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Gene Hardy | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Saxophone, violin, musical saw, theremin |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Associated acts | Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Michael Bublé, Rheostatics, Sparkjiver, PlanB3, The Pip Squeek Orchestra |
| Website | genehardy |
Gene Hardy is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. He performs on saxophone, violin, musical saw and theremin.
Hardy's early music training began in Victoria, British Columbia—first on violin at age 9, then on saxophone a year later. After studies at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and UVic, he moved to Toronto in 1986. In 1988 he joined Canadian alternative rock band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. [1]
After the Bourbon's break-up in the mid-1990s, he became the horn player for many of Canada's best known exports and domestic successes, recording and performing in the United States and Canada. He served as Michael Bublé's musical director and featured soloist and is the latest addition to Ronnie Hawkins' band, The Hawks.
From 2000 to 2005, Hardy was nominated as Horn Player of the Year at the Canada's Maple Blues Awards in recognition of his extensive contributions to the blues genre, both live and in the studio.[ citation needed ]
He is also known as a session player on musical saw, and has been featured on numerous recordings, including BNL's Born on a Pirate Ship and Veda Hille's Spine. His saw playing can also be heard on jingles for an assortment of products and services including ads for Halls Cough Drops, Kia Cars, and Scott's Turfbuilder. A long awaited instrumental saw CD, entitled Musical Saw Encounters, is slated for release in early 2015.
His newest group, The Pip Squeek Orchestra, described as a dixieland-band-on-steroids, debuts fall 2007 with a new CD and a line-up of players from Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.
To date, Hardy has released four CDs as a solo artist. He continues to travel, perform and record extensively, dividing his time between Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and New Orleans.
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a cult following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached mainstream success in Canada when their debut with Reprise Records, Gordon, featuring the singles "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson", was released in 1992. The band's popularity subsequently spread into the US, beginning with versions of "Brian Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" off their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle, followed by their fourth studio album Stunt, their breakout success in 1998. The album featured their highest-charting hit, "One Week", as well as "It's All Been Done". Their fifth album, Maroon, featuring the lead single "Pinch Me", also charted highly. In the 2010s the band became well-known for creating the theme song for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Gordon is the debut studio album by Canadian band Barenaked Ladies. It was released through Sire Records on July 28, 1992. After The Yellow Tape was certified platinum in Canada, the group won a contest hosted by a local radio station. With the winnings, Barenaked Ladies were able to hire producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda and record the album at Le Studio, north of Montreal, Quebec, Chalet Recording Studios, and Reaction Studios. Though most of the album was recorded without incident, difficulty with "The King of Bedside Manor" caused the band to record the track naked—a tradition they would continue on other albums. Horn parts, guest vocalists, and nods to other bands including Rush allowed Barenaked Ladies to expand on the sound they had developed while touring. "They had a real clarity about what they wanted [the album] to be ... I just captured what it is they do", said Wojewoda.
Warner Music Canada is the Canadian division of Warner Music Group. The label previously operated as WEA Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of WEA International, which later changed its name to Warner Music International in 1990. It was founded in 1967 as Warner Reprise Canada Ltd.
Born on a Pirate Ship is the third full-length studio album by Barenaked Ladies (BNL), featuring the songs "Shoe Box", "The Old Apartment", "When I Fall" and "Break Your Heart". "The Old Apartment" would become BNL's first US hit in 1997.
Esthero is a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California. The name Esthero refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of herself and producer Doc McKinney. Esthero is a portmanteau of "Esther the hero"; she claims to have gotten the name by combining the name of the heroine (Esther) and last line of the movie from Sylvia Plath's novel, The Bell Jar.
Michael Phillip Wojewoda is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and has received one for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for Producer of the Year.
The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir were a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in 1985 in Toronto.
Whale Music is a 1992 studio album by Canadian rock band Rheostatics. It should not be confused with the soundtrack to the film Whale Music, which was also composed by the band and released in 1994.
