BIOGRAPHY
Over the years the band has included the following musical talent : -
Bob Harrington (vocals)
Don
Norman (vocals; replaced Harrington)
Brian "Lewis" Lewicki (vocals,
guitar, bass; replaced Norman)
Gary Comeau (lead guitar and vocals)
Paul Huot
(rhythm guitar and vocals)
Clint Hierlihy (bass)
Richard
Patterson (drums)
Gail Thompson (vocals)
Bert Hurd (drums)
Ted
Gerow (keyboards and
vocals)
John
Cassidy (guitar and vocals)
Bernie Jessome (vocals)
Douglas Orr
(bass)
Bruce Cockburn
(guitar, vocals)
Robert Coulthart (drums)
Mike Argue (guitar and vocals)
The Esquires were formed in Canada's Capital city Ottawa
in
1962 and played their first show at the Rockcliffe Air Base
Teen Club.
After they joined the Musicians' Union in 1963,
they were contracted weekend
regulars at the Pineland
Dance Pavilion.
They were first managed by Ottawa Journal
columnist Sandy
Gardner who landed them prestigious dates with some of
the
'60's biggest rock and roll stars such as The Rolling Stones,
The
Beach Boys, Dave Clark 5 and Roy Orbison.
Early on Richard Patterson brought in old
pal Brian Lewicki
(the two were in a band originally called the Vibra Tones)
as
a bassist. Soon Lewicki switched to guitar and eventually
replaced lead
vocalist Don Norman in the group when
Norman went on to form Don Norman &
The Other Four.
[
A
career highlight was being part of The Dick Clark Caravan
of Stars at
Faucher Stadium with the likes of Gene Pitney, The
Dovells,
Paul And Paula, and The Tymes.
The were signed by Capitol Records and
their first single
was "Atlantis" in 1963, followed by "The Man
From
Adano", and their biggest hit "So Many Other Boys"(A Don Norman original) in late
1964 which
won them a Red Leaf Award - predecessor of
the Juno - for Best Vocal And
Instrumental Group in 1964.
At this time their
management was taken over by
Harvey Glatt Ottawa's leading Pop Concert
producer and owner
of the City's number one record store chain The Treble
Clef .
Fame was fleeting and they finally
disbanded in 1967. At
that time the band was Lewicki, Coulthart, Orr
and Cockburn.
A 25th Anniversary reunion occurred in 1987
with Norman,
Huot, Comeau, Patterson, Lewicki and
Hierlihy.
In 1993 two music clips
featuring the band were uncovered - "The Man From
Adano" and "Gee Whiz It's
You" (featuring original vocalist
Bob Harrington). The former is considered
the first
Canadian music video ever made. The clips were aired
on
television for the first time on CBC-TV and frequently pop
up on
MuchMusic. The original footage was donated to the
National Archives in
Ottawa.
Patterson went on to join Three's A Crowd
with Bruce
Cockburn, David Wiffen and Colleen Peterson following
the
Esquires; Coulthart and Orr were stolen away by Peter
Jermyn of Luke
& The Apostles to form The Modern Rock
Quartet; Gerow went on to join The
Staccatos which later
evolved into Five Man Electrical Band.
Singles
1963 Atlantis/I've Lost My Girl (Capitol)
1964 The Man From Adano/Gee Whiz It's You
(Capitol)
1964 So Many Other Ways/The Oldest Story (Capitol)
1965 Cry Is All I Do/We've Got A Future
(Capitol)
1965 Love's Made A Fool Of You/Summertime (Capitol)
1966 It's A Dirty Shame/Devoted
to You (Columbia)
1966 Love Hides A Multitude Of Sins/Why Should I
Care? (Columbia)
Albums
1964 Introducing The
Esquires (Capitol)
Posted with Pending Permission from Jaimie and Sharon Vernon of The Canadian Music Encyclopedia