Our Back Pages: The 2nd Of Our 2-Part Review

By Nick Krewen

Well, at least live music made something of a comeback in 2021.

As vaccination compliance levels helped ease border and in-person restrictions that brought concert presentations to a standstill for over a year, people started venturing out again and going to their favourite venues to see their favourite acts. 

And if you were named The Weeknd, your year was nothing short of phenomenal: from an Emmy-nominated half-time Super Bowl Performance to your album After Hours and your single Blinding Lights breaking practically every record there was to break - and then pitching and getting a new HBO TV series to boot. 

This was the year that we waited...and waited...and waited until Drake's much anticipated Certified Lover Boy finally saw the light of day, and Justin Bieber satiated Canadian palates with Tim-Biebs... Bill C-10 was bandied about in Parliament before it lost traction, but the Feds and Provincial governments both pitched in to offer relief to our besieged music and touring industries.

There were lots of deals, a few signings and we lost some good people.

Here's hoping that Omicron and other variants don't offer any nasty surprises for 2022 and that we can continue on that road to recovery through the profession we all love and adore.

In the meantime, here's the second and last chronicle of 2021 from FYI Music's back pages.

JULY

Randy Bachman loses Saturday Night CBC Vinyl Tap slot... TekSavvy appeals CRTC wholesale broadband rate decision...  Guitarist Frank Marino retires due to health issues...  Wendy Mesley leaves CBC after 38 years... The Weeknd announces HBO series project The Idol, co-created with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim and Joseph Epstein. Abel Tesfaye will co-star, co-write and produce... Claire Dagenais steps down as Polaris Music Prize's Executive Director... Research indicates Canadian media shows implicit bias and racism...  Hackman Capital Partners plans a 370-acre film and TV production studio at Toronto's Downsview  Airport... The Beaches announce 2022 Future Lovers 20-date Canadian tour... Netflix hires its first podcast director... ShoShona Kish and Amanda Rheaume launch Ishkode Records. Distributed by UMC, a single by Digging Roots with Kish is the label's first release...

LyricFind announces a licensing deal with Brazil's ABRAMUS Digital and a partnership with China's Kanjian Music... Canada’s three largest telecoms – Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. – are expected to shell out a combined $2.8B  on the airwaves, according to a report by TD Securities... Republic Live, organizers of. Boots & Hearts country music fest, announces "medium-scale" outdoor concerrs for last half of summer... Toronto Symphony Orchestra CEO Matthew Loden announces his resignation and returns to Houston... Rogers reports 14% revenue growth in Q2 and an 84% increase in media business to $546M... Justin Bieber launches Stay with Australian artist The Kid LAROI... Major London, ON venue London Music Club announces closure...

Downtown Halifax Business Commission revives outdoor summer concert series Tunes At Noon, July 21 to August 27...  Acadian Broadcasting launches Surge FM modern rock radio in Halifax... Crown Lands announce The Big Wave tour, launching Oct 16. in Saskatchewan...  Corus adds podcasts to radio content... Canadian ad market forecast to grow 7.2% in 2021... The former Mod Club site has been taken over by new owners and is now called The Axis Club... Sean "Diddy' Combs signs management deal with top Canadian manager Wassim "Sal" Slaiby... Aaron Pritchett, Jessia, DVBBS, The Biebs and USS earn Music Canada certification hardware... Drawn & Quarterly announces graphic novel based on the life of Leonard Cohen... 

Richard Tichelman, 21, is the 2021 grand prize winner of the Jim Beam Virtual Talent Search, as presented by Canadian Music Week... A 20th-anniversary edition of the Gord Downie solo album Coke Machine Glows released by Arts & Crafts, as well as a companion audiobook... Quebec's FME Festival announces Sep 2-5 lineup, with Lido Pimienta, US Girls, Cadence Weapon, Backxwash and Martha Wainwright among the performers... Canadian country sensation Lindsay Ell announces first headlining tour of Alberta and Ontario with Robyn Ottolini opening...  Alex Cuba has been added to The Grammy Museum's "On The Red Carpet" exhibit. Cuba is a four-time Latin Grammy winner... Osheaga announces Oct 1-3 return with headliners Charlotte Cardin, Jessie Reyez and Half-Moon Run... 

