Shooter (band)

Shooter
Also known as Greaseball Boogie Band (1972-1975)
Origin Toronto, Ontario
Genres rock, Rhythm and Blues, Soul
Years active 1972–1980
Labels GRT Records
Casino Records
Associated acts Cameo Blues Band
Crowbar
Past members Duncan White
Ray Harrison
Wayne Mills
John Bride
Tommy Frew

Shooter, originally known known as Greaseball Boogie Band, was a Canadian rock music group active in the early 1970s.[1] They were most noted for receiving a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising New Group at the Juno Awards of 1975.[2]

The band, which initially tried to market itself as a Canadian version of Sha Na Na, consisted of vocalist Duncan White, keyboardist Ray Harrison, saxophonist Wayne Mills, guitarist John Bride and drummer Tommy Frew. Their debut album as Greaseball Boogie Band, consisting entirely of covers of 1950s rock songs such as "Be-Bop-A-Lula", "Blueberry Hill" and "Sea Cruise", was released in 1973 on GRT Records.[3] They had a modest hit on Toronto's local CHUM Chart with "Be-Bop-A-Lula", and received their Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Group in 1975, but changed their name to Shooter, and changed their visual image from a greaser look to a 1930s gangster style, before releasing the album Shooter in 1975.[4] The album again consisted entirely of covers, this time selecting more current songs by artists such as Leo Sayer, Neil Sedaka and Roger Cook. They had hits on the CHUM Chart with "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)", "Train" and "Hard Times", but GRT Records went bankrupt in 1976 before the band could release another album.[2]

They signed to Casino Records, releasing the radio singles "Cherokee Queen" and "Flows Like a River" in 1978 while working on the followup, but that label also went bankrupt before the album could be released.[2] Harrison, Mills and Bride left to form Cameo Blues Band,[1] while White and Frew briefly carried on with a new band lineup that included Rhéal Lanthier and John Gibbard of Crowbar, but the band broke up by 1980 without releasing any further new music.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Greaseball Boogie Band". AllMusic.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Proudly Canadian: Shooter". Cashbox, March 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "A deluge of records by pop's greatest and the lesser lights too". The Globe and Mail, December 8, 1973.
  4. ↑ "A concert more dress rehearsal than real show". The Globe and Mail, May 31, 1975.
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