Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scottish, and Cornish heritage.[1] The band was very successful in Canada, with eleven of their albums being certified Gold in the country, including four being certified Platinum and two achieving multi-platinum certifications.[2] Between 1996 and 2016, Great Big Sea was the sixteenth best-selling Canadian artist in Canada and the sixth best-selling Canadian band in Canada.[3]
While it has been confirmed that the band has officially retired, former members Alan Doyle and Séan McCann have continued performing in their own solo careers typically including music from Great Big Sea in their setlists.
Power, McCann and Hallett had already been playing together in another band. In the winter of 1989, the band, a six-piece with guitar, bass, fiddle, accordion and mandolin played its first show at the Memorial University's winter carnival talent show under the name "Newfoundland Republican Army" or NRA, and won first prize. The band's only other appearance as NRA was later that winter at the university "Grad House". The band then dropped the fiddler, accordion player and the name.
The band found its new name as original bassist Jeff Scott rented an apartment on Rankin Street, St. John's, where the members first met and discussed the formation of the band. As a four-piece, the band first appeared as "Rankin Street" at a little pub in downtown St. John's called "The Rose and Thistle", playing for $100 and beer. They played through Sean McCann's stereo system, as renting a PA would have cost more than the night's earnings. Susan Hickey (guitar and vocals) left the band months later to attend school in Halifax and was replaced by Darrell Power. The band gained much popularity playing such local pubs as Bridget's and Greensleeves. In 1991 Jeff Scott was replaced by Jackie St. Croix on bass. The band released one recording on cassette titled "Rankin Street".
According to Doyle, Rankin Street owned a PA system and he owned a van, which made Great Big Sea "a match made in heaven."[4] They toured nearly constantly for the band's first several years, sometimes traveling as many as 300 days a year.
In 1997, the band reached the top ten of the Canadian RPM pop chart with "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)", a cover of a song by the British folk group Oysterband.[5][6] They performed at the 1999 Stardust Picnic festival at Historic Fort York, Toronto.[7]
The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards for every year between 1996 and 2000.[8] In 2001, they decided not to submit their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete. They have also been nominated for several Juno Awards,[9] including Group of the Year in 1998, 2005, 2009, and 2011.
The 2000s
Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and friends.[10] Supporting members of the band include Canadian freelance drummer Kris MacFarlane (2002) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).
Great Big Sea's first concert DVD and videos collection, the Great Big DVD, saw release in Canada and the United States in 2003 and Europe in 2004.
In late 2005, the band released its long-awaited "traditional" album, The Hard and the Easy, on which they recorded their favourite Newfoundland party songs. The title of the album comes from a line of the song "Tickle Cove Pond", one of two songs on the album about a horse falling through ice.
Also in late 2005, Great Big Sea released its first podcast, with clips of the band bantering back and forth in the studio mixed with various songs by them and other artists. They have since released several podcasts.
On February 9, 2006, the band's tour bus tipped on its side into a ditch on the Trans-Canada Highway about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver near Surrey. The bus went on its side (right side) right beside the commercial weigh scales. As traffic backed up as far as Chilliwack, British Columbia, RCMP started to re-route traffic through the weigh scales. Their driver suffered minor head injuries, but everyone in the band was unhurt. The band went on to continue their tour including their performance that evening at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.[12]
On November 21, 2006, the band released their second concert DVD, Courage & Patience & Grit, recorded in Belleville, Ontario. It is also the second release by the band to be titled by a line from their 2005 song, "Tickle Cove Pond".
On June 13, 2007, the band announced they would return to the studio with producer Hawksley Workman. On March 14, 2008, the band announced that the title of the new album would be Fortune's Favour, borrowing a phrase from one of the songs on the album, "England". Prior to the release, a few of the songs that were eventually included on the album were played at live concerts, including "Love Me Tonight", "Walk on the Moon" "The Rocks of Merasheen", "Straight To Hell", and "Oh Yeah". On April 17, 2008, the band's website announced that the first single from Fortune's Favour would be "Walk on the Moon". People who pre-ordered the album from the band's official website were also treated to exclusive digital downloads of the songs "Belong (A Capella)" and "Gallow's Pole". The album was officially released on June 24, 2008 across all of North America.
