Ken Tobias

Ken Tobias
Ken Tobias in 1973
Background information
Birth name	Kenneth Wayne Paul Tobias
Born	Saint John, New Brunswick
Genres	Folk, Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Songwriter Producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1961–
Labels	MGM, Attic
Associated acts	The Bells

Kenneth Wayne Paul Tobias (born July 25, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He is noted for penning the 1971 chart-topping hit for The Bells, "Stay Awhile", and for several top-selling recordings of his own.

Born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Tobias worked as a draftsman in the early 1960s while also appearing as a musician at local venues in Saint John. He joined a folk group named the Ramblers in 1961, playing guitar, and he later played drums in a rock band called the Badd Cedes. He moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1965 and became a cast member for a local CBC Television show called Music Hop. He was a regular performer from 1966 to 1968 on the national variety program called Singalong Jubilee, which was also produced in Halifax. His duets with fellow cast-member and later recording star Anne Murray were well regarded. Also appearing on the show were such recognized performers as Gene MacLellan and John Allan Cameron. After three seasons in Halifax and Montreal, in 1968, Tobias met Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers who invited him to Los Angeles to record and write as a salaried songwriter. Under the management of Medley's company, Tobias recorded his first single "You’re Not Even Going to the Fair" on Bell Records; like many of his early releases it was credited just to "Tobias". The song won him his first Canadian BMI award for airplay. This was the first of many BMI, Procan and SOCAN awards.

In 1970, he penned "Stay Awhile". Though originally conceived as a country-tinged solo piece, the song would emerge as a sensual duet by The Bells and became a soft rock classic of the early 1970s, peaking in 1971 at #1 in Canada and #7 on the US Billboard charts. "Stay Awhile" sold more than two million copies worldwide.