The image
in the upper left hand corner is the final
lineup of Dianne Heatherington and The
Merry-Go-Round, 20 years after their last
performance. Photo
credit: Hermann Frühm
In
1970, Dianne Heatherington was signed by
producer Rob Cantor to do a 13 week local CBC
television show, but she quit after only 6 weeks
due to the direction the production was
taking. Merry-Go-Round at that time
consisted of Rob Langdon (guitar), Melvyn
Ksionzek (bass), Hermann Frühm (piano), and
Steve Banman (drums). According to Dianne,
"It wasn't going the way I wanted. They
didn't want to use my band and I really felt
like a part of that unit then." So ended
the first CBC event.
By May 1971, the line up
had changed to Dianne Heatherington (vocals),
Rob Langdon (guitar), Hermann Frühm (keyboards),
Melvyn Ksionzek (bass), and Vance Masters
(drums). Merry-Go-Round had become
well-known for their polished shows and the
exceptional proficiency of each individual
member. Their play list was a diverse
collection of songs ranging from top 40 to Frank
Zappa to their own original works, and several
Brother tunes.
And CBC came calling
again, this time for a one-hour, 11 episode,
coast-to-coast musical variety show. For
three weeks in the summer of 1971, the band
rehearsed Monday through Wednesday in the CBC
studios on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, while
still playing the local club circuit in the
evenings. The first 6 shows were
videotaped on June 3rd and 4th before a live
audience. It ran from July 5th through to
September 13th, 1971.
Late fall found the band
back on the road, this time in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan playing a room called the Top Of
The Inn. Rob Langdon had been replaced by
Duncan Wilson on guitar, and Melvyn Ksionzek had
moved into the sound tech role. Bill
Wallace stepped in on bass. The only known PHOTO OF THIS VERSION OF THE BAND was
published on HANS SIPMA'S WEB SITE, June 2023.
By chance, Kenny Rogers
was also in town for a one-nighter. He and
his entourage showed up at the club after their
performance and caught the final set of Dianne
Heatherington and the Merry-Go-Round.
Impressed by the musicians’ abilities and
original material, he approached the band to
offer them an appearance on his TV show, Rollin'
On the River, in addition to a record
deal. Arrangements were made to meet Kenny
in Las Vegas, and to then travel together to Los
Angeles to record the album, with all expenses
being covered by Mr. Rogers.
The band set out on the
1800-mile journey from Winnipeg to Las Vegas in
the middle of winter. For those who have
never travelled the ice-covered roads of the
northwest, there are no words that can
accurately reflect the bleakness on many of
North America’s highways in the dead of
winter. The trek took the band through the
frigid state of North Dakota and into
Montana. Bill Wallace was behind the wheel
of the Volkswagen car, with Dianne in the
passenger seat and Vance asleep in the
back. The rest of the group was travelling
in a van, a couple of miles ahead. Just
outside of Billings, Montana, the tiny
Volkswagen hit a patch of black ice and skidded
mercilessly out of control. Rolling end
over end several times, it finally came to rest
on its roof, in the middle of a farmer’s
field. The windshield had popped out
sometime during the roll and snow melted into
the compartment and on the occupants. The
temperature was so cold outside that it froze on
their faces instantly. Amazingly, no one
was seriously hurt, and the three trudged
several hundred yards back to the highway to
flag down help, which arrived some time later in
the form of a semi-trailer. By this point,
all three were inconceivably chilled and all
Vance could think of was, “Thank God - some
heat!” The trucker pulled over and
everyone climbed in for a lift to the closest
town. The first words out of the trucker’s
mouth were … “Sorry for the cold - my heater’s
not working.” An ominous start to what was
supposed to be their “big break”.
The Merry-Go-Round
eventually made it into Los Angeles and spent 2
weeks in January 1972 laying down tracks for
half of the album. They returned to
Winnipeg to finish off some scheduled dates, and
while at home, received the recording contracts
from Kenny Rogers' management team. Dianne
concluded it was not in her best interests, or
that of her band, to accept the offer for
several reasons, not the least of which was the
distribution of royalties that was skewed
heavily in favour of Rogers. As a result,
the songs listed below from these sessions are
just the rough mix - the final mix was never
completed.
For the next 6 months,
the band continued to tour from Thunder Bay to
Alberta, playing 6 nights a week. Several
events occurred in the months following the
Rogers episode that caused the band to fold in
mid-1972. Bill Wallace was offered a
position in The Guess Who right around the time
that Dianne severely damaged her vocal
chords. She was forced to rest for just
over a year before returning with another band
in 1973, the short-lived Sunny Lemmatina.
By 1975, she had transitioned to an entirely
different style, choosing to work with a solo
piano player instead of a full band.
Ultimately, Dianne made
the decision to relocate to Toronto, eventually
pursuing an acting career in live theater.
She later moved on to films with roles in Tom
Cruise’s hit, Cocktail, and The Liberace
Story. Until her death from ovarian cancer
in 1998, she also headed up her own corporation
- the Dianne Heatherington Security
Company. The business became highly
successful, providing 24-hour
location security to major budget
films and television series filmed in and around
Toronto.
Vance and Duncan
continued to play together, creating an informal
partnership that would endure for the next 5
years until Vance, too, joined The Guess Who, in
the post-Cummings incarnation.
Dianne
Heatherington 1973
Headline
from the Winnipeg Tribune,
for Dianne's TV show.
June 12, 1971. Full article HERE.
1977 Toronto Star
Photograph Archive,
Courtesy of Toronto Public
Library
1980 Toronto Star
Photograph Archive,
Courtesy of Toronto Public
Library
DIANNE
HEATHERINGTON & THE
MERRY-GO-ROUND MUSIC
LIBRARY IMPORTANT: Please
stop one audio recording
before starting another
or you will have both
playing at the same time.
Three songs from the
Kenny Rogers sessions
One of the
tunes recorded at the Rogers' session
was actually another Brother piece
titled Long Time Coming.
There is an air vent, or percussion,
hole on drums, whose normal function is
to release pressure. Vance had
only one rack tom on his Ludwigs and to
achieve a change in tone while he was
playing, Melvyn Ksionzek blew into the
air hole, causing the tone to shift up
and then back down when he
stopped. Listen for it at the
0:30, 1:20, and 2:10 marks. Bill
Wallace plays the French horn on this
cut.
WINDING ROAD
LONG TIME COMING
SPECIAL EVENTS
DAY
A few pieces from
some of the Merry-Go-Round's
live shows. Recorded at the
Fountain of Trevi, the St. Vital
Hotel, and other venues
throughout Winnipeg.
Dianne Heatherington, Hermann Frühm,
Duncan Wilson, Bill Wallace, and
Vance Masters.
SITTIN' HERE
LOVIN' YOU
Brother composition - Millie Was
A Sweet Dried Plum -
made its way into the Merry-Go-Round
collection.
MILLIE WAS A
SWEET DRIED PLUM
And this Brother song - Dolly's
Bagpipe Band - was also a
regular part of their show, with Vance
playing kazoo.
DOLLY'S BAGPIPE
BAND
Often
called Winnipeg's Janis Joplin, Dianne's
cover of Me and Bobby McGee
was a frequent audience request.
ME & BOBBY
McGEE
Frank
Zappa wasn't your typical pub fare, but
this verson of Tears Began to
Fall was a real crowd
pleaser.
TEARS BEGAN TO
FALL
And
lastly, what many considered to be
Dianne's signature song, McArthur's
Park
DIANNE HEATHERINGTON
& THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
