"Roger Perreault"
Roger Perreault was born in Timmins, Ontario on May 27, 1945.
www.music-city.ca
Roger Perreault was born in Timmins, Ontario on May 27, 1945. Roger married Reva Gurevitch September 6, 1966. Reva was born on January 12, 1946 and is the daughter of Sam and Jeanne (Mandeville) Gurevitch. Roger and Reva had two (2) children.
Roger Perreault was born in Timmins, Ontario on May 27, 1945. Roger married Reva Gurevitch September 6, 1966. Reva was born on January 12, 1946 and is the daughter of Sam and Jeanne (Mandeville) Gurevitch. Roger and Reva had two (2) children.
Roger Perreault.
Article posted in The Timmins Daily Press
April 18, 2012
'60s was an 'exciting time'
John Dudleigh recalls Timmins’ happenin’ music scene By John Emms, Rock Report
John Dudleigh would be considered by his peers and many of his fans to be an important part of Timmins ’60s rock n' roll history.
Dudleigh, a guitarist/vocalist, was at times a member of the city's most popular groups The Shades with leader Ike Kelneck and The Fallen Leaves under the leadership of Jim Parres.
“I started playing at age17 after I received a Simpsons Sears guitar for Christmas,” said Dudleigh. “It was one step up from a toy and was incredibly difficult to play because the frets were so high. I played it till my fingers bled-literally.
“Like most teens, I was a know-it-all so I didn’t bother to read the booklet that came with my guitar. Consequently, I tuned the instrument incorrectly to an open E chord. After six months of struggling to play the tunes on my Ventures records, I turned to the booklet and discovered my mistake. There was no other
option for me but to start all over again".
Dudleigh, like others, was intent on getting together with other players who also had the passion for
rock ’n’ roll music that was becoming very popular in Timmins.
“I discovered that when I jammed with other musicians, they would usually let me play their instruments, which were usually better than mine. Soon I became the proud owner of a Sears Silvertone that was made by Danelectro ($39.95).
“It had a cheap pressboard body and one lipstick pickup. My parents asked why it wasn’t any louder and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that it needed an amplifier so I connected it to my radio to amplify it. The next Christmas when I got a Silvertone amplifier ($49.95) I was all set.”
His professional musical career began in 1963 when he played at a dance in Monteith with Stan Peart, Don
Lightbody Sr. on bass and Don Lightbody Jr. on drums. “When we had been practising in Stan’s basement, we had been watched through the windows by some local kids including my friend Ed Lambert who has
since enjoyed his own successful musical career,” Dudleigh recalled.
“One of the earliest bands that I played with on a regular basis was called the Playboys or Gary and the Playboys. No, it wasn’t the American hit band Gary Lewis and the Playboys. The leader of our group was Gary Rhyno who lived out on the Delnite Mine property. The rest of the group consisted of Bob Morandin of
Schumacher on drums and Jim Woods on alto sax. Later Reg Crocini joined the group and wowed us with his prowess on electric bass and tenor sax. Like most groups of the time, we played instrumentals, influenced by The Ventures, The Fireballs and Duane Eddy.”
Rhyno wrote a few instrumentals of his own, including “Rockin In the Everglades.”
“The Playboys had a summer gig at Barber’s Bay where we played for $10 per night plus free Cokes and hotdogs. It was the early version of backstage perks for the band. The crowd was mostly tourists from the local campsites.”
In the summer of 1964, Dwight “Ike" Kelneck approached Dudleigh about joining a group that he had formed to play at the McIntyre gym. We were joined by Bob Morandin, drums, Reg Crocini and a very
talented musician named Roger Perreault. Roger had mastered the finger-style method popularized in
country music by Chet Atkins.”
Initially, the group was called the Shades but they changed the name to the Northern Shades to avoid any
confusion with the London professional lounge group of the same name.
“We had an eventful summer playing dances and making television appearances on CFCL. We introduced our vocal stylings with Beatles melodies and covered other English groups such as the Dave Clark Five, Manfred Mann, and The Animals — it was the latter group that piqued my interest in blues.
Dudleigh went on to gig with The Voodoos which later featured Rory MacPhail, a velvet-voiced singer whose repertoire ranged from a heart-ripping version of Conway Twitty’s “It's Only Make Believe” to the raucous
Ronnie Hawkins’ version of “40 Days” and” Bo Diddley.”
It should be noted that local fans can now catch Rory at Gibby’s on Karokee night on some weekends.
Dudleigh also went on to play with Andy Anderson who subsequently became the lead vocalist with what is still considered one of the most accomplished acts — A Band Called Northe, the name of which was later shortened to Northe.
“I had met Frank and Mike Wilkinson, Wayne Poulin and Andy Anderson, who did a good impersonation of Mick Jagger,” said Dudleigh. “The five of us formed JD and The Soul Survivors. I started singing as a front man performing Wilson Picket and James Brown songs. I had always been interested in soul music.
“I became very influenced by the Yardbirds' guitarist Jeff Beck. Beck’s string bending, hammer-ons and pull-offs were techniques that were difficult to emulate with standard guitar strings. There were no lighter gauge strings on the market at that time so I experimented with banjo strings that allowed more bending but
were more susceptible to breakage. This was an era when few effects and tools were available outside the recording studio. Foot pedals such as fuzz tones that produced distortion were rare and expensive.”
Dudleigh rose to the top of the heap in the city with Timmins’ most popular act, The Fallen Leaves.
“In 1966 when Ray Fournier left the Fallen Leaves, I hooked up again with Jim Parres. When I joined the Leaves, they boasted Barry Lewis on lead guitar, Dan Crocini (Reg’s younger brother) on bass, Dave Van
Leeuwen on drums and Jim on keyboards. I moved away from guitar and became a vocalist, concentrating our efforts more on R&B as well as rock and commercial pop. This strategy paid off when we won several band contests against fairly prominent bands from southern Ontario.”
Looking back, Dudleigh said, “What amazes me the most is the wealth of good musicians and entertainers who have come out of the North — people who went on to bigger venues, not just in the rock/pop field but also in country and jazz. In my view, the ’60s in the North, drawing heavily upon both American and
international influences in music as it did, provided fertile soil for many great performers to follow in the ’70s and ’80s. It was an exciting time that has provided very fond memories for many of us. I still play and I still get by musically with a little help from my friends.”
Dudleigh went on to perform with other bands which included Timmins alumni such as drummer
Rick Baker, Ed Lambert, guitar players Lee Atkinson and John Darby and Timmins musical brothers Mike and Frank Wilkinson. Dudleigh now resides in Lucan, Ont., just north of the city of London.
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I would like to thank all the musicians and readers for their input and information on this continuing series
on the history of Timmins rock n' roll. To use a rock n' roll term: It's a hit.
Keep the emails coming and we will do our best to feature your story here.
John Emms is a veteran music journalist, musican, and radio host. Visit John at www.johnemms.com