Look People was 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...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band in the 1980s and 1990s. They had a moderate hit in 1991 with a cover of War

War (band)

War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...

's "Low Rider", and received five CASBY Award

CASBY Award

The CASBY Award is a Canadian award for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. The name CASBY stands for Canadian Artists Selected By You....

 nominations for their CD Small Fish, Big Pond.

The band formed in 1985 around the lineup of vocalist Jaymz Bee

Jaymz Bee

Jaymz Bee is a Canadian musician, writer and radio personality.-Personal life:Jaymz was born and raised in North Bay, Ontario. He is a graduate of Inglenook Community High School.-Early career:...

, guitarist Andy Flinn, bassist Walter K., drummer Mike Weilenman and percussionist Bob Scott. Flinn subsequently left the band and was replaced by Fabio Marc Baltensperger; Baltensperger in turn left and was replaced by Longo Hai. Wilenman quit before their first recording, leaving Bob Scott to fill the chair as drummer and percussionist.

The original lineup released the EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 Stop Making Cheese in 1986 which was recorded in Switzerland and released in North America on AMOK Records.

By 1988, the band was down to duo Bee and Scott, who composed music with producer Walter Zweifel and subsequently played several shows with support from John Bottomley

John Bottomley

John Bottomley was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Bottomley was born in Toronto in 1960 and died in 2011 in Brackendale, British Columbia...

 and Chris Bottomley. The following year, a new permanent lineup formed, consisting of Bee, Scott, Clay Tyson, Kevin Hearn

Kevin Hearn

Kevin Neil Hearn is a Canadian musician who is currently the keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He is also a former member of Rheostatics.-Early life:...

, Bazl Salazar and "Aardvark Q. Dardknarbles". This lineup recorded the band's 1989 outing More Songs About Hats and Chickens.

Salazar and Dardknarbles subsequently left the band, and guitarist Longo Hai returned.

Following the band's 1991 album Boogazm, Look People made their most successful European tour, and criss-crossed Canada twice. After Boogazm, Tyson left the band and was replaced by Chris Gartner. In 1992, Look People became the house band for the 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...

 variety show

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 Friday Night with Ralph Benmergui

Friday Night with Ralph Benmergui

Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui was a Canadian television variety show, which aired on CBC Television from 1992 to 1993. In its first season, the show aired at 10 p.m., following Prime Time News. In its second season, it aired at 11 p.m....

, with Bee at the helm as music director and artistic consultant. Following the cancellation of that series, Look People made one final tour of North America and performed their last show at The Palomino Club in North Hollywood, with an opening act that consisted of rock music performed by Madisson, Raven, Ron Jeremy

Ron Jeremy

Ronald Jeremy Hyatt , usually called Ron Jeremy, is an American pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at number one in their "The 50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list...

 and other porn stars. Bee subsequently pursued lounge music

Lounge music

Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...

, releasing albums as Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra

Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra

Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra is a Canadian lounge music and jazz band.-History:The band was formed by Jaymz Bee , following the breakup of The Look People, and were quickly offered a spot on Molly Johnson's Kumbaya Festival bill...

. Kevin Hearn, Great Bob Scott, and Chris Gartner continued working together as Kevin's group Thin Buckle

Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle

Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle are a Canadian band consisting of Barenaked Ladies multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn as the front man , bassist Chris Gartner and drummer Great Bob Scott. The three had previously collaborated as members of the Canadian alternative rock band The Look People...

.

Look People also attracted many notable musicians as guest players, including Dave Bidini

Dave Bidini

Dave Bidini is a Canadian musician, journalist and author originating from Etobicoke, Ontario. He is a founding member of the acclaimed rock band Rheostatics, and has published several books about music and sports. He currently performs with his band, aptly named BidiniBand. The group's first...

, Ray Montford, Colin Linden

Colin Linden

Colin Linden is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Colin James, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King and The Band.Linden is primarily a electric blues guitarist,...

, Richard Underhill

Richard Underhill

Richard Underhill is a Canadian jazz saxophonist. A founding member of the jazz fusion group The Shuffle Demons, he has toured Europe and Canada to critical acclaim for over 27 years. Underhill won a 2003 Juno Award for his jazz solo debut Tales from the Blue Lounge, and was nominated for the Prix...

, Bob Wiseman

Bob Wiseman

Bob Wiseman is a Juno winning Canadian musician, filmmaker, singer-songwriter, and actor. Wiseman was an original member of Blue Rodeo.-Career:Wiseman was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He studied piano at York University...

, Holly Cole

Holly Cole

Holly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer, particularly popular in Canada and Japan for both her versatile and distinctive voice, along with her adventurous repertoire, which spans such divergent genres as show tunes, rock, and country music.-Holly Cole Trio:In 1983, Cole travelled to Toronto to seek a...

 and Nash the Slash

Nash the Slash

Nash the Slash is a Canadian musician. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is known primarily for playing electric violin and mandolin, as well as harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments .Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, then founded the progressive rock band FM in...

.

Discography

• Stop Making Cheese (1986)
• More Songs About Hats and Chickens (1989)
• Small Fish, Big Pond (1990)
• Boogazm (1991)
• Crazy Eggs (1993)