Skylark (Canadian band)
Encyclopedia
Skylark was a former Canadian
pop
/rock band
active from 1971–1973 and based in the Pacific Northwest
. The band
formed from one of Ronnie Hawkins
' backup groups and signed with Capitol Records
, releasing a self-titled album
in 1972 which spawned three singles
. The group, whose alumni include renowned composer
/arranger
David Foster
, disbanded after the lukewarm reception of their second album, 2, and its members achieved mixed success in other projects.
Their biggest single, "Wildflower
", was a 1972 number one hit in Canada, then peaking at #9 on Billboard's
Hot 100 chart the following spring, and selling over a million copies. It was written
by guitarist
Doug Edwards and Dave Richardson, who was a Victoria
police officer at the time. "Wildflower" is an early example of the power ballad, featuring a strong, emotional lead vocal, a blend of electric guitar
, strings
and harp
, distinctive "slow dance" percussion, and almost-gospel background vocals. It has since been covered by Johnny Mathis
, The New Birth, The O'Jays
, Kenny Rogers
, Aaron Neville
, Gary Morris
, Color Me Badd
, Phil Perry
, Lisa Fischer
, Hong Kong superstar Sandy Lam
, Lana Wolf
and sampled by Tupac Shakur
and Jamie Foxx
.
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...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
active from 1971–1973 and based in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. The band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
formed from one of 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...
' backup groups and signed with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, releasing a self-titled album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
in 1972 which spawned three singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. The group, whose alumni include renowned composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
/arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
David Foster
David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...
, disbanded after the lukewarm reception of their second album, 2, and its members achieved mixed success in other projects.
Their biggest single, "Wildflower
Wildflower (Skylark song)
"Wildflower" is a song written by Doug Edwards and Dave Richardson in 1972. First performed by the Canadian band Skylark, it has been covered by many artists and more recently has been sampled in a number of hip hop songs.-Skylark recording:...
", was a 1972 number one hit in Canada, then peaking at #9 on Billboard's
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 chart the following spring, and selling over a million copies. It was written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Doug Edwards and Dave Richardson, who was a Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
police officer at the time. "Wildflower" is an early example of the power ballad, featuring a strong, emotional lead vocal, a blend of electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
and harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, distinctive "slow dance" percussion, and almost-gospel background vocals. It has since been covered by Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, The New Birth, The O'Jays
The O'Jays
The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1963 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert , Walter Williams , William Powell , Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005...
, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...
, Gary Morris
Gary Morris
Gary Gwyn Morris is an American country music artist who charted a string of countrypolitan-styled hit songs throughout the 1980s....
, Color Me Badd
Color Me Badd
Color Me Badd was an R&B vocal group that was formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. The original members of the group were Bryan Abrams ; Mark Calderon ; Sam Watters and Kevin Thornton...
, Phil Perry
Phil Perry
Phil Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group The Montclairs from 1971 to 1975.- Biography :...
, Lisa Fischer
Lisa Fischer
Lisa Fischer is an American R&B singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in 1991 with her debut album So Intense, which produced the Grammy Award winning hit single "How Can I Ease the Pain". Known for her high notes, which extends into the whistle register, Fischer has been recognized as one of...
, Hong Kong superstar Sandy Lam
Sandy Lam
Sandy Lam, also known as Lam Yik Lin, is a Cantopop singer who sings in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and Japanese.-Career:...
, Lana Wolf
Lana Wolf
Lana Wolf sang with many international artists, among which are The Trammps, George McCrae, Londonbeat, Frans Bauer, René Froger, Gerard Cox and Linda, Roos and Jessica as well as with the Metropole Orchestra....
and sampled by Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
and Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...
.
Members
- B.J. Cook (vocals)
- Doug Edwards (guitar)
- David FosterDavid FosterDavid Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...
(keyboards) - Donny Gerrard (vocals)
- Carl Graves (percussion)
- Robbie King (hammond organ)
- Duris MaxwellDuris MaxwellDuris Maxwell , also known as Ted Lewis, is a Canadian drummer who has played with many bands, including Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, Powder Blues Band, Doucette, The Temptations, Jefferson Airplane, and Skylark...
(drums) - Eddie Patterson (guitar)
- Steven Pugsley (bass)
- Kat Hendricks (drums) - replaced Hilton
- Brian Hilton (drums) - replaced Maxwell
- Norman McPherson (guitar) - replaced Edwards
- John Verner (guitar) - an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, replaced McPherson in 1972 - Allan Mix (guitar) - replaced Verner in 1973
Singles
- 1972 - "What Would I Do Without You" (Capitol)
- 1973 - "WildflowerWildflower (Skylark song)"Wildflower" is a song written by Doug Edwards and Dave Richardson in 1972. First performed by the Canadian band Skylark, it has been covered by many artists and more recently has been sampled in a number of hip hop songs.-Skylark recording:...
" (Capitol) - 1973 - "I'll Have to Go Away" (Capitol)
Albums
- 1972 - Skylark (Shanachie/Capitol)
- 1974 - 2 (Capitol)
- 1996 - Wildflower: Golden Classics Edition (Collectibles)