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Author: Keith Sharp

Former Calgary Herald sportswriter, Editor in Chief of the original Music Express Magazine and follow-up ACCESS magazine. Published author of a book about the Music Express years - "Music Express Rise And Fall Of A Canadian Music Icon"

Marks Merges Country With Hard Rock For Gold Record Success

Keith Sharp
Marks Merges Country With Hard Rock For Gold Record Success
By Keith Sharp If Merle Haggard recorded a duet with the heavy metal group, Pantera (produced by Kevin Churko) it would probably sound like Cory Marks’ latest single “Blame It On The Double”. Blending Country with hard rock has become the trademark of this North Bay Ontario native with vocal support from Theory Of A Deadman’s Tyler Connelly and former... Read More

Communication Is The Key To Jann Arden’s Legacy

Keith Sharp
Communication Is The Key To Jann Arden’s Legacy
By Keith Sharp If you were to summarize the legacy of Jann Arden, the definitive description would be “Communication”. Aside from recording 17 albums (12 studio, three compilations, two live recordings) the Calgary native has penned no less than five best-selling books, starred in her own CTV television sitcom (going into its third season), guest-starred in a number of other popular... Read More

Cheap Trick Uncorks A Vintage Classic Rock Album

Keith Sharp
Cheap Trick Uncorks A Vintage Classic Rock Album
By Keith Sharp Classic Rock is alive and well and inhabits the 13 tracks which constitute Cheap Trick’s latest record release titled “Another World.” A recent live performance of “Boys And Girls & Rock ‘N’ Roll” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and equally strong radio support for the album’s debut single “Light Up The Fire” highlight an album... Read More

Blue Peter Vocalist Paul Humphrey Succumbs To Long Illness

Keith Sharp
Blue Peter Vocalist Paul Humphrey Succumbs To Long Illness
By Keith Sharp Paul Humphrey, lead vocalist for Toronto-based seminal synthesizer pop band, Blue Peter passed away April 4th after a long illness, he was 61 years old. Paul Humphrey (vocals/keyboards) had joined forces with guitarist Chris Wardman to launch Blue Peter in 1978 in Markham Ontario. Heavily influenced by the burgeoning British new wave music scene, Blue Peter was... Read More

Deppe And Friends Phone In New Single

Keith Sharp
Deppe And Friends Phone In New Single
Photo by Andrew Clowater By Keith Sharp “Whether it’s Victoria Row”, (named after a street in Charlottetown), or Spoons And Friends , Spoons lead vocalist/guitarist Gord Deppe has created a new track with Charlottetown PEI keyboardist Mike Stratton, appropriately titled “A Better Ending” that also features Spoons’ bassist Sandy Horne and Gord’s wife’s brother Dave Crockett on drums from Ottawa, a... Read More

The Road Hammers Are Back At It

Keith Sharp
The Road Hammers Are Back At It
By Keith Sharp In releasing their latest single, “The Boys Are Back At It”, Southern Ontario country-rock trio, The Road Hammers are making a bold statement that as Canada’s pandemic vaccination program continues to roll out, Messers Jason McCoy, Clayton Bellamy and Chris Byrne are again open for business. The brand new single “The Boys Are Back At It” officially... Read More

Crown Lands’ Sonic Style Recognized with Two Juno Nominations

Keith Sharp
Crown Lands’ Sonic Style Recognized with Two Juno Nominations
Photo supplied by the artist By Keith Sharp In being nominated for two 2021 Juno Awards as Breakthrough Artists Of The Year and Top Rock Album for their self-titled summer 2020 release  (on Universal Music), Oshawa’s Crown Lands have been compared favourably with Rock legends Rush. The only difference being is that while Rush was comprised of three musicians: bassist/vocalist... Read More

INXS Driving Force Andrew Farriss Sets New Personal Challenge

Keith Sharp
INXS Driving Force Andrew Farriss Sets New Personal Challenge
By Keith Sharp Eighties classic rock audiophiles may remember Andrew Farriss as one of the three Farris brothers (along with Jon and Tim) who made up one-half of Australia’s INXS which enjoyed global success in the mid-’80s with albums like “Listen Like Thieves”, “Kick” and “X”. But what they may not know is that Farriss wrote or co-wrote virtually all... Read More