Big Sugar is a band formed in Toronto in 1988 by Gordie Johnson, who serves as the band's lead singer, lead guitarist and main songwriter. Between 1996 and 2016, Big Sugar was among the top 80 best-selling Canadian artists in Canada and among the top 25 best-selling Canadian bands in Canada.
Hugh Christopher Brown is a Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Chris Brown and Kate Fenner were a folk rock duo, consisting of vocalist Kate Fenner and multi-instrumentalist Chris Brown, who were active from 1996 to 2005. Although based primarily in New York City, both Brown and Fenner are Canadians and the group remained intimately connected to the Canadian music scene.
Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle are a Canadian band consisting of Barenaked Ladies multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn as the front man, bassist Chris Gartner and drummer Great Bob Scott. The three had previously collaborated as members of the Canadian alternative rock band Look People. Guitarists Martin Tielli and Derek Orford were originally members; the former left the band to pursue other musical interests in the early 2000s, while the latter left due to injury shortly after the release of Night Light in 2004 and never returned to the band other than as a guest performer on four tracks of The Miracle Mile. Brian MacMillan joined the group on guitar and keyboards after Night Light was released, effectively replacing Orford. MacMillan left the group to pursue his own career after the recording of Havana Winter. Mike Rathke is credited as a member of the band on guitar on that album, although he has never performed live with the group. Sheena Ko began performing with the band in 2010 on keyboards and vocals.
Kevin Neil Hearn is a Canadian musician who is a member of Barenaked Ladies, and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He primarily plays keyboards and guitars. He is also a former member of Rheostatics.
"The Old Apartment" is a song by the Canadian alternative rock group Barenaked Ladies. It was the band's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and first Mainstream Top 40 hit, appearing on the albums Born on a Pirate Ship, Rock Spectacle and Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. The music video for the song, which garnered a Best Director nomination at the 1997 MuchMusic Video Awards, was directed by fellow Canadian and fan Jason Priestley at his own suggestion.
Graph Nobel is a Canadian indie/alternative/pop musician and songwriter. Her music is "hip-hop inspired with punk rock abandon".
Wikked Lil' Grrrls is Canadian singer Esthero's second album, her first full-length in seven years. It was released on June 28, 2005 in North America by Reprise Records. The album elicited mixed reviews upon its release, with contemporary music critics generally praising her vocal performance but expressing mixed feelings regarding the record's eclecticism. The album gave Esthero her first album chart entry in the US, reaching number 24 on the US Heatseekers Albums chart. The album includes two singles, "We R in Need of a Musical Revolution" and "Fastlane."
Arts County Fair (ACF) was an annual large outdoor benefit concert/beer garden that ran from 1992 to 2007 at Thunderbird Stadium at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Abrams are a Canadian country band composed of fourth-generation musicians John Abrams and James Abrams. They have performed with acts such as John Hammond, Feist, Dean Brody, The Dixie Chicks, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Luke Combs.
"We R in Need of a Musical Revolution" is a song by Canadian singer/songwriter Esthero. It was released as part of a six-song EP in November 2004 and was also featured on her 2005 album Wikked Lil' Grrrls. The song lyrically explores the lack of originality in current popular music, decrying several popular performers, including Ashanti and Britney Spears.
Canadian singer/songwriter Esthero has released three studio albums, two extended plays, and seven singles as a lead artist. Her debut album, Breath from Another, was released with Doc McKinney in 1998. The album initially unsuccessful, though it eventually managed to sell more than 110,000 copies in the US and more than 50,000 in Canada. The record spawned three singles: "Breath from Another", "Heaven Sent", and "That Girl". "Heaven Sent" went into moderate rotation on MTV and peaked in the top 5 on the Hot Dance Breakouts Single Sales chart. Breath from Another received a nomination at the 1999 Juno Awards, in the category of "Best Alternative Album." However, it lost to Rufus Wainwright's eponymous debut album.
