Marie Carmen
Born in 1959, Sainte-Foy, QC, she joined a number of bands in the 80s: Accident, Blood et Marie, and Radio Rats. Claude Dubois used her as a backing vocalist, as did The Box. Luc Plamondon selected her to play in a renewal of “Starmania”. This led to her releasing a debut solo album in 1988. Her first Felix-nominated song, “Faut pas que j’panique”, came at the turn of the decade. She released four more studio albums in the 90s spawning such hits as “Entre l’ombre et la lumière” and “J’ai l’blues de vous” garnering for her the Felix Female Artist of the year award in both 1992 and 1993. In the new millennium, she retired from the entertainment business to undertake humanitarian pursuits in Peru.
Laurence Jalbert
Born the same year as Marie, in Rivière-au-Renard, QC, she started out in the band Volt in the mid-80s which won a radio competition. But the band released only one single (“Nobody Knows”) before splitting up. Laurence subsequently embarked on a solo career, releasing her debut (self-titled) album in 1990. With the help of hit singles “Au nom de la raison”, “Tomber” and “À toi”, the album was certified Platinum in Canada. Her follow up, Corridors, came in 1993 and was even more successful than its predecessor. It won the Felix for Pop / Rock album of the year and the track “Encore et encore” was named song of the year. “Bella” was also a big hit. Avant le Squall and hit “Pour toi” came next, followed by a live album, Communio, with Dan Bigras in 2000. She released a few more albums in the new millennium
Colin James
Colin was born in Regina in 1964. He began learning the guitar at 8 and playing around the province with folk band Sod Hut and Buffalo Chips when he was only 13. He quit high school after Grade 10 to play with punk band Nick Danger and the Close Calls. He then formed blues-rock outfit Hoodoo Men and moved to Winnipeg. At age 20, he settled in Vancouver and was able to open for John Lee Hooker and George Thorogood. He became noticed when he toured the U.S. with Stevie Ray Vaughan in the 1985. Acting on advice from Vaughan, he started his own backing band and made his first (self-titled) album in 1988 which spawned the hit “Voodoo Thing”. 1990 was a big year for him. It saw his biggest hit “Just Came Back” which sounds similar to Platinum Blonde’s “Contact”. The song won the Juno for Song of the Year and he for Male Artist of the Year. He also won the latter Juno in 1996 when he scored another big hit—”Saviour”.
Julie Masse
Julie Masse was born in 1970, in Greenfield Park, QC (near Montreal). Her debut (self-titled) album was certified double-Platinum in Canada and was also a hit in France. It spawned the hit singles “C’est Zéro“, “Billy”, “Sans t’oublier” and “Prends bien garde”. The latter two were nominated for Felix song of the year awards. She won the Felix for Female artist of the year in 1991. The hit “Comme on l’a choisi” and album À Contre Jour followed in 1992. She won the Juno award for Best New Female Artist in 1993. Encouraged by this, she released her first English album, Circle of One, the following year in which she collaborated with Corey Hart. Later, she added vocals to Hart’s albums and married him. They now have four children together and live in the Bahamas.
The Northern Pikes
The Pikes formed in Saskatoon in 1984. Primary members were Bryan Potvin, Jay Semko, Merl Bryck and Don Schmid. They managed six Top 40 singles, including two top 10s which both appeared in 1990—”She Ain’t Pretty” and “Girl with a Problem”—off their third, Snow in June, album. The band was nominated for five Juno Awards but never saw a win. After two more studio albums they disbanded in 1993.
Mae Moore
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, she pursued art school in Ontario in her twenties. Worried she’d become a starving artist, she assembled a musical trio and relocated to Vancouver. From there she joined the rock band Foreign Legion playing electric guitar. She teamed up with John Dexter and co-wrote the song “Heaven in Your Eyes” for Loverboy which was included in the soundtrack for the film Top Gun. But it was her providing backing vocals for Barney Bentall that resulted in a recording contract with CBS. She released her first album, Oceanview Motel, in 1990 which produced three Top 30 hits, the most successful of which was “I’ll Watch Over You” (#16). Moore’s second album, Bohemia, was a bigger hit. Two of its tracks, “Because of Love” and “Coat of Shame” made the year-end Top 100 chart. Her third album, Dragonfly, released in 1995, also made two contributions to the year-end singles chart: “Watermark” and “Genuine“. The latter was her biggest hit, peaking at #6 on the weekly singles chart. For unknown reasons, despite her growing popularity, CBS dropped her from their label. With the assistance of Jann Arden, she released a couple more albums but was unable to replicate her previous success.
