Cameo Blues Band
| The Cameo Blues Band | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario |
| Genres | Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Soul |
| Years active | 1978–1990; intermittently thereafter |
| Associated acts |
Brutus Crowbar Greaseball Boogie Band Shooter Cueball Parachute Club Downchild Blues Band Partland Brothers Fathead Tony Flaim and The Dukes |
| Members | Ray Harrison John Bride Michael Sloski John Dickie Travis Harrison Tom Griffiths |
| Past members |
Richard "Hock" Walsh (deceased) Fraser Finlayson(deceased) Tony Flaim (deceased) Chuck Jackson Malcolm Tomlinson Walter Zwol Omar Tunnock Billy Bryans(deceased) Paul Armstrong Wayne Mills Wally Cameron Randall Coryell Mike Eastman Gerry Markman Dave Gray Fred Keeler Tom Griffiths Hendrik Rik Fergus Marsh Jerry Penfound Larry Bodner Perry White Scott Cushnie Joe Agnello, |
The Cameo Blues Band is a Toronto-based blues band, originally formed in 1978. It is particularly notable for its association with several of Canada's leading blues singers, including Richard "Hock" Walsh, Tony Flaim and Chuck Jackson, all of whom were also associated with the Downchild Blues Band.
The band is named after the Cameo Lounge of Toronto's Hotel Isabella, as it then was, in the 1970s and 1980s. The Cameo Lounge featured primarily local blues artists and, as of 1978, had a regular house band, initially led by Richard "Hock" Walsh, during one of several periods when Walsh was either fired or quit as the lead singer of the Downchild Blues Band. Walsh was soon joined by former Crowbar keyboard player "Rabbit" Ray Harrison who, along with guitarist John Bride, became the core of the group during its over three decade history. Other initial band members included Billy Bryans, later of the Parachute Club, on drums, and Omar Tunnock, later of the funk and blues band Fathead, on bass.
Hock Walsh soon left the band to return to Downchild, and was briefly replaced by Fraser Finlayson, of the band Cueball, prior to the band finding a replacement in Tony Flaim, whom Hock Walsh had replaced in Downchild. Billy Bryans was replaced on drums by Paul Armstrong, while Wayne Mills joined the band as a tenor saxophonist.
Harrison, Bride and Mills had previously played together in 1970, as founding members of The Greaseball Boogie Band, playing 1950s rock and roll. The Greaseball Boogie Band evolved into Shooter in 1975, which played 1940s swing and big band music. It was at the time of the breakup of Shooter, in the late 1970s, that Harrison, Bride and Mills came together as the Cameo Blues Band.
The band found a semi-permanent replacement vocalist in Chuck Jackson, who joined the band in 1979 and remained with them until 1981 at which point he formed Citizen's Arrest along with John Bride, Paul Nixon and Dennis Pinhorn. In 1982 Harrison resurrected the Cameos with a whole new lineup of players which included bassist Joe Agnello, drummer Sonnie Bernardi from Crowbar, guitarist Gerry Markman, saxophonist Wayne Mills and vocalist Malcolm Tomlinson. A recording session with this lineup took place at the Isabella but was never released. Chuck Jackson went on to become Downchild's lead vocalist in 1990. Other vocalists who appeared with the band included Walter Zwol,Malcolm Tomlinson and John Dickie.
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