Sam Roberts Band, with the openers Monowhales, kicks off the cross-Canada tour in Winnipeg on Nov. 13... CCS Rights Management bows Daytripper Music Publishing, signing Hill Kourkoutis and relocating clients including Yukon Blonde and Nuela Charles to the publishing arm... Joni Mitchell and Lorne Michaels are named Kennedy Center honorees... Drake guests on Toronto rapper Smiley's new single, Over The Top... Miranda Mulholland's Muskoka Music Festival to return in 2022.

R.I.P: - Ruth Budd, Canada's first professional female bassist and Toronto Symphony Orchestra member... Armenian musician Djivan Gaspyarian... Toronto manager William "Skinny" Tenn... legendary U.S. fiddler Byron Berline... Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar... Dolores Claman, composer of the Hockey Night In Canada anthem... Rapper/singer/ actor Marcel Theo Hall, better known as Biz Markie... Halifax-born Vince Guaraldi trio drummer Jerry Granelli... Co-vocalist and violinist of the band Kansas, Robby Steinhardt... veteran music engineer Rob Heaney... Z.Z. Top bassist Dusty Hill... Slipknot co-founder and drummer Joey Jordison...

AUGUST

Canada's auction of 3500 MHz spectrum raises $8.9B... Penn National buys Score Media and gaming for $2B... By the numbers: Canada's radio broadcasting numbers and CanCon expenditures... On average, Canadian newspapers saw a decline in operating revenue of 20.6% during the pandemic... Stingray strikes deal with Amazon Prime Video channels... Canadian news outlet websites are required by law to keep a registry of political ads... Bell Media lays off 27 more at Queen St. W. Toronto location...  The Canadian government offers CBC $21M for additional operational support... CBC Radio records gain of $4.9M in Q1 compared with a $12.4M loss a year earlier... Billy Raffoul wins the 16th annual SOCAN Songwriting Prize... 

Dine Alone Records signs lo-fi bedroom pop artist Aviv... Drake and LeBron James are two executive producers of the upcoming Black Ice, a documentary about the experiences of Black hockey players... Winnipeg rockers The Pumps release the 40th anniversary edition of their album Gotta Move - available digitally for the first time ever. The Pumps eventually signed with Sony Music Canada and changed their name to Orphan...B.C.'s Marianas Trench received its second Road Gold. certification from CIMA in recognition of exceeding 25K in ticket sales domestically... Veterans Barney Bentall and Spirit of the West's Geoffrey Kelly have teamed up for an all-instrumental album, Ranchwriters... The Harvest Home Festival is a go for P.E.I. September 24-25 featuring the East Pointers, Half Moon Run, Ria Mae and Reeny Smith...

MDM Recordings signs Quebec country duo Five Roses... Walk Off The Earth almost walks off the CN Tower with an August 9 performance 1200 ft. above ground on the Edgewalk, in support of the new album Meet You There...  The Weeknd releases new single Take My Breath, his first new material since March 2020... Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings cancel the U.S. Together Again - Live in Concert tour due to Covid concerns...  New Canadian imprint Local Hay, a joint venture between country star Dallas Smith and Nashville's Big Loud Records, signs Vancouver country act Shawn Austin...Folk music legend Gordon Lightfoot is forced to postpone dates after suffering a fractured wrist as a result of a fall...MMF Canada launches Bespoke, a music management mentorship program... 

Justin Bieber leads the pack of nominees for the 2021 MTV Video Awards. The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes and Daniel Caesar were also nominated... Pop Montreal announces its 20th-anniversary celebration by going hybrid: confirmed acts include Suuns, The Dears, Backxwash, Cadence Weapon, Besnard Lakes,  Laura Niquay and the debut of All Hands/Make Light, a partnership between Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Efrim Manuel Menuck and La Force's Ariel Engle... On August 23, 1981, the first Police Picnic was held in Oakville... The Saints and Sinners tour that was to feature Sloan, Tea Party, Headstones and Moist is scrapped due to "pandemic-related roadblocks."... Neil Young announces he is skipping 2021 Farm Aid due to Covid concerns... 

TMZ reports that The Weeknd buys massive Bel Air estate for $70M... Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee partner with Henderson Brewing for Rush Golden Ale... Ottawa hosts live RBC Bluesfest in September with announced headliners Charlotte Day Wilson, dvsn, Our Lady Peace, Dean Brody, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies and more... Arts & Crafts releases the 20th-anniversary edition of the Gord Downie solo album Coke Machine Glow... Kristen Burke replaces Steve Kane as Warner Music Canada president...

