Skychannel called the World Music Video Awards."

Also involved in the early days of MuchMusic was the late Toronto rock 'n roller and broadcast personality Bob Segarini. On his DBAWIS (Don't Believe A Word I Say) blog in 2012, Segarini recalled those heady days.

"There were three of us designated as producers. Michael Heydon, Anne Howard and me. We worked like firemen. 4 days on, 3 days off, 2 of the days you wrote shows, created the playlists, and chatted with whoever was VJ’ing those days, and the other 2 days, you were on the floor, wearing a headset and sending visual signals to your VJ so he knew when to talk. We had two camera men, and two directors, Dennis Saunders and Jim Shutsa."

"Michael and Anne knew what they were doing at all times. I, on the other hand, was very much like Homer Simpson, hoping Moses Znaimer didn’t yell at me while I wondered when I was going to accidentally blow the place up."

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Jane Siberry offers this tribute to her friend Anne Howard to Billboard Canada: "Non-judgemental, meticulous with possessions and clothing, anti-chat, spirituality close to her chest, kept things real, lover of the English language, solid friend, hilarious."

A Celebration of Life for Howard will be held in the spring; details to follow. Donations in her memory may be made to Kensington Health Foundation.

International

Dolores Keane, an Irish folk singer credited with breathing new life into traditional music, died on March 16, at age 72.

She played with several notable groups, but also achieved much success as a solo artist. In its extensive obituary, the Irish Times observs that "Irish traditional music is synonymous with good singers: our sean-nós and folk songs have been handed down through the generations by men and women whose voices are integrally entwined with the songs they sing. Dolores Keane epitomized that organic connection, possessed as she was with an original voice that inhabited every note and embodied every emotion with an unfailing integrity."

Keane was born and raised in Co Galway, and was recorded with her aunts Rita and Sarah for an RTÉ radio programme in 1958 when aged just five. She achieved early recognition in the 1960s at fleadhanna ceoil, where she was awarded medals for singing in both Irish and English.

In 1974, Keane's close friend Frankie Gavin suggested they form a band with Alec Finn, Ringo McDonagh and Charlie Piggott. She had never sung with accompaniment before then, but, says Irish Times, "she relished the adventures this new life of music offered her. De Danann took traditional music and breathed fresh life into it with their inventive arrangements, pristine musicianship and Dolores’s extensive song store."

In 1976, Keane left De Danann to work with and ultimately marry the talented singer/songwriter John Faulkner. Together the couple recorded several albums and formed two groups, The Reel Union and Kinvara. They moved to England, where they worked on film scores and programmes for the BBC, with Keane also recording her solo debut, There Was A Maid, there in 1978.

Keane returned to De Danann in the 1980s, sharing vocals with another legendary Irish folk singer (and a great friend), Mary Black. Keane achieved much success as a solo artist with her debut album and its follow-up, A Lion In A Cage, the title song written about Nelson Mandela. She also turned to acting, starring in an adaptation of Brendan Behan’s The Hostage by Niall Toibín and Michael Scott in the Tivoli Theatre in 1990.

She then found great success with the song "A Woman’s Heart" in 1992. Eleanor McEvoy’s anthem was both anchor and propeller for a hugely successful album and extensive tours, in the company of Maura O’Connell, Mary and Frances Black, McEvoy and Sharon Shannon.

The Irish Times notes that "Dolores was the ultimate collaborator: an artist with a rooted sense of herself who was open-armed in her welcome for other musicians, singers and traditions. She harmonised magnificently with Emmylou Harris and Mary Black on 'The Grey Funnel Line,' duetted with John Prine and covered others’ contemporary songs (such as by Paul Brady, Steve Winwood, Nanci Griffith and Guy Clark) with an impeccable ear for nuance and phrasing. Her cover of Dougie MacLean’s 'Caledonia' was one that she made utterly her own."

Keane was open about her struggles with alcohol addiction and mental health but reportedly found great contentment and peace in her later years.

She was recognized by TG4 for her lifelong contribution to traditional music through their Gradam Saoil award, and she was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Galway in 2024.

Irish president Catherine Connolly described Keane as having “one of the great voices of this island, and of the world”, and that “she showed what it means to bring the full weight of yourself to a song."

Bernie Lynch, frontman and co-founder of Eurogliders, the Australian pop group that enjoyed several hits in the mid-1980s, has died on March 12, at age 72, of throat cancer.

“It’s with a heavy heart I’m posting this to let everyone know that Bernie passed away," writes vocalist Grace Knight, who was married to Lynch in the ‘80s. “I am heartbroken and don’t know how to proceed without him.”

A Billboard obituary notes that "Lynch formed Eurogliders in Perth, Western Australia back in 1980, a hotbed for alternative rock and post-punk. Eurogliders had an international breakthrough with 1984’s 'Heaven,' housed on the album This Island. The song reached No. 2 on the the ARIA Chart, impacted the Billboard charts, and continues to reverberate more than 40 years after release. Currently, it soundtracks a major real estate TV campaign in Australia."

"The band would enjoy a slew of domestic hits, including 1985’s 'We Will Together,' sung by Lynch, and 1986’s 'Can’t Wait to See You,' before disbanding at the end of the decade. Eurogliders reunited several times, both in the mid-2000s for an album release and to perform on the Countdown Spectacular nostalgia tour, and again in 2023 for the Sunset Sounds beachside festival.

In tribute, Grace Knight explains that "Without Bernie’s songs, there would be no Eurogliders. Songs he wrote as a young man that are still being listened to, songs that 40 years later still get played on the radio, songs that people still sing along to at our shows, songs that have brought so much joy to so many people. What a great legacy and such a fantastic contribution to the cultural landscape of this country."