INTRODUCTION

As Canadians, we are lucky to call some of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century our own: from Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell to Leonard Cohen and Buffy Sainte-Marie. We are also fortunate to have a thriving music industry, which every day is helping to produce the next generation of stars.

Canadians have historically had an inferiority complex, comparing themselves to their southern neighbours. It has been a long-held notion — especially in the arts — that you only really made it when you made some noise and achieved success in the United States. Because of this, Canadians sometimes forget the incredible wealth of talent that their country has produced. How many times, in the course of a conversation with a friend about music,

DAVID M c PHERSON

have you heard them reply, “I didn’t know they were Canadian!”

This book allowed me to take a deeper look at some of the fascinating facts and extraordinary stories of Canadian artists I had forgotten, or I had yet to discover. There was no shortage of stories to choose from as I curated these 101 fascinating Canadian music facts. The challenge was making the difficult decision on what stories not to include. I wanted to make sure I had enough variety and diversity — in genre, in geography, and in the musicians featured in these pages. After pulling out these facts from my archives of past interviews, from new interviews, and from new research, I was left with an overwhelming feeling of patriotic pride for the incredible breadth of music our country has produced.

I was struck by the variety not only in genre but also in the talent that has come from coast to coast. There are so many behind-the-scenes stars you may not be aware of, like Grammy-winning producers and songwriters. In choosing the stories that made the final cut, I tried to reflect this variety. In the pages that follow you will read about a polka king and a hip-hop Guinness World Record holder. You will read about a Juno-nominated Cree musician, our first bona fide country music superstar, and the stories behind the genesis of some of your favourite songs.

Music is the elixir of life. Those six words will be etched on my tombstone. For more than 25 years now, I’ve been