R.I.P. - Poco guitarist and co-leader Paul Cotton... Kerrang! founder Alan Lewis... Sattalites co-founder and horn player Jo Jo Bennett... Kool & The Gang co-founder Dennis "D.T." Thomas... former CBS Records President and CEO Walter Yetnikoff... Canadian classical composer R. Murray Schafer... Grammy-winning folk and country singer Nanci Griffith...  Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts... Vocal legend Don Everly... Country Music Hall of Fame storyteller Tom T. Hall... UB40 sax player Brian Travers... 

SEPTEMBER

Mustafa and Arianne Roy win Slaight Music's Emerging Artist Award...  Drake finally drops his long-awaited album Certified Lover Boy, and immediately occupies most of the Top 20 spots on Billboard's Hot 100... Telus launches $400K Black creators fund in Alberta and British Columbia... Broadcaster and telecoms received $300M+ from 2020 Covid wage subsidy programs... Sirius launches TikTok radio channel... Julian Taylor's Jukebox is a three-hour newly syndicated radio show partnered with First Peoples Radio and RadioMogul... Drake teams up with ESPN to curate music for 10 Monday Night Football games... Festival International de Jazz de Montreal returns as a free event, headlined by Daniel Lanois, Patrick Watson, Ranee Lee and Basia Bulat among others... 

FYIMusicNews to present Canadian Radio Emerging Artist of the Year in partnership with Broadcast Dialogue... MRC Data claims through its 2021 U.S. Music 360 study that 61% of musical streamers create their own playlists; 37% listen to auto-generated playlists... B.C. blogger ordered to pay $30K for complaining online in doctor defamation suit... Employment rose by 90,000 jobs, according to Statscan... Canadian billionaire David Cheriton reveals his role in establishing Google... Corus claims a Rogers-Shaw merger would generate a "detrimental impact" on local news production as Shaw funds would stop... Federal court agrees to hear TekSavvy appeal of CRTC wholesale rates ruling... At 93, billionaire Jim Pattison isn't slowing down... Canadian Media Fund invests almost $50M in 112 audiovisual projects... 

Ben Mulroney leaves CTV... The Toronto Symphony Orchestra returns to its first performances in front of an audience in a year with a couple of outdoor dates at Cityview Drive-In Oct 1-2... Keonte Beals scores eight Music Nova Scotia Award nominations, followed by Aquakulture, Dave Sampson, Hillsburn, Kim Harris and Neon Dreams...Juno winning country singer and songwriter Tenille Townes headlines first Canadian tour, called The Girl Who Didn't Care, Dec 02 in London through Dec 12 in Winnipeg... Justin Bieber grabs Artist of the Year honours as well as Best Pop Song for Peaches featuring fellow Canuck Daniel Caesar and U.S. singer Giveon at the MTV VMAs... The Royal Conservatory of Music honours the late Oscar Peterson by renaming its community school the Oscar Peterson School of Music...

Donovan Woods and manager Michelle Szeto form End X Music label and sign Manitoban songwriter Cassidy Mann... The city of St. Catharines has announced a fundraising campaign to support the Neil Peart Memorial at Lakeside Park... Cadence Recordings signs Dear Rouge... Tracey Soman wins the inaugural CMMRA-sponsored Next Generation Scholarship Award... Documentary filmmaker and singer/songwriter Alanis Obomsawin is honoured as the 13th Glenn Gould Prize Laureate... Toronto's famed El Mocambo reopens it doors with mini pop-up events including a Sep. 24-25 appearance by The Box... Nickelback celebrates the 20th year of its breakthrough release Silver Side Up... The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inducts Brian Allen, Sheron Alton and Jim Vallance hit for Heart,  What About Love...

