Ivan Doroschuk

Ivan Doroschuk
Doroschuk performing in June 2011
Background information
Born (1957-10-09) October 9, 1957[1]
Origin Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Genres Synthpop, new wave
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, synthesizers
Years active 1977–2004, 2010–present
Associated acts Men Without Hats, Mitsou
Website

Ivan Eugene Doroschuk (/ˈdɒrəstʃʌk, ˈdɒrəʃʌk/; born October 9, 1957) is an American-born Canadian musician.[1] He is the lead vocalist and founding member of Men Without Hats.

Early life

Doroschuk was born on October 9, 1957, the oldest of three brothers born in Champaign, Illinois to Canadian parents, Eugene and Betty Doroschuk.[1] The family's ethnic origin was Ukrainian.[2]

Doroschuk's father earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1962, and accepted a position at the Université de Montréal.[1] The Doroschuks returned to Canada, where Ivan grew up in the Montreal suburb of Outremont, Quebec.[1] His mother became a member of the music faculty at Montreal's McGill University, teaching classical voice.[3] Doroschuk and his younger brothers, Stefan and Colin, are all classically trained musicians.

In 1976, at the age of 18, Doroschuk briefly studied law in the south of France, returning to Montreal in 1977.[4] At McGill University, he was a student in the Film and Communications program.[5]

Musical career

Doroschuk formed the Canadian new wave/synthpop group Men Without Hats in 1977, earning worldwide success with "The Safety Dance" in 1982 and "Pop Goes the World" in 1987. Men Without Hats started out as a new wave band, but the band's sound changed throughout the 1980s, adding more rock influence and transitioning to hard rock by the end of 1990.[6]

In 1997, recording under the name "Ivan," he released a solo album, The Spell. He attempted to reform Men Without Hats in 2003, releasing what was meant to be his second solo album, Mote in God's Eye, as the band's comeback album No Hats Beyond This Point, but the group did not reform for performances.

A full reformation of the group Men Without Hats occurred in 2010, with Doroschuk leading three new members. In 2012, they released the album Love in the Age of War, in which Doroschuk returned the band to its early-1980s synthpop sound by creating an intentional follow-up album to 1982's Rhythm of Youth.[7]

Personal life

Doroschuk married in the late 1990s and later divorced. He has one son, age 14–15, and was a stay-at-home father prior to reforming Men Without Hats.[6] He resides in Victoria, British Columbia.[6]

Between the end of the tour to promote The Spell in 1999 and Men Without Hats' reunion in 2010, the only public appearances he made were on VH1's True Spin in 2003 and at a SOCAN awards show in November 2008 to collect an award for "The Safety Dance."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Barclay, Michael; Jack, Ian A. D.; Schneider, Jason (2011). Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995. ECW Press. p. 128 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Jean, Michaëlle (May 26, 2008). "Speech on the Occasion of a State Dinner in Honour of His Excellency Mr. Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, and Mrs. Kateryna Yushchenko". Canada. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016.
  3. ↑ Weisblott, Marc (May 15, 1997). "A guy called Ivan". Eye Weekly. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006.
  4. ↑ Dent, Nick (February 4, 2016). "The strange, happy life of the guy who wrote 'Safety Dance'". Time Out. Sydney, Australia. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ Sakadakis, Stella (March 1994). "Where Do the Boys Go?": Tracking the Development of Careers in the Music Industry (PDF) (M.A. thesis). Montreal: McGill University. p. 35. Archived from the original on 2016-12-23.
  6. 1 2 3 Barry, Chris (October 20–26, 2005). "No hat needed: Ivan Doroschuk enjoys the weather out West, raises a kid and lives off his legacy". Montreal Mirror. 21 (18). Archived from the original on 2006-12-14.
  7. ↑ Nagy, Evie (June 12, 2012). "Q&A: Men Without Hats' Ivan Doroschuk on New Album, Meeting Carly Rae Jepsen and the Return of New Wave". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2016-04-16.
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