On February 23, 2010, band member Séan McCann released his debut solo album Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes to pleasing critical success. The nine track collection was recorded over the course of several months earlier this year at GreatBigStudio in St. John's.[13]
On July 13, 2010, Great Big Sea released their new album Safe Upon the Shore in North America. Alan's "From the Road" blog on the band's website, originally confirmed its production in an April posting, speaking also of the album's subsequent release in July.[14] "Nothing But A Song" is the first single off the bands' ninth studio recording, with a subsequent tour kicking off at the end of the summer 2010.
Great Big Sea announced a 'greatest hits' album titled "XX" in October 2012, accompanied by a 20th anniversary tour with 32 dates in 28 cities across the US and Canada which kicked off on March 5, 2013 in Los Angeles and finished in St. John's on April 23, 2013.[15]
McCann's departure
In 2013, McCann announced that he would be leaving the band at the end of the XX tour, much to the dismay of his bandmates.[16][17]
In an interview with Bob Mersereau for the CBC, McCann discussed his life changes. "I stopped drinking two and a half years ago, I've decided to leave the band I've been in for 20 years. I'm 46 years old, and I've decided to make ...changes."[18]
In 2020, McCann coauthored a memoir with his wife, Andrea Aragon, titled "One Good Reason" that discusses his early life, battle with addiction and how this affected his life in the band. In it, McCann says that struggling to maintain his new sobriety he told his bandmates in January 2013 that XX would be his last tour with the band, but the rest of the band and its management refused to announce this publicly. Finally, in November 2013 with XX almost over, McCann announced his departure himself in a tweet, feeling that the fans needed to know. While largely vilified by Great Big Sea fans with little said by the band or management to counter this view, McCann claims he was devastated by how Great Big Sea ended and wishes it could have gone differently.[19]
Retirement
On November 5, 2015, Alan Doyle was quoted in an interview with Christopher Tessmer of the Regina Leader-Post,[20] "We’re all struggling to define what the status of Great Big Sea is right now. As most people know, at the end of 2013 — after our 20th Anniversary tour — Sean (McCann) quit and left the band. We spent a length of time — a year or so — to find an amicable way that Bob (Hallett) and I could continue without him. We couldn’t, so we came to the realization that we didn’t want to go on like that. We don’t want to fight for the spoils of it. For the lack of a better term, the band is now happily retired."
On February 27, 2017, Doyle was quoted in an interview with Jason Setnyk of the Cornwall Seeker, "Of course (we’re still friends). Sean, Bob, Darrell, and myself still own the publishing. Sean doesn’t live in Newfoundland anymore. We don’t talk as much as we once did, but he seems to be doing really well and great, and good luck to him."[21]
Charity work
Great Big Sea is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and worked with them on a radio PSA.[22]
Alan Thomas Doyle is a Canadian musician and founding member of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea.
The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that formed in Toronto, Canada in 1963 and named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover". They are best known for their international television series, contributing to the popularization of Irish Music in North America, and for the songs "The Unicorn", "Drunken Sailor", "Wasn't That a Party", "The Orange and the Green", "Whiskey on a Sunday", "Lily the Pink", "Finnegan's Wake" and "The Black Velvet Band".
Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes, especially on Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.
Something Beautiful is the sixth studio album by Great Big Sea, released in Canada on February 24, 2004 and in the US on March 9, 2004. It is the first album the group has recorded without the contributions of former member Darrell Power. The album received five nominations for the 2005 ECMA's including Single of the Year, Video of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year, Group of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. The album is the band's fifth to debut in the Top 10 on Canadian sales charts.
Sea of No Cares is the fifth studio album by Great Big Sea, released on February 19, 2002, in Canada and on February 26 in the United States. The album is platinum certified, and won five East Coast Music Awards for the band.
Road Rage is an album by Great Big Sea released in 2000. It is a compilation of live performances that took place between October 14 and December 31, 1999.
Rant and Roar is an album by Great Big Sea. Released in 1998 only to the USA, it is a compilation of some of the tracks from Up and Play also by Great Big Sea. This album was created because the band wanted to expand beyond their mostly Canadian fan base. The album's title comes from the first line of the traditional song "The Ryans and the Pittmans", which is generally more well known than the song's actual name.