The Reklaws top all CCMA nominees with six nods, closely followed by Lindsay Ell, Dallas Smith and Brett Kissel with five apiece... Cadence Weapon's album Parallel World wins the 2021 Polaris Music Prize...  Alison Russell's Outside Child and Rob Lutes' Come Around lead the Canadian Folk Music Awards with five nominations each... A new Celine Dion documentary made with her full cooperation has just begun production... Alex Cuba racks up his eighth Latin Grammy nomination, thanks to his album Mendo... Penticton, BC venue The Dream Cafe reopens with JW-Jones, Harry Manx, Elizabeth Shepherd and Laila Biali among those on the docket... Hugh's Room Live has partnered with 3030 Dundas for future live performances... Loreena McKennitt released her 30th-anniversary deluxe edition of The Visit... Shawn Mendes announces 21-country Wonder tour, kicking off in Copenhagen in March... The Weeknd chokes up while receiving the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award... Serena Ryder to receive the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour at the 2021 Canada's Walk of Fame ceremony...

R.I.P:  Allan Slaight, Broadcast pioneer, philanthropist, magician... Larry Harlow, a key figure in the evolution of salsa music... Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals founder George Wein... Tommy Flanagan, Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie bass player George Mraz.. Canadian booking agent Marilynne Caswell... LaBelle singer Sarah Dash... Cabaret Voltaire founder Richard H. Kirk... Philadelphia International Record exec Harry J. Coombs... George "Commander Cody" Frayne... James Brown and Van Morrison saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis... Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster... Live agent Steve Strange... Canadian session guitarist Bobby Edwards... Hammond B3 organ jazz legend Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith...

OCTOBER

How Pandora Papers offshore havens leak became the biggest journalism partnership in history... Shawn Hook signs to Crank Music... Billy Talent announces a 10-date Canadian tour for its upcoming Crisis Of Faith album, with Pup and Rise Against selected to open certain dates...  Peter Mansbridge shares his fears over CBC's future in his new memoir... BDC report suggests widespread labour shortage not disappearing anytime soon... CNN owner AT&T contributes 90% of revenue earned by far-right One America News Network... Canada wireless costs continue to be the highest out of 45 countries in the world...The National Football League (NFL) announces that the Super Bowl LVI half-time show will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar... 

Arkells announced a nine-date Canadian tour for Blink Once, Feb 2-19. Haviah Mighty opens. Partnering with Plus1, $1 of each ticket sold goes to health access for traditionally marginalized and vulnerable communities... M for Montreal conference and festival, set for Nov 15-26, is set for a hybrid live/virtual event with performances by Backxwash, Naya Ali, Zoon, Julien Sagot and others... CCMA Awards set for London, ON on November 29...  Bruce Cockburn, Jully Black, Salome Bey and Serena Ryder announced for induction into the Canadian Walk of Fame... Johnny Reid, Gregory Charles and Michelle Wright are among those signing on for a virtual Saying Goodbye Concert in honour of National Grief and Bereavement Day in November... Snotty Nose Rez Kids take home three WCMA Awards... Kilometre Music Group acquires 300 songs by Drake, The Weeknd and others as well as 72 titles by Magic's Nasri Atweh...

Corb Lund recruits musical pals to help halt coal mining in the Rockies... Quebec singer and Star Academie contestant "Princess" Annabel Oreste is signed to MLife Music Group with Grammy-winning studio wiz Humberto Gatica among those championing her career..  CISAC reports a 10.7% decline in global music collections... Unison raises $115K in its annual golf tourney... The TD Toronto Jazz Festival has announced a new Immersive Artist-In-Residence program... Rudy Blair is announced as host of CMW's Virtual Voices series... The El Mocambo announces its official reopening with Oct 30 headliner Our Lady Peace... Juno-winning singer and songwriter Molly Johnson gets in the Christmas spirit with her new holiday album It's A Snow Globe World and a six-city concert tour of Quebec and Ontario in December...

Nova Scotia hip-hop artist Classified has published his autobiography, Off The Beat 'N Path, through MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc... Toronto's Bovine Sex Club will mark the 30th anniversary of Calgary punk band Chixdiggit by hosting a three-night stand of shows Nov. 4-6... The Canadian Music Therapy Fund presents Un-Done: Lyrics and Laughter as a fundraiser in support of music therapy and mental health. Simone Denny and Kayla Diamond are among the artists lending their talent at the Tranzac Club location... Jesse Gold, Riell and Sebastien Gaskin join Jhyve as the artists selected for the 2021-2022 Allan Slaight Master Class... Blue Rodeo returns to perform at Toronto's intimate Cameron House to celebrate the venue's 40th anniversary... The Weeknd pulls arena dates to schedule a summer 2022 Stadium tour...

