The Guess
Who's roots go way back to the mid-1950s, when
Chad Allan (aka Allan Kowbel formed a band
called Allan and The Silvertones. By 1959,
the nucleus of The Guess Who had come together.
Chad Allan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Randy Bachman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Jim Kale – bass, backing vocals
Garry Peterson – drums
Bob Ashley – keyboards, backing vocals
This line-up
remained unchanged for 6 years, during which
time 3 albums were recorded and a steady stream
of singles were released.
In 1962, the
band changed their name to Chad Allan and The
Reflections and released their debut single, Tribute
to Buddy Holly, followed by Shy
Guy in 1963. Another name
change took place in 1964, this time to Chad
Allan and The Expressions. 1965 saw two
albums recorded - Shakin' All Over
and Hey Ho. These two
records show the first use of their final name -
The Guess Who.
With the
release of Shakin' All Over (the
single) on January 16, 1965, the band had
established itself as both a local and national
success becoming Canada's first
supergroup. Not only did the song reach #1
on the RPM singles chart, surpassing The
Beatles' tune Eight Days a Week, it also charted
in the top ten right across all of Canada.
And then Scepter Records out of New York, took
notice.
By June 1965,
Shakin' All Over was #22 on the
billboard charts after 11 weeks. American
tour dates started coming in, all long the
eastern seaboard right down to Florida.
Bob Ashley chose to leave the band in December
1965 and Burton Cummings was hired for keyboards
and backup vocals. By mid-1966, Chad
Allan, too, had left the band. With the
departure of Randy Bachman in May 1970,
personnel changes became synonymous with The
Guess Who name over the next 5 years.
June 24,
1972: Jim Kale leaves the band.
Rumours abound that Garry Peterson will soon
follow Jim. YOUTHBEAT
ARTICLE as published in the
Winnipeg Free Press.
September 14,
1975: Winnipeg's Guess Who played their final
gig at the Montreal Forum at the conclusion of a
tour. Burton made the decision to embark
on a solo career.
After a
two-year hiatus, The Guess Who came back
together to play a CBC radio show.
"Last November
(1977) a friend (Bill Iveniuk) got Donny, Kurt,
Gary Peterson and myself together for a one-shot
studio session for a CBC radio show. You
know, the old Guess Who back together, so we had
some rehearsals and did the session and even
though it wasn't very good it was better than
the music any of us were making separately so we
decided to go ahead with playing
together." -- JIM KALE,
JANUARY 31, 1978 as
published in the Winnipeg Free Press
Gary Peterson,
the original drummer, opted out of the reunion
plan and was replaced by Vance Masters, who had
spent the summer and fall of 1977 touring with
Burton Cummings. The four musicians
embarked on a joint venture, with Donnie ably
filling the shoes of the former lead
singer.
Donnie bore a
passing resemblance to Burton and with his
powerful vocals, most outside of Winnipeg were
not even aware that Burton had been
replaced. All 4 members of the new line-up
were directly connected to the original
band. Jim was a founding member having
been with the band since 1962. Donnie and
Kurt toured and wrote with band from 1970
through to 1974. And Vance was the
co-writer of several songs such as Bus
Rider, Hand Me Down World,
Heaven Only Moved, Bye Bye
Babe, All Hashed Out,
Don't You Want to Rain Dance.
For
extra guitar punch, David Inglis was
enlisted. The result was the album Guess
Who's Back.
After
twelve solid months on the road, the group,
down to a quartet after Kurt dropped out for
health reasons, went into the studio to work
on their second album, All This For a
Song. Midway through the
project, they co-opted recording engineer
Ralph Watts to play guitar.
Through the next 3
years, the band toured cross-Canada and in the
States, with a steady stream of bookings.
November 1978 Interview with Jim Kale This interview was part of the
press/promo package that accompanied
the release of the All This For a Song
album.
Original Members of The Guess Who 1965
L-R back row: Randy Bachman, Bob Ashley
L-R front row: Garry Peterson, Chad Allan, Jim Kale
Concert Ticket 1966 (Photo courtesy of Jerry Olenko)
Photo shoot for the
All This for a Song album
L-R back row: Charlie Rugles, Roy
Love
L-R middle row: Buddy Kirby,
Dave Perich, Ralph "Bennelli"
Dutkiewich, Vance Masters, Jim Kale,
Donnie McDougall
Crouched on the floor: Dave
Inglis
THE GUESS
WHO MUSIC
LIBRARY Videos open
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The following
recordings, with the exception of Don't
Be Cruel, are from what
would have been the third album
released under the 1977-1980 line-up
of The Guess Who. Recorded at
Century 21 Studios in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada, Jack Richardson
produced these sessions in late
1980. Jack had worked on all
Guess Who recordings during the period
1968 through to 1975, when the band
temporarily suspended operations before regrouping in
1977.
At one point during these
sessions, Jack wanted Vance to try a
different weight of sticks, much
heavier than his usual pairs.
They ran through a couple
of tunes using the larger sticks, with
Don't Be Cruel being
one of those songs.
And Ralph Watts (the engineer) kept the tapes
running, while also playing guitar
from inside the control room.
One take, no overdubs. Never
intended to be on the album … just the
band playing live with Vance using a
set of sticks he said felt like
baseball bats in his hands.
THE GUESS WHO
