Alan
                Schick
Vance Masters
ALAN SCHICK


BIOGRAPHY MUSIC GALLERY CONTACT VISITOR COMMENTS

*

THE EARLY YEARS

THE CRESCENDOS

THE FIFTH

BROTHER

DIANNE HEATHERINGTON & THE MERRY-GO-ROUND

* ALAN SCHICK

PAPA PLUTO

BURTON CUMMINGS

THE GUESS WHO

YOGI & FRIENDS

THE WALSH TWINS

GUNS 4 HIRE

FREELANCE WORK
"It was a very exciting time, being in Los Angeles and making an album.  And then we had such a successful single.  We thought we were knocking on the door of the 'big time'.  Sadly, no one ever answered." 1

Alan Schick played with some top flight acts such as The Deverons and The Luvin' Kind prior to joining The Mongrels in 1969.  He took over for Joey Gregorash who had left to host CJAY's Young As You Are television show.  With The Mongrels, Alan recorded Do You Know Your Mother and the link to his future band members for Lucy, Lucy, Lucy was established in the relationship with Duncan Wilson, one of the founders of The Mongrels.

When Merry-Go-Round called it quits in the summer of 1972, Vance joined a group called SO FINE.  By the end of the year, the original guitar and bass players had been replaced with Duncan Wilson and Melvyn Ksionzek, respectively.  About this time, the bands Vance was playing in begin to overlap for approximately an 18-month period.  So Fine, St. Silver, Papa Pluto … depending on who was fronting the band determined under which name they were playing.  While working with Aileen, they were So Fine; with Alan, they became St. Silver.

Lorne Saifer had managed The Mongrels and by 1972, he landed a job as a record executive in Los Angeles.  He continued to maintain his ties with Winnipeg, and offered Alan a recording contract with MCA.  At the time the offer came in, Alan was not actively performing and did not have a band behind him.  So Fine - or the nucleus of So Fine - was the perfect solution.  Their name was changed to St. Silver and they added Fred Redekop on piano.

Vance remarried in February 1973, this time to Bev Kurz, the girl he had met during his Brother days.  As is so often the case with musicians, the line between business and pleasure frequently blurs, and their honeymoon was combined with the trip to Los Angeles for Vance to record with Alan.  For several members, it was their first look at American freeways, and Melvyn was persuaded to be the driver for many outings.  He really didn't have much of a choice … you had to be 21 to rent a car in California, and of the six, Vance didn’t drive, his new wife Bev, was only 20, Fred was still weeks away from his 21st birthday, and Duncan was usually “under the influence”.  Alan was tied up most days with the business end of things.  On one of the band’s first site seeing excursions, Melvyn was heard to proclaim that it was going to take two people to drive the vehicle - one to watch the traffic, and the other to provide navigational clues.

The band spent three weeks in Los Angeles finishing the album amid daily reports of casualties attributed to a freeway sniper wreaking havoc in southern California. 
They returned to Winnipeg and continued playing locally, awaiting the first release.  Alan made a second trip back to LA a few weeks after the first sessions to do some cleanup on the vocals, causing unfounded rumours to circulate that no vocal tracks at all were recorded during the February session. 

When Lucy, Lucy, Lucy hit the air waves in the summer of 1973, it did extremely well, especially in western Canada.  By December 29, 1973, it was number 5 on the charts, ahead of John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, and Wings. 
To 10 Chart December 29, 1973
The second single released was Summer Song b/w Soup Deep.

Winnipeg-based agents, Frank Wiener and Jerry Kolt, were clamouring to put together a tour of the western provinces.  But after two unfortunate incidents on the road, Alan became quite adverse to travel.  In Dryden, a pulp and paper community in southern Ontario, the stench from the mill was so over-powering that Alan immediately became ill and the show had to be cancelled.  A job in Saskatchewan took a turn for the worse when the owner of the club didn't like Fred going into his juggling act, and used that as an excuse to fire the band.

His reluctance to go on the road was a contributing factor to St. Silver gradually receiving higher billing when performing with Alan.  About midway through 1973, the group began picking up more and more club dates under the name of St. Silver on the weeks when Alan wasn't booked.  By early 1974, the band had developed a very strong following for their own shows, with Fred taking over on lead vocals.

Alan retired from the music industry and went into the clothing business operating Tyrone Men's Wear in the then-trendy Osborne Village area of Winnipeg at 452 River Avenue, from March 1974 through to June of 1979.  Concurrently, he created and ran Lucy, Lucy, Lucy Productions, later changing its name to Lucy's Musical Productions.  Throughout much of 1975, Alan acted as an intermediary between musical acts and industry executives in an effort to help emerging artists get their foot in the door.  When he ceased operations at Tyrone, he moved into a 20-year career with Freed & Freed International as the national sales and merchandising manager.  In the early 2000s, Alan switched professions yet again, relocating to Toronto, and obtaining his real estate license.  From 2006 until his passing on October 11, 2016, Alan was a successful agent for Bosley Real Estate Ltd., and then finally Sutton Group Associates Realty.
Alan Schick
Alan Schick
Photo credit:  Hans Sipma

Alan Schick with The Mongrels
                                1969
Alan, during his Mongrels days
1969

Alan, 1973 - back cover of the
                                album
Alan on the back cover of the
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy album  1973

Alan in his store,
                                Tyrone Mens Wear 1979
Tailor Pino Oppedisano with Alan in
Tyrone Men's Wear April 14, 1979

Alan
Alan's Facebook Profile Image
Photo credit:  Jess Schick, Alan's daugher


ALAN SCHICK MUSIC LIBRARY

IMPORTANT:  Please stop one audio recording before starting another
or you will have both playing at the same time.


Lucy, Lucy, Lucy -  was written about one of Alan's high school friends ... Lucy Giesbrecht.
LUCY, LUCY, LUCY


My Love and I was the supposed to be the first single off the album, but Doc Steen, a Winnipeg DJ with CFRW, with took a liking to the B side and that became the hit due to his extensive air play.
MY LOVE AND I


Summer Song was the second single released from the album.
SUMMER SONG


Soul Deep was the B side of Summer Song.
SOUL DEEP


Vance played bongos on Shoot Em' Down and the first recorded instance of Bev singing is during the refrain "Oh Dianne" towards the close of Dianne, along with the rest of the band.
SHOOT 'EM DOWN / DIANNE


Western Arrow is still Vance's favourite tune from this album.
WESTERN ARROW



SOMEBODY TOLD YOU SO



READY TO RIDE



STRAIT JACKET LULU



DOWN IN HOLLYWOOD





1.  Fred Redekop, February 9, 2021 post on the MANITOBA MUSIC MUSEUM Facebook page

2.  Image top left corner photo credit:  Denise Roulston Deben
VJM
*
HOME BIOGRAPHY MUSIC GALLERY CONTACT VISITOR COMMENTS

© 1998 - 2024 Vance Masters, All Rights Reserved