Muscle spasms force Celine Dion to cancel 2021 and early 2022 Vegas residency dates... Rock doc Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine by Banger Films in association with Revolver Films, premieres at the Philadelphia International Film Festival... Tokyo Police Club launches a 10th-anniversary tour of its sophomore album, Champ... Montreal classical pianist Bruce Xiaoyu Liu wins the $45K Frederic Chopin International Piano competition and a contract with Deutsche Grammophon Records...

Wolf Castle and Les Moontunes win big at the Music N.B. Awards hosted by David Myles... Jazz musicians Elizabeth Shepherd and Michael Occhipinti form ES: MO and release debut album The Weight Of Hope... Andrew Joseph Stevens wins the 2021 Harmonize Mentorship via the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which includes a $10K prize from Slaight Music... The Ontario government reopens live music in the province; Bryan Adams books a New Year's Eve show at Vancouver's Rogers Arena with 54.40 and Mother Mother... Faith Nolan's Africville and NoMeansNo's  Wrong win the Slaight Family's Polaris Heritage Prize...

R.I.P: - U.K. Singer-songwriter Pat Fish, better known as The Jazz Butcher... The Chieftains' leader Paddy Moloney... Bush Tetras drummer Dee Pop... Everett Morton, The (English) Beat's drummer...Leslie Briscusse, Oscar and Grammy-winning songwriter and one-time Hamilton Spectator reporter... former 24th Street Wailers saxophonist Jonny Wong... Jay And the Americans' singer Jay Black... Montreal political satirist and stand-up comedian Mort Sahl... Fred Brokenshire, founder of St. John's Fred's Records...

NOVEMBER

The Weeknd leads the American Music Awards with six noms, with fellow Canucks Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar registering multiples... Covid-19 interrupts Bryan Adams' plans to duet with Tina Turner at her Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame Induction ceremony... Canadian concert pianist Stewart Goodyear appointed the Royal Conservatory of Music's first-ever artist-in-residence... Gary Slaight and Derrick Ross are among those honoured by Music Managers Forum...  Steve Marriner nabs seven nominations for the 25th edition of the Maple Blues Awards...  New Toronto venue History opens its doors without "consultant" Drake..

The Kensington Market Jazz Festival returns virtually, featuring Emilie-Claire Barlow, Denzil Sinclaire, Amanda Martinez and Jamaican piano legend Monty Alexander, among others... Montreal post-punk band Ought breaks up...VitalVegas.com reports that Michael Buble is headed for a 2022 Vegas residency at Resorts World... Aquakulture and Keonte Beals earn three trophies each at the Music Nova Scotia Awards... The star-studded Andy Kim Christmas Show to return to Massey Hall in December, benefitting CAMH as the charity...  The Make Music Matter charity offers 1-on-1 sessions with notable producers Bob Ezrin and David Bottrill as prizes for its Holiday Auction Fundraiser... Avril Lavigne signs with Travis Braker's DTA Records... Marianas Trench frontman Josh Ramsay teams up with Avril's ex, Chad Kroeger, for his single Lady Mine...

Canadian producer and songwriter Henry "Cirkut" Walter signs a global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. Cirkut's success includes #1s by Katy Perry (Roar), Miley Cyrus (Wrecking Ball) and Maroon5 (Girls Like U.).. Sarah Harmer announces a North American tour... Curve Music releases 10th-anniversary edition of Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band... Ra Maguire and Brian "Smitty" Smith officially announce their retirement from Trooper... Promoter and entrepreneur Michael Cohl is back in a ticketing co-venture called EMC Presents... Canada hits 2B weekly audio streams...The Canadian music industry gathers at the Horseshoe to pay tribute to departing Warner Music Canada president and CEO Steve Kane, and his wife Debbie Rix... Drake and The Weeknd among American Music Award winners... GoFundMe campaigns are set up for Toronto hard rockers Metz whose equipment was stolen two days into their tour in California and Leeroy Stagger, whose B.C. recording studio was badly damaged by floods...

