Trooper (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Trooper


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Origin = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre = Rock Hard Rock
Years_active = 1965–present
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Current_members = Ra McGuire (Vocals) Brian Smith (Guitar) Paul Gogo (Keyboards) Scott Brown (Bass) Clayton Hill (Drums)
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Trooper is a Juno Award winning [cite web | title= Juno award winners| work=junoawards.ca|url=http://www.junoawards.ca/archive_past.php] Canadian rock band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1965. As the principal songwriters for the group, McGuire and Smith have performed as Trooper (originally called "Winters Green" and later "Applejack") from inception to the present day.

History

1970s

1972 saw McGuire and Smith playing in a band named "Winter's Green" that recorded two songs, "Are you a Monkey" and "Jump in the River Blues", on Rumble records. Winter's Green became Applejack in the mid-seventies adding drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalinsky. After hearing Applejack perform, Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who signed the band to his "Legend" label, and produced the band's first album, "Trooper" (their first recording with their new name), which contained the Canadian hits "Baby Woncha Please Come Home" (Smith/McGuire) and "General Hand Grenade" (Smith/McGuire). Managed by Sam Feldman, the band began touring extensively in both Canada and the US.

After moving from Legend Records to MCA Records, Trooper added Frank Ludwig on keyboards. Their 1975 self-titled debut album was followed by "Two for the Show" (1976), which was certified Gold in Canada. The album contained the hits "Two for the Show" (McGuire) and "Santa Maria" (Smith/McGuire). "The Boys in the Bright White Sportscar" (Smith/McGuire), initially on this album, later became a hit when it was re-released (with a few modifications) on the "Hot Shots" greatest hits package in 1979. Kalensky was replaced by Doni Underhill before the recording of "Knock 'Em Dead Kid" (1977), which was the group's first Canadian Platinum. This album contained the hits "We're Here For a Good Time (not a long time)" (Smith/McGuire) and "Oh, Pretty Lady" (Smith/McGuire). "Thick as Thieves" went double-platinum and featured the group's only successful U.S. single, [cite web | title= Billboard chart rankings| work=billboard.com|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_index.jsp] "Raise A Little Hell" (Smith/McGuire) (1978). This album also contained the hit "Round, Round We Go" (written and sung by Frank Ludwig), and "The Moment That it Takes" (written by Stewart and Underhill and sung by Ludwig). "Flying Colors" (1979), which contained the hits "Three Dressed Up as a Nine" (Smith/McGuire) and "Janine" (Smith/McGuire), also attained Double-Platinum status. The band's 1979 greatest hits album, "Hot Shots", broke all Canadian sales records for Canadian sales of a Canadian album, reaching Quadruple-Platinum. [cite web | title=Ra McGuire's Site | work=ramcguire.com |url=http://ramcguire.com]

1980s to Present

In March 1980, Trooper was honoured with a Juno Award (Canada's 'Grammy') for 'Best Group'. Two of their albums ("Hot Shots" and "Flying Colors") were also nominated that year for "Best Album". That same year, [cite web | title=Bio at CanadianBands | work=CanadianBands.com |url=http://www.canadianbands.com/Trooper.html] "Hot Shots" was released, Trooper severed their artist/producer relationship with Randy Bachman and Ludwig was replaced by Rob Deans, who performed on the self-produced album "Untitled" (1980) and "Money Talks" (1982) (produced by Heart producer Mike Flicker and released on (Flicker/RCA)."The Last of the Gypsies" (1989), released on the band's self-owned "Great Pacific Records" label and distributed by Warner Music Canada, came after a six-year recording absence and was certified Canadian Gold. It contained the hits "Boy With the Beat" (Smith/McGuire) and "The Best Way (to Hold A Man)" (McGuire). "Ten" (1991), containing the regional hit "American Dream" (Smith/McGuire), was the group's tenth and last album to date.

In 1998, Trooper guest starred on "This Hour Has 22 Minutess '. However, their songs were played in numerous episodes of "22 Minutes" throughout the 8th season (2000-01).