Monowhales Vow To Keep Momentum Rolling With Daytona Bleach Release

Keith Sharp
Monowhales Vow To Keep Momentum Rolling With Daytona Bleach Release
By Keith Sharp So your band is figuratively on a roll. Your 2019 debut EP release `Control Freak’ is spawning hit singles that earned you the Jim Beam Indie Award as a top alternative artist/group during Canada Music Week festivities. You are rating as #1 most played unsung artists on Alternative Radio has earned you support concert slots with the... Read More

Riversleem Keeps Punk Spirit Alive On The Prairies

Keith Sharp
Riversleem Keeps Punk Spirit Alive On The Prairies
By Keith Sharp Punk music is alive and well and residing in Saskatoon Saskatchewan of all places courtesy of a four-man unit called Riversleem. Vocalist Kyle Zurevinski, guitarist Drew Fitzgerald, bassist Connor Guillet and drummer Kurt Wolfe joined forces in late 2019 and quickly released a self-produced four-track EP titled “A Debut Release” By Riversleem. In true punk ethos, the... Read More

Hill’s Songwriter’s Award A Reflection Of Lifelong Achievements

Keith Sharp
Hill’s Songwriter’s Award A Reflection Of Lifelong Achievements
By Keith Sharp When you think of Dan Hill, you inevitably think of his global hit record, “Sometimes When We Touch”, not only a hit for him but for a whole slew of other star performers including Rod Stewart. Barry Manilow, Demi Roussos, Tammy Wynette (with Mark Gray), Tina Turner and Engelbert Humperdinck, initially released in 1977 on his third... Read More

Up Close And Uncomfortable With Greg Godovitz

Keith Sharp
Up Close And Uncomfortable With Greg Godovitz
By Keith Sharp It was 14 years in the making but Goddo lead vocalist, bassist Greg Godovitz has finally released his latest book, “Up Close And Uncomfortable” a sequel to his highly successful literary debut, “Travels With My Amp” But unlike the autobiographically slanted original, “Up Close And Uncomfortable” contains a potpourri of irreverent anecdotes and escapades focusing on Godovitz’s... Read More

VIP ME Initiative, Ed Sousa’s Latest Fund-Raising Initiative

Keith Sharp
VIP ME Initiative, Ed Sousa’s Latest Fund-Raising Initiative
By Keith Sharp As the COVID-19 continues to hamper Ed Sousa’s attempts to raise funds for his Ronald McDonald House charity, he is still creatively engineering different ideas to generate much-needed capital. Titled VIP ME, Sousa is initiating an opportunity where members of the general public can receive personal videos from a select group of musicians offering anything from personal... Read More

Billy Newton-Davis Re-introduces Himself

Keith Sharp
Billy Newton-Davis Re-introduces Himself
Billy Newton-Davis – by Xander By Keith Sharp Before there was Drake, before there was The Weeknd, Toronto enjoyed a thriving R&B/soul music scene. If you hung out at venues like Club Blue Note, The Bamboo Club, Grossman’s Tavern or the Montreal Bistro in the mid-1980’s you would recognize names like George Olliver, Liberty Silver, Jackie Richardson, Molly Johnson, Micah... Read More

Toque Band Wears Many Hats

Keith Sharp
Toque Band Wears Many Hats
By Keith Sharp Toque: A close-fitting knitted or crocheted cap having no brim or a brim that is folded up to create an extra layer of fabric for warmth. A rock band consisting of four Canadian musicians destined to celebrate the best in Canadian music. Two of those Toque band members; lead vocalist/guitarist Todd Kerns and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Brent Fitz are... Read More

2020: That Was The Year That Was! And Music Lives Lost.

Keith Sharp
2020: That Was The Year That Was! And Music Lives Lost.
By Keith Sharp There’s no two ways about it, 2020 was a crap year. Who could have predicted that this COVID-19 pandemic could do so much damage on a global scale? The entire live music scene shuddered to a halt, major festivals cancelled, key live venues forced to restrict their attendances and then closed altogether, musicians and music industry personnel... Read More