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Please feel free to send me your memories of James and corrections to info(AT)jamesleroy(DOT)com. __________________________________________________________________ Family history from Ron Leroy, James' brother:
Our father, Edgar, with his twin, Hiram,was born (1906) in the town of Moulnette (?), not far from Cornwall (Ontario), but you won't find on any current map, as it got buried when the St. Lawrence Seaway was built.
Edgar left home at the age of 16--this would have been in 1922. I don't know when Hiram struck out for himself. Our father had many jobs, including farming, mining, assembly line at GM in Oshawa, before starting the first Canadian Tire Store in Ottawa, in 1935. That store was around Bank and James St, and kept moving until at was at Kent and Laurier. He retired in 1970, and the following year, he, mother and Sue moved to Florida.
The father of Edgar and Hiram died before they were born, having choked to death on a chicken bone. Sometime after their birth, their mother married their dead father's brother, but he died long before I was ever born (1941).
They were raised on a farm, and as was common for rural folks at that time, with little money, probably created their own libations. Fermented apple cider was likely the beverage, as almost everyone had an orchard, although a still should not be ruled out. But considering that Edgar left home at 16, I'm sure that whatever the booze might have been, was not of their making, but rather an older sibling or parent.
James (1947), Sue (1953) and I, lived at 444 Piccadilly until the spring of 1958, when we moved to 920 Killeen Ave, in the west end of Ottawa. ___________________________________________________________________ James Leroy Bio as compiled by Paul Weber:
The following information was garnered from various articles and comments from friends and family. Feel free to send me any corrections or additions. info(AT)jamesleroy(DOT)com
James Leroy was born April 3, 1947 in Ottawa at the Grace Hospital. His family came from Martintown, near which his father was born (the name Martintown was later used for James' music publishing company).
James became interested in music while attending high school at Milford Prep in Connecticut. Bob Dylan was a strong early influence. He later attended university in the United States but returned to Canada when all his friends were drafted.
In the mid-60's he started a career as a folksinger in Ottawa. James was a self-taught musician who played both guitar and keyboards.
In the early 70's his family left Martintown and resettled in Ottawa, were they urged James to "find himself". He alternated between selling tires for his father and practicing music.
He started on the sidelines providing material for local groups. Some of his first compositions were played by local Ottawa groups Renaissance, Canada Goose and September Dawn. He also tried folk singing in small clubs.
At one point he met Doug Orr of MRQ (Modern Rock Quartet) at a party. Orr suggested James learn the heritage of the Ottawa Valley and incorporate it into his songs. This was the beginning of what was to emerge as the "Denim" sound.
James approached local music impresario Harvey Glatt several times trying
to convince Glatt
to work with him. Finally his persistence paid off; on a handshake Glatt agreed to work
with him. Shortly after Glatt produced James' first single,
"Touch of
Magic,"
and finally a self-titled album on the GRT label. In September 1973
"Touch of
Magic"
reached number 6 on the
Canadian top singles chart. The supporting group, originally called the
James Leroy Group, went on to become Denim. One song James had written was
"You Look Good In Denim" and the band used Denim as its name. Said James at
the time, "We all wear denim, it's casual, wears well and grows on you, and
who wants to throw away their old pair of jeans?" Members of Denim included:
James Leroy and Denim were signed to GRT Records in 1973 and managed several singles throughout that year and 1974 before disbanding after two years.
Post-Denim James performed as a solo artist, touring a great deal of time with the Stampeders. During this time he also recorded some newer material for the GRT label; two singles including "Lady Ellen" were released. These songs were produced by Ian Thomas, another well known Canadian musician of the same era. During this time James also spent some time in northern Ontario where he wrote a collection of new material.
By 1976 Leroy had become lead vocalist for Major Hoople's Boarding House, whose name was changed to just Boarding House (See note below from Brad Stone). At that time he wrote most of the band's repertoire. At one point they toured the maritime provinces.
In December and January of 1978 Leroy and new manager, Martin Onrot, began assembling a band, composed on several ex-Denim players and some new musicians. This band undertook a cross-Canada tour. He also had plans to crack the U.S. market at this time.
Members of the reformed-Denim included:
Sadly, James
committed suicide in Ottawa at age 32 on May 10, 1979. On November 18, 2002 "Touch of Magic" received SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) Classic Award for achieving the 100,000-airplay mark on domestic radio. _________________________________________________________________ The Major Hoople's Boarding House Years from Brad Stone Road Manager and Lighting Designer for Boarding House By the time James became involved with Major Hoople, the band had already released You Girl. Prior to actually joining the band, James was working at the Water Tower Inn in S.S. Marie as entertainment manager. With James, the band dropped the Major Hoople's part, and became simply Boarding House. When that collaboration dissolved, James worked with a group originally from Winnipeg called The Terry Crawford Band, reworking many of the songs he had written for Boarding House to suit the voice of Terry Johnson, lead singer for the band now called Crawford.
The guys in Boarding House were -
James Leroy - vocals and RMI keyboard
Richard "Rocky" Howell - guitar and vocals
Peter "Moss" Beacock - keyboards and synth
Keith "Chopper" Stalbaum - bass and vocals
Ed Miller - drums
The band was managed by Dan Mombourquette of the DRAM agency. Rick
"Pound" Moses was the FOH engineer, Brad "Woody" Stone was the road
manager, and John "Wafer" Graham was the stage tech.
James was influenced by Lowell George, founder of the band Little
Feat.
__________________________________________________________________ Story from Mel Shaw
Paul: From Terri Crawford and Rick Johnson
The Terry Crawford Band worked with James
in 1977-78 I believe. We intially hired James to work with the band to help
us develop further musically. He From Dale Saunders
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