"The group, who for some reason
which only a teen fan could explain, call
themselves The Fifth." 1
One of Winnipeg’s hottest
acts throughout the late sixties really wasn’t
from Winnipeg at all. Its roots lay in the
town of Winnipeg Beach and the neighbouring
communities of Gimli and Matlock. In 1900,
the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) purchased 32
acres of undeveloped shoreline 65 kilometres
north of Winnipeg on the southwestern shore of
Lake Winnipeg and commenced construction of what
would become one of western Canada's foremost
resort facilities. Back in the early part
of the 1900’s, the only way to get to Winnipeg
Beach was by train. The railroad built a
dance pavilion on the waterfront, and the
"Moonlight Special" trains ferried city dwellers
out to the fledgling resort for an evening of
dance and revelry. By the 1950’s, it was a
booming retreat. Short, hot summers on the
boardwalk were followed by long months of
isolation in the deep of winter. Such was
the backdrop for the genesis of The Fifth.
The forerunner of The
Fifth was a group called The Saints. All
still in high school, they rehearsed in the old
Gimli train station and played Interlake
regional dances. Starting off as a
four-piece in 1964, the original members were:
Richard Gwizdak - bass
Melvyn Ksionzek - drums
Gordon Hucul - guitar
Ron Schmidt - vocals
Summer of 1965, Richard left the band and moved to
Winnipeg. He was rehearsing with another
collection of musicians for a time, but they
never got to the point of actually playing any
dates. When they called it quits, Richard
co-opted the name they had planned to use,
contacted The Saints, and The Fifth came into
being.
There was a bit of a
change to who was playing what. Gordon
Hucul left and was replaced by Melvyn on lead
guitar. Barry Zdebiak took Mel's place as
drummer. Jimmy Grabowski initially came
into the band playing rhythm guitar and organ,
replacing Gary Swirski. Richard remained
on bass, with Ron Schmidt continuing as their
lead singer. And that was the first
official lineup of The Fifth.
The band relocated to
Winnipeg in 1966 and took up residence in
Richard's house in East Kildonan, rehearsing
there during the week for what had become a
jam-packed schedule of bookings arranged by
their manager, Peter Stone (Peter Slywka).
In the fall of 1966,
former Quid vocalist Ron René joined the
band. The most prestigious community club
in Winnipeg at the time was River Heights and
when The Fifth was slated to play, huge lineups
started at 5:30 in the afternoon. By now,
Craig Hamblin had replaced Barry Zdebiak, only
to be followed a short time later by Ron Savoie.
The group’s breakout
single, Yesterday's Today (b/w Something
You've Got), was recorded in Toronto on the
London Records label and released May
1967. The song, written by Melvyn, rose to
#9 on the local CKRC chart and #93 on the
national charts, receiving the Lloyd E. Moffat
Award for Best Canadian Produced Rock Recording
the following year. Inaugurated in 1967 in
memory of Lloyd E. Moffat, Founder of Moffat
Communications, the awards were made annually
for recordings that best demonstrated Canadian
talent and originality.
Four months later, The
Fifth recruited Vance to take over the drum
chair. While rehearsals with Clayton Square had
gone well, they had yet to finalize any gigs.
With bands such as The Byrds and Paul Revere and
the Raiders now dominating the charts, The
Fifth's style began to take on more of an
American flavour. The prospect of stepping into
a well-established band with a different genre
of music was sufficient to entice Vance away
from the upstart venture of Clayton Square.
Shortly after he joined, Richard left to pursue
a career in photography, and Melvyn switched to
bass, with Doug Love taking over for Melvyn on
lead guitar.
The band toured Western
Canada and the northern United States as the
opening act for some of the biggest names at the
time ... The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Sonny &
Cher, The Seeds, Paul Revere & the Raiders,
The McCoys, Herman's Hermits, Dino, Desi &
Billy. After-show parties at Richard's
place often included those performers and were
legendary. The Fifth spent so much time on
the road - and in so many different places in a
short period of time - that on one occasion when
questioned by the U.S./Canada border crossing
guards as to where they were going, each member
of the band answered at the same time … but with
a different city!
The Fifth followed up
their first release with a second hit, Tears,
(b/w Wild Thing). The story is that
"after witnessing the Jimi Hendrix Experience's
mind-blowing performance at the 1967 Monterey
Pop Festival, the Fifth returned home and
recorded Hendrix's arrangement of the Troggs'
hit Wild Thing"2.
Mid-1968, Kurt Winter
became available when the Gettysbyrg Address
fell apart. He replaced Doug Love on
guitar, and for collectors, Sunshine People is
the only Fifth record on which Kurt
played.
The Fifth were somewhat
pioneers within the recording industry, due
primarily to Melvyn Ksionzek. Melvyn’s
role in the band went through various
incarnations, starting first as the drummer,
then moving onto guitar, and finally ending up
as their bass player when Richard Gwizdak left
the band. Throughout it all, he also spent
a substantial portion of his time learning the
skill sets being used within the recording
industry. He had developed such a
proficiency that it became commonplace for him
to introduce audio engineers on their recording
sessions to methods the technicians hadn’t used
before. The Fifth often employed the
talents of guest artists such as Canadian Jazz
legends Moe Kaufman and Guido Basso to add the
finishing touches to their arrangements.
