Handsome Ned
| Handsome Ned | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robin David Masyk |
| Born | June 4, 1957 Zweibrücken, West Germany |
| Died | January 10, 1987 Toronto, Ontario |
| Genres | alternative country, rockabilly |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1980s |
Handsome Ned was the stage name of Robin David Masyk (June 4, 1957 - January 10, 1987), a Canadian country singer and songwriter. Although he only released a small number of singles and was never widely known outside of Toronto during his lifetime, he has been credited as the catalyst for an early-1980s country music and roots rock revival in Toronto which paved the way for acts such as Blue Rodeo, Prairie Oyster, Skydiggers and Cowboy Junkies to break through to greater fame, and as one of the key figures in the transformation of the city's Queen Street West district into a cultural hotspot.
As well, he received a posthumous Juno Award nomination for Best Male Country Vocalist at the Juno Awards of 1990 after some of his archival recordings were released in 1989 as the album The Ballad of Handsome Ned.
Masyk was born in 1957 in Zweibrücken, West Germany, to parents in the Canadian military. He returned with his family to Stoney Creek, Ontario in 1970. He was a fan in this era of proto-punk music such as Iggy and the Stooges and The Velvet Underground. After discovering a taste for classic country music of the 1950s, he moved to Austin, Texas for a year to learn more about the genre and then moved back to Toronto in 1979.
Initially, Masyk and his brother Jim started a band called The Velours, whose material consisted primarily of Elvis Presley and Velvet Underground covers with some original songs. In 1981, the band was joined by Ronny Azzopardi of The Next and J. D. Weatherstone of The Demics, and changed its name to The Sidewinders. They performed several shows as an opening act for The Viletones, increasing their popularity and soon becoming a headlining draw in their own right. He hosted a weekly residency at the Cameron House tavern on Queen Street West, playing there as a headliner and providing a platform for other like-minded artists.
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