Ken Tobias - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kenneth Wayne Paul Tobias (born July 25, 1945) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

singer-songwriter. He is noted for penning a chart-topping hit for The Bells and for several top-selling recordings of his own.

Early career

Born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

, he 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

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

in 1965 and became a cast member for a local CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

show called Music Hop
Music Hop
Music Hop is a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television from 1963 to 1967.-Premise:Pop and rock music was featured in this series for youth, essentially a Canadian version of American Bandstand.-Production:...

. He was a regular performer from 1966 to 1968 on the national variety program called Singalong Jubilee
Singalong Jubilee
Singalong Jubilee was a CBC Television program produced between 1961 and 1974. It featured musical performances by local talent, playing folk, country and gospel music, in studio on stage, and on location...

, which was also produced in Halifax. His duets with fellow cast-member and later recording star Anne Murray

Anne Murray

Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

were well regarded. Also appearing on the show were such recognized performers as Gene MacLellan

Gene MacLellan

Gene MacLellan was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island.Among his notable compositions were "Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand, "The Call", "Pages of Time" and "Thorn in My Shoe"...

and John Allan Cameron

John Allan Cameron

John Allan Cameron, was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1968. He released 10 albums during his lifetime and was featured on national television...

. After three seasons in Halifax and Montreal, in 1968 Tobias met Bill Medley

Bill Medley

William Thomas Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers....

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. The song won him his first Canadian BMI award for airplay. This was the first of many BMI

Broadcast Music Incorporated

Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...

, Procan

Procan

Procan is a fictional deity in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Procan is the Oeridian god of seas, sea life, salt, sea weather, and navigation...

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

The Bells (band)

The Bells were a Canadian rock band from Montreal that had two hit singles in the early 1970s. Featuring South African natives Anne and Jackie Ralph as well as Cliff Edwards, Doug Gravelle and Gordie McLeod, the group started in 1965 as The Five Bells....

and became a soft rock classic of the early 70's, peaking in 1971 at #1 in Canada and #7 on the US Billboard charts. "Stay Awhile" sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Solo artist

After travelling back and forth between Los Angeles and Montreal, in 1972 Tobias settled in Toronto where he played as a backing musician with various bands. With his brother Tony Tobias, he established Glooscap Music and released several solo recordings that enjoyed extensive airplay in Canada, including "Fly Me High", and "Lady Luck". Ken Tobias is one of the few Canadians to receive the Socan Classics Award for 100,000 airplays of a given song, of which he has five awards, for “Stay Awhile”, “I Just Want To Make Music,” “Every Bit Of Love”, “Give A Little Love” and “Dream #2”. To date, Ken Tobias has released eight albums and one radio sampler on various record labels. He has also released about twenty singles.

In 1978, he toured Europe, and while there he collaborated on the soundtrack of the Italian spaghetti western

Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...

Sella d'Argento (Silver Saddle/They Died with Their Boots On), directed by Lucio Fulci

Lucio Fulci

Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...

Recent career

Tobias lived in Toronto through the 1990s before returning to his native Saint John, where he now lives, painting and continuing to write and perform music, and encouraging younger talents through the Songwriters Association of Canada. In 2002 he produced the debut album for upcoming Canadian artist Kim Jarrett. He has also collaborated with local Saint John artist Jessica Rhaye.

After more than 20 years, production of a new album began in the fall of 2007, tentatively tilted "Prince Edward Street."

Discography

Dream #2 (1972), MGM/Verve
Siren Spell (1976), Attic
The Magic's in the Music (1973), MGM
Every Bit of Love (1975), Attic
Street Ballet (1977), Attic
The Ken Tobias Collection - So Far... So Good (1978) Attic
Gallery (1984), CBC Enterprises
Ken Tobias – Friends (Children’s album, 1984) Kiddin' Round Records

Singles

"You're Not Even Going To The Fair" (Bell, 1969)
"Now I'm In Love" (1971)
"I'd Like To Know" (1971)
"Dream #2" (MGM/Verve 1972)
"I Just Want To Make Music" (1973) Highest CHUM position: 13, February 17, 1973.
"Fly Me High" (1973)
"On The Other Side" (1974)
"Lover Come Quickly" (1974)
"Lady Luck" (1975)
"Run Away With Me" (1975)
"Dance on the Water"/"Every Bit of Love (Attic No. 118, 1976) Highest CHUM position: 20, December 13, 1975.
"Give a Little Love"/"If I Could Talk to You" (Attic No. 124, 1976) Highest CHUM position: 17, April 28, 1976.
"Oh Lynda"/"Natures Song" (Attic No. 137)
"Lovin' Fever"/"Nature's Song" (Attic No. 148)
"Dancer"/"Lovelight" (Attic No. 162, 1977)
"Old Timer"/"I Don't Want to be Alone" (Attic No. 174, 1978)
"Blackbird"/"New York City" (Attic No. 184, 1978)
"Here You Are Today" (1983)

Early career

Solo artist

Recent career

Discography

Singles

External links

Further reading