Keith Hampshire's story begins as his family immigrated from England to Canada & landed eventually in Alberta. His singing started in the church choir & that's where his 1st pro gig came from....singing at a funeral. As a young man, his band Keith & the Variations built a solid following in Alberta, BC & Saskatchewan culminating with them opening for Roy Orbison. Feeling like he had reached his potential with the Variations & life in Alberta, he returned to England where he had a stint as a Dee Jay on the infamous Radio Caroline/Pirate Radio. Upon his return to Canada, things started going his way in both the music & acting fields. We discuss all of this & a lot more in this episode of Tommy Solo's Famous Friends.

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Joey Hollingsworth grew up in London Ontario along with his lifetime pal, Tommy Hunter. They both left London for Toronto in search of their fame & fortune & eventually both would make their mark. Joey was the 1st Black man to appear on CBC television & would continue to break the colour barrier through out his long and illustrious career. He dealt with racism along the way, but never let it slow him down as he would appear on the Wayne & Schuster show, the Ed Sullivan show, Mr Rogers etc. He is a multiple award winning singer, dancer & percussionist & he tells me his story with great joy in this înterview.

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As an immigrant to Canada from Holland as a young boy, Ronnie King quickly adapted to life as a Canuck. His journey as an iconic rock & roller started early. In this episode, we discuss his learning to play guitar on a used guitar with one string that his Dad brought home to him as a gift, along with the early years with the original six piece version of the Stampeders, driving from Calgary to Toronto in the 1960s in an old broken down limo and more. Ronnie chuckles as he tells me about life in the Stampeders. We also discuss his acting career, appearing on both Don Kirshner's Rock concert & the Dating game. Ronnie King along with Rich Dodson & Kim Berley forged paths for many other great Canadian bands to follow & he tells us all about it in this episode.

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Holly Woods spent years developing her craft before she broke onto the Canadian musical scene with the highly successful band, Toronto.
We discussed how she started out in music & how she & an early band called Sass would come to Canada from Upstate New York & stay at Larry's Hide away in Toronto while playing gigs at other local venues. She tells us how the band Toronto came together & talks about her collaborations with Brian Too Loud McLeod & Darby Mills etc.
We talked about these things and a lot more including her brand new release "the Demos have magic" .

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Ken Tobias is a singer/songwriter with decades of accolades & achievements under his belt. From his days singing duets with Anne Murray in the early 1960s on CBC TV, being signed to a major record label by Bill Medley of Righteous brothers fame and on. One of Ken's biggest claims to fame was writing the multi million selling hit "Stay awhile" as recorded by the Bells. We talk about these things and a whole lot more in this interview.

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Jim Corbett is known as the bass player in the classic Canadian rock band Thundermug. A veteran of the golden years of rock & roll, he has a lot of stories to tell & we discuss a lot of musical history in this interview.
We talk about the early years when Thundermug hobbled together an old 1958 one ton school bus & moved from London, Ontario to Toronto & were eventually signed to a record deal. Jim tells us about close encounters with other up & coming acts of the day Rush & BTO.
Listen to this interview to hear how Jim went from an addict caught up in rock & roll excess to a pillar of society today.

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Tommy Hunter was a regular fixture on Canadian TV in the 1960s, 70's 80's & into the 1990s when his show was picked up by the Nashville Network. He is very appreciative & grateful of his many fans to this day. He feels lucky to have shared the same manager as Johnny Cash. Tommy Hunter had many famous guests on his TV show & introduced stars like a young Shania Twain etc.
We discuss all this & a lot more during this interview.

Brian Allen has been involved in many aspects of the music biz over the years. From playing the bars to selling out arenas with the hugely successful band Toronto & then thriving as a music executive.
We discuss his early years moving around in a military family from base to base, spending years on the road before hitting it big with multiple platinum selling band Toronto & a lot more. As a producer, Brian has worked with acts such as Haywire, Lee Aaron etc. Today he is a board member of the Country Music Association of Ontario.

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Danny Marks has a long resume in the music business having joined Classic Canadian band Edward Bear at 16 years old & since then shared stages with diverse artists including Tiny Tim, Ken Tobias, Rick James, Burton Cummings etc. He's an award winning blues man & Canadian radio staple. We discuss his early beginnings on a Disney Mouskeetar, his time in LA, the current state of the music business & a lot more!

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Ellen McIlwaine is a multi talented singer/guitarist whose connections musically & spiritually are unparalleled. She was raised in a multi cultured environment & was exposed to a venerable cornucopia of musical flavours at an early age. In the heady days during the late 1960s & early 1970s she counted among her personal friends & shared the stage with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jack Bruce etc. She has toured the globe extensively both solo & with artists like Taj Mahal. After becoming a permanent resident of Canada in the late 1980s, she eventually found a home in Alberta where she is now very happy to drive a school bus.
We discuss these things and a whole lot more!

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