Play is the third studio album by Canadian band Great Big Sea, released in 1997. Between 1996 and 2016, Play was the ninth best-selling album by a Canadian band in Canada.
Great Big Sea is the self-titled debut album by Canadian folk-rock band Great Big Sea released in 1993. Originally released in 1993, it was later redistributed by Warner Music Canada when the band was signed.
The Hard and The Easy is the seventh studio album by Great Big Sea. It was released on October 11, 2005 in Canada and October 25, 2005 in the US. It reached gold status by October 25, 2005.
RobertHallett is a Canadian musician, author, producer, and entrepreneur, best known as a founding member of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea (1993–2013). He is also a native of St. John's, Newfoundland, Hallett co-founded Great Big Sea in 1993, with Alan Doyle, Sean McCann, and Darrell Power. The band sold over a million and half records around the world, over a twenty-year period. Through his company, Kilbride Music, Hallett has managed bands and produced records, radio specials, and live concerts. Hallet is a vocal proponent of talent development within the Newfoundland and East Coast Music Industries, and has authored a career guidebook for aspiring musicians. He works with the producers of the Broadway musical Come From Away as a Music Consultant, and has also worked at the Stratford Festival as a Composer & Music Director. As an author he has written dozens of magazine articles, essays and several books, including the best-selling memoir Writing Out The Notes. He is the owner of Erin's Pub and Tavola Restaurant in downtown St. John's. Hallett currently plays accordion and other instruments in the band Kelly Russell and the Planks; he has also been associated with The Once, The Dardanelles, Fabian James, and the Irish Descendants, in various capacities.
Fortune's Favour is the eighth studio album released by Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. The album was released on June 24, 2008, debuting at No. 5 on the Canadian Music Charts and also includes a DVD. The album was certified gold in Canada.
Séan McCann is a Canadian singer and musician who formerly played with Great Big Sea, a band he co-founded. He announced plans to stop touring with the group at the end of December 2013.
Darrell Power is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, music producer, and former member of Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea (1993–2003). He is a guest host of VOCM Nightline and Open Line. Power currently works as a substitute teacher. He lives in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Great Big DVD and CD is a live recording by Canadian folk group, Great Big Sea, released on Zoë Records in 2004. The package contains two discs, one in CD format and one in NTSC DVD format with no region coding. Both CD and DVD contain the same tracks recorded live in Ottawa, Canada. The DVD comes with an interactive menu and special features, including various video clips, karaoke clips, "home videos", a documentary and a text file about the band. It was released on the iTunes Store on June 14, 2011 as "Great Big Sea (Live)".
Courage & Patience & Grit is a DVD/CD set released by the band Great Big Sea on November 14, 2006. It contains video of the live performance from a concert at the Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ontario along with music videos for the songs "Captain Kidd", "When I Am King", "Lukey", and "Shines Right Through Me". The live performance was recorded during their The Hard and the Easy tour.
The Irish Descendants are a folk group from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. All the members, born of Irish emigrants, were workers in the Newfoundland fishing industry before forming the band in 1990 out of the remnants of two former Newfoundland bands – The Descendants and Irish Coffee. The group helped to popularise traditional Newfoundland music to a wider Canadian audience in the early 1990s, along with other bands such as Great Big Sea. Their popularity within the province itself led to their selection as the official band of the province's 500th anniversary celebrations, during which they performed for the Queen. Tension within the group caused co-frontman D'Arcy Broderick to leave soon after this period, and their lineup has frequently changed since then, with frontman Con O'Brien being the only constant member. Regular touring and occasional album releases, most recently Is your Rhubarb Up in 2018, have kept the group in the public eye.
Safe Upon the Shore is the ninth and final studio album released by Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. The album was released on July 13, 2010.
"Ordinary Day" is a song by Canadian folk band Great Big Sea. It was released in October 1997 as the second single from their third album Play. It peaked at No. 3 on the Canadian RPM adult contemporary chart and at No. 30 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles.
XX is a compilation by Great Big Sea to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. It is the group's final album to date, as well as their last recording to feature Séan McCann. It was released as a two-disc CD album, and also in a Deluxe Edition which includes a third CD plus a DVD with an hour-long documentary "Meet Great Big Sea" and other goodies.
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