1968 saw the release of
two more singles - Sunshine People (b/w
Don't Worry About Me Babe) and All I Want is
Love (b/w Caprice). By the close of
1968, The Fifth had become one of the most
popular and dynamic groups on the Winnipeg music
scene, and named one of the top three bands in
the city.
The success of the group,
however, came with a high price ticket, and
shortly after the birth of Vance’s daughter,
Krista, his first marriage dissolved. He
retained custody of Krista, which led to a
curtailment of his performing schedule while he
tended to the needs of his infant
daughter. By October 4, 1969, Vance, Kurt,
and Melvyn had left The Fifth to work with
keyboard player Hermann Frühm, backing up local
artist Lucille Emond in an enterprise that did
not entail the rigorous road schedule that had
become the norm for The Fifth. The idea
for
BROTHER began to take
shape during this period.
Ron René
followed the exodus and by 1970, Jimmy Grabowski
was the sole remaining original member.
The Fifth discovered they had lost the right to
use the name just after they released Tobacco
Road. It was owned by their manager, Peter
Stone, and when they severed ties with Peter, so
went the name. Their first and only album,
Dusty Shoes, was released in 1971 under the
moniker of Next.
POSTSCRIPT:
March 28, 2003 For weeks prior to the
show, about the only buzz around town was the Jack Skelly
Tribute - Another Teen Dance Party and The
Fifth made frequent appearances, both
individually and as a group, on Winnipeg's KY-58
Radio to promote the event. The bands on
the schedule were a veritable who’s who from the
60’s with Mystery Train, The Pallbearers, The
Shondels, Wayne Walker and The All-Stars, Joey
Gregorash, and the much-anticipated reunion of
the original members of The Fifth. And the
audience was not disappointed.
The Fifth took the stage
as though the 35 years between performances had
just melted away, much to the delight of their
fans from the old days, many of who crowded
around the stage to get a close up view of the
one-time teen idols that dominated the late 60’s
music scene in Winnipeg. Playing a mix of
their hit records, interspersed with cover tunes
of major groups from that era, they launched
their set with a medley starting with a Monkee’s
song, re-writing the lyrics to change the name
to The Fifth. 45 minutes later, The Fifth
finished their show with a Beatle’s classic,
Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Clubs Band to
thunderous applause which continued until the
band was coaxed back on stage for an
encore. To those in attendance, it was as
if they had been magically transported back to a
time when things were so much simpler and music
could indeed, at least for a short while, make
you forget all the other things happening in the
world. Their performance was captured on
video tape, and is listed below in the
library. Unfortunately, we do not know who
provided the footage so have not been able to
provide credit the individuals.
One of the
interviews/promo spots conducted by Little
Frankie Wonder for CKY, March 27, 2003:
The Saints 1964
L-R:Richard Gwizdak,
Gordon Hucul, Melvyn Ksionzek, Ron
Schmidt (Photo credit:
Melvyn Ksionzek)
The Fifth 1966 (Christmas)
Clockwise from bottom left:
Richard Gwizdak, Craig Hamblin, Ron
René, Melvyn Ksionzek,
Jimmy Grabowski (& Polo Park's
Santa)
The Fifth - Early 1967
L-R
Standing: Melvyn Ksionzek,
Craig Hamblin, Ron René
Seated:
Richard Gwizdak, Jimmy Grabowski
The Fifth Mid-1967
Clockwise from top
left: Melvyn Ksionzek, Vance
Masters, Richard Gwizdak, Ron René,
Jimmy Grabowski
The Fifth Mid-1968
L-R: Melvyn Ksionzek, Kurt
Winter, Jimmy Grabowski, Vance
Masters, Ron René
The Fifth 1969
L-R Standing: Ron René, Ralph Watts,
Vance Masters, Melvyn Ksionzek
Seated: Jimmy Grabowski
The
Fifth 2003 in rehearsal for the Jack
Skelly Tribute - Another Teen Dance
Party
Clockwise from top left: Jimmy
Grabowski, Ron René, Melvyn
Ksionzek,
Vance Masters, Richard Gwizdak
THE FIFTH
MUSIC LIBRARY Videos open in a separate window
To
the best of our knowledge, there is no video
footage from the 60's of any live performances
of The Fifth. Photographs from those days
are relatively rare, as well. The
following videos incorporate some of those old
images, memorabilia, and newspaper articles, and
include
photos right up until August 2019, which was the
last get-together of the remaining members prior
to the pandemic. Jim, Mel, Richard,
and Vance ... a friendship that has endured
since the 1960's between 3 guys from Winnipeg
Beach/Gimli and a kid from Fort Rouge.
1968
Live broadcast on CKRC of The Fifth
at West End Community Club with
Harry Taylor as host/MC. West
End CC
was located on Arlington Street,
between
Bannatyne & McDermot.
THE
FIFTH