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, joins the chorus of people urging Justin Bieber to skip his Dec. 5 Saudi Arabia concert... Billboard announces that The Weeknd's smash hit Blinding Lights surpasses Chubby Checker's The Twist as the all-time No. 1 song... Country star Dallas Smith announces his first cross-Canada headlining tour as a solo act with his Some Things Never Change tour... Shania Twain is announced as the headliner of the 2022 Boots and Hearts Music Festival... BC country artist Tyler Joe Miller wins the Third Annual SiriusXM Top of the Country contest... Kanye West announces that Drake will join him for the "Free Larry Hoover" concert benefit at L.A. Coliseum next month...

Avril Lavigne announces the May 3 Moncton launch of the first Canadian tour in over a decade... CMRRA delivers $18.6M in royalties in Q3... Angel Baribeau wins Grand Prize in RBC's Emerging Artist Program for the Canadian Walk of Fame... Justin Bieber lands eight Grammy noms in Canadian-heavy field, while Montreal's Allison Russell nabs three...Massey Hall reopens with - what else? - a Gordon Lightfoot concert... Dallas Green cleans up with four awards at the Canadian Country Music Awards in London, ON., including Entertainer of the Year...

R.I.P:  Influential and legendary CKLW music director Rosalie Trombley...  Adam Balsam, drummer for The Wilderness of Manitoba and Mad Ones... Beau-Marks guitarist Ray Hutchinson... U.S. jazz guitarist Pat Martino... Gap Band co-founder Ronnie Wilson... UB40 trumpeter Astro... 808 State member Andy Barker... Moody Blues co-founding drummer Graeme Edge... British fusion guitarist John Goodsall... Helen Reddy manager Jeff Wald... Legendary rock photographer Mick Rock... Hometown Band, Shari Ulrich and Payola$ manager Cliff Jones... Hamilton promoter and SPY Records co-founder Jim Skarratt... American stage musical icon Stephen Sondheim... 

DECEMBER

Vancouver's  Mother Mother announces the deluxe edition of its album Inside to be released on Jan. 28, 2022... 50 prominent Canadian musicians ranging from Raffi and Sarah Harmer to Shad and Moscow Apartment issue an open letter to PM Justin Trudeau to take action to address the climate emergency... Apple names Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, Global Artist of the Year...  Cineplex screens new authorized doc Anne Murray: Full Circle... Toronto mayor John Tory proclaims Dec. 8 "Andy Kim Day," the same day the annual Andy Kim Christmas Show fundraiser takes to the revitalized Massey Hall... Legendary singer and the voice of Blood, Sweat and Tears - David Clayton Thomas - officially retires from performing...

Ofra Harnoy, Quote the Raven, Kelly McMichaels and Maria Cherwick double up with awards as the 2021 Music NL Awards. Labrador's The Flummies are awarded Lifetime Achievement during the ceremony...  Toronto pop-rockers New Friends wins It's Your Shot $100K prize pack...  After contracting Covid-19, City And Colour's Dallas Green was forced to postpone shows in several Canadian cities... Joni Mitchell and Lorne Michaels recognized at Kennedy Centre Honours... Drake withdraws his two Grammy nominations for music off his latest album, Certified Lover Boy... Polaris prize-winning rapper Haviah Mighty launches Black-owned business giveaways amounting to $10K...

Steven Page's ode to Ryan Reynolds for winning the Governor General's Award now raising funds for Reconciliation Canada...  Progressive rock band I Mother Earth announces concerts in Toronto and Ottawa featuring both original singer Edwin and his replacement, Brian Byrne... Toronto Royal Conservatory's Glenn Gould School is invited to participate in the Sir Elton John Global Exchange Programme... Arkells shine during the Grey Cup their halftime show in their hometown of Hamilton... Veteran Goddo rocker Greg Godovitz got great Canadian music celebrities to sign his guitar, which he then auctioned to raise $28,765 for BC flood victims... Sakamoto Agency adds River Town Saints and Lemon Cash to the roster...

R.I.P: Montreal-born pedal steel guitarist and Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels member Neil Flanz... country music hitmaker and Grand Ole Opry member Stonewall Jackson... Montreal-based flamenco guitarist Michael Laucke... veteran British rock singer John Miles... Jamaican reggae bassist and producer Robbie Shakespeare, one-half of Sly and Robbie... music journalist and Black culture expert Greg Tate... Five Man Electrical Band singer Les Emmerson...  The Monkees and country-rock pioneer Michael Nesmith... singer and Tavares group member Ralph Tavares...