In 2001, "Shot Spots", a Punk tribute to Trooper, was released on Visionary records. It contained 30 Trooper songs performed by 30 Canadian punk bands (D.O.A., SNFU,Dirty Bird, Dayglo Abortions and others) and an introduction by Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. As detailed in a four-page 2004 photo essay by Todd Korol in Macleans Magazine and a two-page 2005 Globe and Mail story by Peter Cheney, Trooper is still very active and popular as a touring band, performing as many as 100 shows a year across Canada. In April 2006, Trooper singer and songwriter, Ramon McGuire released his first book: "Here For a Good Time – On the Road With Trooper, Canada's Legendary Rock Band". The book was published by Insomniac Press.Their most recent concert was held in Barrie, Ontario at Kempenfest 2008.

Discography

* "Trooper (1975)"
* "Two for the Show (1976)"
* "Knock 'Em Dead Kid (1977)"
* "Thick as Thieves (1978)"
* "Hot Shots (1979)"
* "Flying Colors (1979)"
* "Untitled (1980) "
* "Money Talks (1982) "
* "The Last of the Gypsies (1989) "
* "Ten (1991) "

Singles

Chart positions compiled based on the highest position between the RPM 100 Singles, The CBC and The Record charts, which all measured hit singles in Canada. CHUM chart is listed separately as they only measured hit singles in the Toronto area

Trooper (1975)
*1975 – "Baby Woncha Please Come Home" (Canada #45) (CHUM #14)
*1976 – "General Hand Grenade" (Canada #14) (CHUM #18)

Two For the Show (1976)
*1976 – "Two For the Show" (Canada #15) (CHUM #24)
*1976 – "Santa Maria" (Canada #30)

Knock 'Em Dead Kid (1977)
*1977 – "We're Here For A Good Time (Not a Long Time)" (Canada #12)
*1978 – "Oh, Pretty Lady" (Canada #10) (CHUM #16)

Thick as Thieves (1978)
*1978 – "Raise A Little Hell" (Canada #26) (USA #59)
*1978 – "Round Round We Go" (Canada #10) (CHUM #13)
*1979 – "The Moment That it Takes" (Canada #14)

Hot Shots (1979)
*1979 – "The Boys in the Bright White Sportscar" (Canada #25)

Flying Colors (1979)
*1979 – "3 Dressed Up As 9" (Canada #24)
*1980 – "Janine" (Canada #7) (CHUM #12)
*1980 – "Good Clean Fun" (Canada #81)

Money Talks (1982)
*1982 – "Only A Fool" (Canada #44)

The Last of the Gypsies (1989)
*1989 – "Boy With A Beat" (Canada #33)
*1989 – "The Best Way (to Hold A Man)" (Canada #70)

Ten (1991)
*1991 – "American Dream" (Canada #26)

Current members

* Ra McGuire (vocals)
* Brian Smith (Guitar)
* Paul Gogo (keyboards)
* Scott Brown (Bass)
* Clayton Hill (drums)

Past members

* Tommy Stewart (Drums)cite web | url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/T/Trooper.html | title=Trooper | publisher=Jam!/The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia | accessdate=2007-12-04 ]
* Harry Kalensky (Bass)
* Frank Ludwig (Keyboards)
* Doni Underhill (Bass)
* Rob Deans (Keyboards)
* Marc LaFrance (Drums)Fact|date=December 2007
* Ronnie Baran (Drums)Fact|date=December 2007
* John Dryden (Bass)Fact|date=December 2007
* Richard Sera (Keyboards)Fact|date=December 2007
* Aaron Anderson (Drums)Fact|date=December 2007
* Blaine Smith (Keyboards)
* Larry Church (Bass)
* Mike Schmidt (Drums)
* John Stoltz (Drums)Fact|date=December 2007
* Tony Ferraro (Drums)Fact|date=December 2007
* Timothy B. Hewitt (Bass)Fact|date=December 2007
* Lance Chalmers (Drums)
* Frankie Baker (Drums)

See also

* Canadian rock
* Music of Vancouver
* List of bands from British Columbia
* List of bands from Canada

External links

* [http://trooper.ca Official Site]
* [http://ramcguire.com Ra McGuire's Site]
* [http://www.canadianbands.com/Trooper.html Bio at CanadianBands.com]
* [http://www.geocities.com/trooperlyrics/albumstxt.htm Song Lyrics] at GeoCities
* [http://myspace.com/claytonhillmusic Drummer Clayton Hill's Myspace page]
* [http://www.frankbakerstudios.com Frank Baker's official site]

References