April Wine

 

Formed: 1969, Halifax

Years Most Active: 1971-1984

 

Primary Members:

 

-  Myles Goodwyn (vocals, guitars, keyboards; 1969-Present)

-  Jimmy Henman (vocals, bass; 1969-71)

-  David Henman (vocals, guitar; 1969-72)

-  Ritchie Henman (drums; 1969-72)

-  Jim Clench (bass; 1972-75)

-  Gary Moffet (guitars; background vocals; 1973-85)

-  Jerry Mercer (ex-Mashmakhan; drums; 1973-85)

-  Steve Lang (bass, background vocals; 1976-85)

-  Brian Greenway (vocals, guitars; 1977-85)

 

Achievements:

 

-  Canadian Music Hall of Fame

-  15 Top 30 and 6 Top 10 hits

-  7 Platinum and 3 Multi-Platinum albums

-  First Canadian album to go Platinum in advance sales

-  First Canadian concert tour to gross $1 million

 

 

Genre: Rock

 

Biggest Hits:

 

-  “Fast Train” (#23 Hit in 1971)

-  “You Could Have Been a Lady” (#5 Hit in 1972)

-  “Bad Side of the Moon” (#16 Hit in 1972)

-  “Lady Run, Lady Hide” (#19 Hit in 1973)

-  “I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love” (#17 Hit in 1974)

-  “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” (#5 Hit in 1975)

-  “Oowatanite” (#11 Hit in 1975)

-  “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy” (#5 Hit in 1976)

-  “You Won’t Dance With Me” (#6 Hit in 1977)

-  “Roller” (#24 Hit in 1979)

-  “Just Between You and Me” (#6 Hit in 1981)

-  “Enough is Enough” (#8 Hit in 1982)

-  “If You Believe in Me” (#19 Hit in 1993)

 

Although this institutional Canadian stadium rock act never received a major Juno award (they were nominated eight times for Group of the Year) before being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2010, April Wine scored a string of hits in the 1970s and early 80s including 15 that made the Top 30 and 6 that made the Top 10. Their success rarely splashed over south of the border; their biggest U.S. hit—1981′s “Just Between You and Me”—made it to #21 on the American charts. But they were always cherished at home in Canada with three platinum albums and three double-platinum. Known for their long song titles, April Wine is basically singer, songwriter, and guitarist Myles Goodwyn (b. Woodstock, NB, 1948), the only member who remained with the outfit throughout their career. Bassist Jim Clench left the band in 1975 to join Bachman-Turner Overdrive and later Loverboy.

 

April Wine formed in Halifax in 1969 before relocating to Montreal a few months later. They were able to quickly sign a deal with Aquarius Records and their debut came in 1971 with the moderate chart hit “Fast Train”. The following year, they made the Top 5 with a cover of Hot Chocolate’s “You Could Have Been a Lady”, which made it to #1 in some cities / radio stations. 1975′s huge hit “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” helped the album Stand Back to go double-platinum. In 1976, the concert tour promoting their album The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy was the first to gross one million dollars. The album itself was the first Canadian release to go platinum simply on advanced sales orders.

 

In 1977, the band released their biggest-selling single—”You Won’t Dance with Me”—which got them to open for the Rolling Stones in Canada and the U.S. as well as for Styx and fellow-Canadian band Rush. They broke into the U.S. Billboard charts in 1979 (“Roller”) which helped their album First Glance become their first to go gold outside Canada.

 

April Wine entered the 80s with great confidence and released the album Harder … Faster with “I Like to Rock” and the new wave tinged hit “Say Hello”. Both were popular on both sides of the border and the album achieved multi-platinum status remaining in the Billboard album charts for 40 weeks. They toured with Nazareth in the States. Bolstered by the hit “Just Between You and Me” (the band’s biggest in the U.S.), the album Nature of the Beast went multi-platinum in both Canada and the U.S.

 

Animal Grace (1984) was to be April Wine’s last album. But in 1992 the band reunited for a Canadian tour and recorded the hit single “If You Believe in Me” and the album Attitude.

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