Although it got here as a shock, Heather Stevens of London, Ont., says the announcement is lengthy overdue.
Stevens, 78, is the widow of John Stevens, the as soon as energetic frontman of the Nineteen Sixties-era London Ont., band, Johnny and the Canadians. The band is one among a handful of artists and producers who’ve been inducted into the Forest City London Music Awards Hall of Fame this 12 months.
“I’m nonetheless shaking,” Stevens informed CBC Radio’s Afternoon Drive.
“I learn it in the paper Saturday morning and I used to be simply blown away. I shook all day. I cried. I’m simply completely satisfied. Very, very completely satisfied for John.”
The November 01, 1965 version of RPM Weekly, Canada’s music chart, reveals ‘Million Tears’ (brief for ‘A Million Tears Ago’) by Johnny and the Canadians on the #9 spot. (Library and Archives Canada)
Although the band solely lasted a pair years, it scored a Top 10 hit on Canada’s RPM chart in 1965 with the track, ‘A MIllion Tears Ago.’ By 1967, The Canadians had disbanded however Stevens continued performing all through his life till his loss of life on the age of 69.
“He liked each minute of it,” Stevens stated of her husband’s time with the band, which was managed by Saul Holiff, a Londoner who additionally managed nation star, Johnny Cash. “And he by no means requested for something in return. He simply loved doing what he did.”
Breaking barriers
As a Black man, John Stevens was possible the one Black frontman in southwestern Ontario’s rock scene in the Nineteen Sixties. But Heather, who’s white, stated her late husband’s gregarious character helped ease any racial tensions he might have confronted.
“He actually was welcomed,” she stated. “We by no means had the unfairness factor. We by no means encountered that. We had been very, very lucky. But that is John. Anybody that knew John – you did not hate him. You opened your arms to him.”
“He was in all probability the one black man in St. Thomas, to let you know the reality,” Stevens stated of their early courtship in the late Fifties.
“But if John walked down the road, he simply spoke to everybody. It did not matter. If he was alive right now, the homeless individuals, he can be there talking with them. That’s how John was. And you recognize, I’m very lucky our six youngsters had been the identical means, and are nonetheless similar means.”
Heather and John Stevens in an undated {photograph}. The couple met at a teen dance in St. Thomas, Ont., in 1957 and remained collectively till John Stevens’ loss of life in 2007. (Submitted by Heather Stevens)
John Stevens continued to carry out till his loss of life in 2007, following a number of coronary heart assaults, a stroke and a most cancers analysis.
The 2021 Forest City London Music Award Hall of Fame inductees additionally embrace violinist Lara St. John, people producer and musician Paul Mills, rock band Plum Loco and the late nation singer Earl Heywood. All inductees shall be honoured throughout London Music Week, starting June 6.
Afternoon Drive9:10Heather Stevens thrilled late husband Johnny Stevens & The Canadians to be honoured by Forest City London Music Hall of Fame
The 2021 Forest City London Music Hall of Fame is honouring Johnny Stevens & The Canadians, maybe the one rock band from the area to function a Black man at its helm in the Nineteen Sixties. Afternoon Drive’s Chris dela Torre speaks with singer Johnny Stevens’ widow Heather Stevens about what the honour means to her and her household. 9:10
