Jaymz Bee

Jaymz Bee is a Canadian musician, writer and radio personality who was born and raised in North Bay, Ontario.

Jaymz Bee was the lead singer for the alternative rock band The Look People from 1985 to 1994. When The Look People became the house band for "Friday Night with Ralph Benmergui" in 1992, Bee was the show's musical director. The band also backed up comedians such as Judy Tenuta, Harland Williams, Mark DeCarlo and Jim Carrey, performed on two Lollapalooza tours and performed extensively in Europe for several years. Following the end of the show, the band broke up and Bee began recording lounge music albums as Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra.

Jaymz Bee was also the lead singer of the Bee People, (prior to his work with The Look People, The Royal Jelly Orchestra and various projects) and was a founder of the Al Waxman Fan Club. The Fan Club began in the 1980s following the heyday of the King of Kensington television show. Bee, his associates Clay Tyson (son of Ian and Sylvia), Bazl Salazar, Bruce J. Scott and artist Max MacDonald would host parties and write songs in honour of Waxman. In 1988 he also appeared on the Carlos Perón album Impersonator II.

While the Fan Club initially appeared to be a publicity stunt, this led to a long and successful association between Jaymz Bee and Al Waxman. Waxman attended some of the Fan Club events as organised by Bee, most of which raised money for charities such as The Canadian Cancer Foundation and Big Brothers. Bee attended Waxman's funeral, and joined with his Fan Club to hold a wake in Toronto on 25 January 2001. They had a New Orleans-style funeral march with a jazz band and paraded from The Cameron House to Kensington Market where they recorded his hit TV theme song with Vezi Tayeb at Kensington Sound. Years later a statue of Al Waxman was put in Kensington Market.

The AWFC boasted over 1,000 card carrying members and, while the bulk of the members were from Toronto, some were as far away as Japan and Africa. President Bee received a terse reply from Buckingham Palace however, notifying him that the Queen of England does not "join a fan club". Al Waxman realized over the years that this organization, while appearing tongue in cheek, was a group of bona fide fans who enjoyed celebrating "the King of Canada".

In 1985, Jaymz met a Swiss band called Chinook, who had a change of plan after arriving in Toronto and discovering they had a lot of hard rock competition. They auditioned for singers (who had English as a first language) and with over forty responses, decided Jaymz Bee was best suited for the band's sound. Within a few weeks Look People was born, and took off to play Switzerland summer festivals with one important addition. A man who would become Bee's best friend and long time collaborator; drummer Great Bob Scott. The band toured back and forth between Europe and North America many times in their nine year run. They released 2 EPs, 3 albums, 1 single, and several cassettes. They made a series of music videos; some over the top, shot on film with countless extras and many super low budget. The video for the song "Five" received high rotation on Much Music in 1992 amongst videos by Annie Lennox and U2...for a mere five hundred dollars!

On April 13, 1994 the band played their final two shows. A set at Club Lingerie in L.A. followed by a bizarre performance (following a band made up of porn stars) at The Palomino in North Hollywood. They parted amicably and rumours of a reunion live to this day.

Jaymz Bee returned home to Toronto and began working on a jazz (lounge) recording with childhood friend and multi-instrumentalist, Jono Grant. After recording a three song demo they were offered a gig by Molly Johnson to perform at Ontario Place for her first nation-wide AIDS benefit called "Kumbaya". The concert was broadcast coast to coast on Much Music. About this time, Jaymz and an artist ally, Melleny Melody, formed an Independent label called "Nepotism Records" and the first RJO debut CD was recorded. From there Jaymz was offered a position with BMG Music Canada, running a boutique label called "Leisure Lab". He released four CD's, 3 for his own band (featuring a plethora of guest vocalists) and one for Calgary crooner Tim Tamashiro. The next Indie Label was the short lived "Leisure Disc" which went in to partnership with the ill-fated Songcore.

In 1997, he published the book "Cocktail Parties for Dummies", and began hosting radio shows on Toronto's CFRB and CFMJ.

In 2002, he released a new album under the name Jaymz Bee and the Deep Lounge Coalition and followed that with another RJO Release entitled "Seriously Happy" for Wychwood Productions.

In 2004 he began hosting radio programs on CJRT. In 2005 Jaymz produced a concert at the request of Ross Porter (President and CEO), to raise money for the not-for-profit radio station and "Jazz Lives", an annual event featuring dozens of jazz greats at Convocation Hall, was the result. It has become an annual event in early May. Bee also created and hosted a tour of Toronto clubs called "The Jaymz Bee Jazz Safari" which was another fund raising tool for the station.

While Jaymz is currently working at JAZZ.FM91 in Toronto, he also runs a record label called Timely Manor (distributed by Fontana North / Universal Music Canada) that has released CDs for Kollage, Serafin, Marieve Herington, Colleen Allen, Babes in Jazzland, William Carn, Robert Scott, Adam Makowicz, Nancy Walker and the latest Royal Jelly Orchestra recording, their seventh, entitled "Toronto Launch Pad".

External links

* [http://www.jaymzbee.ca Jaymz Bee official site]