NFL
By: Greg Rector
This article celebrates the great musicians in Canadian rock and roll history. Since July 1st is Canada Day, and even though Deborah Harry of Blondie celebrates her 80th birthday on Canada Day, this article will feature the great musicians I have loved from Canada.
Canada Day celebrates the day Canada was given its Confederation from the United Kingdom. It was known as Dominion Day. It also now celebrates the occasion when Queen Elizabeth II gave Canada its true independence in 1982.
There will be no reference to Drake or Justin Bieber as neither one of them is in my vibe.
Celine Dion
Unquestionably, there is one truly great voice that hails from Canada, and that voice belongs to Celine Dion. When you’re a girl born and raised in Quebec, and you get asked to sing at the Olympics closing ceremony in Paris, France, you know this lady can sing.
Sorry, this video is en français, in French, but her voice sounded so good, and that’s after her career was considered to be over when, in 2022, she was diagnosed with “Stiff Person Syndrome.” When she appeared at the Paris Olympics, I and millions of other Canadians cried in pure joy.
Look at the reaction of Kelly Clarkson, who couldn’t say anything after her performance.
Celine Dion has been a star since she was a child, and even though her songs are also in French, her music resonates very well in English as well.
Her version of “The Power Of Love” is just so well done.
The Guess Who
Yes, Lenny Kravitz covered this song, and it was fine. But to any real Canadian, we love the original version of American Woman. When I attended the SARS concert at Downsview Airport in 2003, and Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman did American Woman there were 450,000 Canadians singing this song in unison.
The Guess Who started as a hit band in Winnipeg, appearing on a local CBC TV show which was much like American Bandstand, and they met The Who years later. Well, Pete Townsend was going after Burton Cummings until Randy Bachman stepped in, now Bachman is no small guy, and he sent Townsend on his way with a sharp rebuttal over the name. The Guess Who started before The Who.
Oh, and here’s proof of those singing American Woman at the Sars Concert. That concert was much bigger than Live Aid was back in 1985.
Bachman-Turner-Overdrive
Randy Bachman left The Guess Who and then started his new band. Just like American Woman was at the same concert, 450,000 Canadians sang “Taking Care Of Business,”
If you ask Canadians to sing something other than O’Canada, which we do proudly at hockey games and any other event, and you ask someone my age, you will hear American Woman and Taking Care Of Business. They are two definite Rock Anthems.
Rush
There is one thing held by Canadians from coast to coast to coast (yes, we have three coasts in Canada), and that is the influence of Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and the late Neil Peart. Rush is such a key group, and that applies very easily in the United States as well.
Here is Rush performing Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones and then cruising into Spirit of the Radio at the same SARS Concert.
No matter the album, the style of music being played by Rush, you know these three men were just fabulous musicians. To hear them play live was special, and when Neil Peart passed away after a brain tumor, every Canadian music fan was deeply saddened. Peart wrote the songs, and indeed, his songwriting, which seems strange to so many people and made singing those words difficult for Geddy Lee. Tom Sawyer remains one of my favorite songs ever recorded.
For many of us, Rush is easily the number one band to come out of Canada.
Streetheart, April Wine, Chilliwack, and Prism
These four bands we steady staples on Canadian radio stations when I was growing up in the 1980s.
Streetheart was special to me because the late lead singer Kenny Shields’ parents lived across the street from a school I attended. When Streetheart would get ready to go on tour, our school got a free concert.
April Wine was from Montreal, and they could rock as well as sing ballads, which were a big thing with the ladies, of course.
Their song I Like To Rock used to blast out of car stereos and when I lived in Arkansas and I would go fishing with my late wife Karen I had all of this Canadian music which I played constantly and the number of people of who could come up to me and ask me who these bands were and I told them they were Canadians it shocked many of those folks.
Chilliwack sang the songs that young ladies loved, but “Fly at Night” is easily my favorite song by that group. And Prism was another excellent group. Both groups were based in Vancouver, and they would all perform all over the country. “Spaceship Superstar” is my favorite song by Prism.
Alanis Morrisette
In 1995, when I heard the angst coming out of Morrisette’s music, I was sold right away. This lady speaks to the frustration of so many ladies, and when her album Jagged Little Pill hit the airwaves, I became a huge fan and have remained a fan ever since. “You Outta Know,” I just found out was done in one take in the studio!!!
“Would she go on down on you in a theatre?” When I heard that line, I knew this lady was asking what so many women go through in life.
This week Alanis Morrisette performed at the Glastonbury Festival, and thankfully she lived through her living hell when Jagged Little Pill was released. Here she is performing Thank U.And that was from Friday, June 27th, 2025.
Geesh, here I am, a fifteen-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and my heart goes out to every woman who struggles with pressures that are unbelievable in this day and age, and even before the internet happened.
The Beaches
These four young ladies are so damn good and they recently performed at Coachella. The Beaches are from Toronto, and the group is named after the neighborhood they grew up in.
When these ladies hit any stage, you are going to have a great night. This performance of Money was done at a Hamilton Tiger Cats game, and they just continue to make hit after hit. The lead singer and the blonde on guitar are sisters.
When they appeared on a CBC program and the band covered Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose,” I was mightily impressed.
And their latest hit, “Blame Brett,” is a tremendous breakup song. This group of young ladies reminds me of The Go-Gos, and when it comes to all women’s groups in my lifetime, that means this group is held in a very high regard for me.
Mia Martina
Here is another young Canadian lady whose music I simply adore. Mia Martina is an Acadian, which means her version of French is identical to mine. I won’t give you any French version of hers, though.
When she did this version of The Cutting Crew’s “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” I was again amazed, and I love her singing so much.
But when she released HFH, I was again blown away. Heart F****** Hurts speaks again to the world that so many ladies deal with. Yes, I love having a human heart, and I feel the pain this song exemplifies.
She made a song that speaks out to anyone going through a crappy time in life and yes she swore. I say the F word, as do so many of you.
Anne Murray
Anne Murray retired from singing in 2008, and she hasn’t sung anything since that day. Murray is from Springhill, Nova Scotia, which is the same town that my grandfather came from. From 1970 on until she retired in 2008, Anne Murray was “Canada’s Snowbird.” Snowbird was her first hit song, and she was a superstar from that day on in Canada, and then she became an even bigger star when she made hits on the country and pop charts in the United States.
Her song “Could I Have This Dance” has been performed at more weddings than any of us can count.
The great Anne Murray turned 80 on June 20th, and her singing will never leave me. When she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Juno Awards, which is her 26th Juno, along with her four Grammy Awards. Listen to her speech, and she is very correct. These days, with “autotune,” songs all over the place, but when she was pressured to move to the United States, she didn’t leave Canada.
She personifies what this nation is to everyone. Despite the protestations coming out of the White House, Canadians are not going to become the 51st state.
The Others
There have been many great Canadian musicians, and some of them are world-famous. Gordon Lightfoot, Shania Twain, The Northern Pikes, Teenage Head, The Tragically Hip, and so many others who represent Canada proudly. And as Joe in the Molson Canadian commercial said correctly below, even though I was born in Montana, my parents used to tell me all the time, I AM CANADIAN!!!
Oh, and stop saying the last letter in POUTINE. It’s not ending in the “Teen.” Joe, of course, says it like it’s an English word. It’s pronounced POO-TIN!!! Thank you from a French-speaking Canadian.
So on Tuesday, July 1st, celebrate Canada Day!!!
