Vance's
interest in drums grew from his love of big
band music. As a child, he was
influenced by the sounds of Benny Goodman,
Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and Louie Bellson
emanating from the family radio. A
classically trained percussionist, Vance began
his professional career in 1963 with The
Crescendos, touring Britain and Europe.
Returning to Canada in 1966, he re-entered the
local music scene with London Records
recording artists, The Fifth. It was in
this band that Vance re-connected with Kurt
Winter - a relationship that continued until
Kurt's death in 1997. The two would go
on to form the short-lived, but now legendary,
Brother in 1969 with Bill Wallace on
bass. Together, the trio wrote many
songs recorded by The Guess Who. The
band was also responsible for organizing
Manitoba's first outdoor festival, The
Niverville Pop Festival.
By the late
sixties, the excitement that had propelled the
music industry up to that point had begun to
subside. In the early years, there was a
level playing field, with most of the local
musicians having roughly about the same
potential. Some went on to perfect their
craft; others never improved upon their
initial foray into the business. And a
career in music had become big business.
As with all other industries, only the strong
survive, and the 70’s found many of those
“community club bands” no longer able to
compete in the new market. The end of
that heady era was fueled by several factors,
including the advancing age of the original
players, many of who now had families to
support. The audiences were becoming
more sophisticated and demanded a much higher
standard from their entertainers.
Another contributing cause was the lowering of
the drinking age in Manitoba to 18. That
move opened a whole new avenue to bands, but
it also effected the death of the community
center dances, which for many years, had been
the vetting ground for groups trying to break
into music. Dianne Heatherington and The
Merry-Go-Round was one of the bands that
successfully made the transition and Vance
joined the group early into 1971. They
were a staple on the club circuit, generating
line-ups wherever they played. The band
also hosted its own variety show on CBC and
under the direction of Kenny Rogers, recorded
part of an album.
In 1973, Vance
travelled to Los Angeles, once again, to
record with Alan Schick, releasing one album
that received extensive airplay in Canada. The
backing band for Alan was St. Silver, which
eventually morphed into Papa Pluto. In 1974,
Kurt Winter left The Guess Who and joined
Vance on stage in Papa Pluto, resurrecting the
writing team of Winter/Masters. The band
produced some outstanding originals, still
fondly remembered and talked about today.
Burton Cummings
left The Guess Who in the mid 1970’s to embark
on his solo career, and in the summer of 1977,
Vance was hired to replace Jim Gordon. He
performed with Burton until early fall when
The Guess Who regrouped and Vance became the
drummer for the new version of the band.
Throughout
the 1980’s, Vance played with some of
Winnipeg's longest running groups - The
Trigger Brothers, Yogi and Friends, Twister -
to name a few. In 1992, he began a
10-year stint with the country-rock band, Guns
4 Hire.
Vance has been a
major contributor to the local and
international music scene as a performer and
writer, having co-written #1 hits such as “Bus
Rider” and “Hand Me Down World”. The
post-Guess Who years were some of the most
satisfying and yet challenging times of
Vance's professional life. As someone who
performed for the love of his craft, he made
no distinction as to whether he was playing
before an audience of 500 or 50,000. The pure
satisfaction of working at a profession he
truly enjoyed was the motivation behind his
music, and what remained constant throughout
was his commitment to musical excellence.
After 6 decades
in the industry, Vance retired from the
stage.
On June 22, 2023, following a severe Covid-19 infection, Vance passed away. This PHOTO TRIBUTE was played at his memorial service to commemorate his life in pictures.
Continue to explore
Vance's career by visiting the MUSIC
pages to listen to, and read about, some of
the individual bands with which he has
performed.
Excerpt
from an interview conducted by Hal Anderson
December 4, 1999
The Guess Who Vermont,
1980 Photo credit: David M. Perich
Vance in front of their
album display at Tower Records
Los Angeles 1980 Photo credit: David M. Perich
