The Tripp was a short-lived 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...

 rock band, based in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 from the mid 1960s, featuring Neil Merryweather

Neil Merryweather

Neil Merryweather is a Canadian rock singer, bass player and songwriter...

 and Stan Endersby

Stan Endersby

Stan Endersby is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist.He comes from an acting family and began his career in the early '60s playing with Toronto bands, The Omegas and C J Feeney & The Spellbinders....

 and formed the link between The Just Us

The Just Us

The Just Us were a short-lived Toronto based, R&B band from the mid 1960s, which later morphed into The Tripp and then Livingstone’s Journey. The group’s personnel included Neil Merryweather and Stan Endersby.-Origins:...

 and Livingston’s Journey.

The Just Us

The Tripp was formerly known as Just Us, but changed name in early September 1966, shortly after an American duo of the same name released a couple of singles on Colpix. One of the band’s first (if not debut) shows was at the Gogue Inn in Toronto on September 16 with Luke & The Apostles

Luke & The Apostles

Luke & The Apostles was a 1960s blues group from Toronto known for their 1967 hit "Been Burnt". Band members included Canadian guitarist Mike McKenna, Luke Gibson, Peter Jermyn, Jim Jones, and Pat Little...

 and others.

The group released no recordings but did appear on the first episode of 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...

’s Sunday Show and were a fixture on the Toronto club scene. Pianist Richard Bell

Richard Bell (Canadian musician)

Richard Bell was a Canadian musician best known as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band. He was also a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s.-Early life and career:...

 from Ritchie Knight & The Mid-Knights briefly augmented the group but soon moved onto Ronnie Hawkins

Ronnie Hawkins

Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...

 and the Hawks (and years later, Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

's Full Tilt Boogie Band

Full Tilt Boogie Band

Full Tilt Boogie Band was a rock band originally headed by guitarist John Till and then by Janis Joplin until her death in 1970. The band was composed of Till, pianist Richard Bell, bassist Brad Campbell, drummer Clark Pierson, and organist Ken Pearson....

 and The Band

The Band

The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...

).

One of the band’s most prestigious shows was at Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...

 on September 24, 1966 with the cream of the local talent. The Tripp played regularly at clubs like the Flick, the El Patio and Boris’ in Toronto’s hip Yorkville

Yorkville, Toronto

Yorkville is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, well known for its shopping. It is a former village, annexed by the City of Toronto. It is roughly bounded by Bloor Street to the south, Davenport Road to the north, Yonge Street to the east and Avenue Road to the west, and is considered part of...

 district.

Lillie left in May 1967 to play with Ricky James Matthews

Rick James

James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...

 in a reformed version of The Mynah Byrds and then Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...

’s band, The Flying Circus

The Flying Circus

. For other meanings of this term see the disambiguation page under Flying CircusThe Flying Circus were a short-lived Toronto-based group fronted by singer/songwriter, Bruce Cockburn...

. Dennis Pendrith from Simon Caine

Simon Caine

Simon Caine was a short-lived Toronto funk/soul band, which recorded a solitary album in 1970. Most of the musicians went on to become top session players on the Canadian music scene throughout the 1970s and 1980s working with the likes of Bruce Cockburn, David Wiffen and Murray McLauchlan.-Early...

& The Catch replaced him and later that month the band changed name again to Livingston’s Tripp and then Livingston’s Journey.

Sources

• Nick Warburton article on Stan Endersby
• The Toronto Telegram’s After Four Section listed live dates every Thursday.