When one thinks of female Canadian rock stars, a few names immediately come to mind: Lee Aaron, Carole Pope, Holly Woods, and next up should be Dianne Heatherington. Described as "the undisputed First Lady of Winnipeg rock 'n' roll," Dianne had a distinctive voice, a long career, and is something of a local legend in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, history hasn't been as kind to miss Heatherington nationally over the decades as it has to the aforementioned three. I'd be remiss, however, if I didn't mention the memorial shows that took place in Winnipeg and Toronto during 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of her passing. Those aside, it feels as though Dianne Heatherington has been largely overlooked. I aim to change that.
Dianne Heatherington was born in Fort Rouge, Winnipeg, on May 14th, 1948. Throughout her youth, Dianne dreamt of being a famous singer. This was inspired by Blues and early Rock & Roll artists, which she would hear on radio. With the encouragement of her family, friends, and her church pastor, it wasn't long before Dianne picked up a microphone and began her journey.
During her adolescence, Dianne worked tirelessly to hone her voice. She took vocal lessons, played music with friends, and spent countless hours solo, working on her voice in private. Throughout high school, Dianne sang in a handful of small bands. Though no information regarding genre preference or line-up is available at this time, we have the names Interfaith Harmony Theatre, The Starlight Combo, and The Electric Banana. If any readers saw these groups live or could enlighten me on line-ups, please comment below.
The early bands that Dianne sang in were the perfect place to work on her voice, allowing her to become ready for the professional world of singing. She auditioned for CBC Let's Go in 1965, getting the part. This allowed her to also audition and perform on other local CBC TV and radio productions over the years.
Dianne put together her first professional group, "Merry Go Round," during 1967. Merry Go Round consisted of Dianne Heatherington (vocals), Rob Langdon (guitar), Melvyn Ksionzek (bass), Hermann Frühm (keyboard), and Steve Banman (drums). They quickly became regulars on the Winnipeg bar/club scene, and Dianne's unique and powerful voice/stage presence was sure to make them stars.
Many local Winnipeg bands were invited to perform, including big names such as Sugar & Spice, Justin Tyme, Chopping Block, The Fifth, etc. Some lesser-known local acts were also invited to perform, such as The Pig Iron Blues Band. The eclectic roster also boasted the Chicken Flat Mountain Boys, Billy Graham’s Jazz Group, and folksinger Jim Donahue. Festival organizers Brother also did a headlining set. Interestingly, this event would be their last public appearance due to guitarist Kurt Winter accepting an invite to join the Guess Who as Randy Bachman's replacement (along with another local guitarist, Greg Leskiw of Wild Rice).
The event succeeded both musically and in attendance. Although the organizers didn't reach the $30,000 goal because many attendees did not pay, a donation received shortly afterward brought them closer to that target. The Merry Go Round and Brother stood out as two of the most talked-about bands from the event. This experience boosted Dianne and the band's confidence, leading to a steady stream of well-paying gigs for the remainder of the year. This event helped bolster Dianne and the band's confidence and provided them with a steady diet of good-paying gigs for the rest of the year.
Man Pop was scheduled to take place at Winnipeg Stadium, outdoors. A particularly rough thunderstorm rolled through, which tore down the awning protecting the stage, soaking the PA system and amps. The organizers moved to the nearby indoor Winnipeg Arena. This was a shortsighted measure that cost roughly 800 ticket buyers to be denied entry due to a smaller capacity. Riots ensued, and due to the weather, Led Zeppelin were not going to perform (pursuant to a clause in their contract), which would have turned a bad situation into a horrible one. Sensing this, Dianne Heatherington took to the TV and radio waves, trying to convince Led Zeppelin to perform. When this didn't work, she managed to schedule a meeting with them in person, where she both shamed and pleaded with them to take the stage. They ultimately agreed to perform, which saved the event. They used gear borrowed from other bands on the bill, as their equipment had not arrived in Winnipeg. The Guess Who’s Randy Bachman lent Jimmy Page his Les Paul for the show. The whole debacle effectively turned Dianne into a local legend overnight, bolstering The Merry Go Round's success.
During the latter half of 1970, The Merry Go Round was as hot as ever! Thanks to Dianne's on and off stage actions plus the stellar musicianship of herself and the band, they had managed to garner some top-tier live gigs and the attention of the CBC. Producer Rob Cantor courted Dianne to do a 13-week Winnipeg CBC TV show, but she quit after only 6 weeks due to the direction the production was taking. According to Dianne, "They didn't want to use Merry Go Round, and I really felt like a part of that unit then." This unfortunately was a problem for the CBC brass, hence the cancellation after 6 weeks.
The CBC came calling Dianne Heatherington again during early May of 1971. This time, Merry Go Round would be backing Dianne, alongside the Dave Shaw Orchestra. Simply to be titled "Dianne," the CBC wanted to shoot eleven, one-hour musical variety episodes in a "coast to coast, province by province" manner. The group signed on and quickly began rehearsals over the next few weeks while still performing regularly on the local club circuit.
The tapings for "Dianne" began on June 3rd and 4th of 1971 with producer Rob Cantor. They were shot before a live studio audience, and the episodes included a wide array of local and national talent: Brave Belt, Chilliwack, Next, North, Tom Northcott, Sweet Honey Mead, and Wild Rice, among others. The "Dianne" show was a hit across Canada, which effectively helped make Dianne Heatherington a national star overnight. The show ran weekly from July 5th to September 13th, 1971.
By October of 1971, Merry Go Round were riding high off their successes, but some of the members decided to leave due to fatigue or moved out of instrumental roles into more "behind the scenes" roles. Guitarist Rob Langdon quit, was replaced by Duncan Wilson, and Melvyn Ksionzek moved into the sound tech role. He ended up being replaced by formed Brother bassist Bill Wallace. After a few weeks of rehearsals, Merry Go Round went out on the road for a small tour.
After one particular gig at Top Of The Inn, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Merry Go Round caught the attention of a particular visiting music superstar. By chance, Kenny Rogers was in town for a one-nighter. He and his entourage showed up at the club after their performance and caught the final set of Dianne Heatherington and the Merry Go Round. Impressed by the musicians’ abilities and original material, he approached the band to offer them an appearance on his TV show, Rollin' On the River, in addition to a record deal. Arrangements were made to meet Kenny in Las Vegas and then travel together to Los Angeles to record the album, with all expenses being covered by Mr. Rogers. Merry Go Round excitedly packed a pair of vans with their gear and necessities before hitting the road, setting out on the roughly 1800-mile journey from Winnipeg to Las Vegas—in the middle of winter, mind you.
The journey went mostly smooth until they reached North Dakota. Bill Wallace, Dianne Heatherington, and Vance Masters were traveling in the second van, a few kilometers behind the other van, containing the rest of the group. After an unexpected accident left them in the ditch, with their vehicle totaled but thankfully unharmed, they managed to flag down a truck driver to help them make the rest of the journey.
Merry Go Round soon made it to Las Vegas and then eventually to Los Angeles, where they spent 2 weeks during January of 1972 laying down tracks for half of their planned album. They returned to Winnipeg to finish off some scheduled dates and, while at home, received the recording contracts from Kenny Rogers' management team. They were expected to take on a new name, "Catweazel," and the distribution of royalties was skewed heavily in favor of Rogers. The band declined the contract, and as a result, the songs from the sessions are just rough mixes, with the final mixes never being completed.
From February through July of 1972, Merry Go Round continued to tour across middle Canada, playing six nights a week from Alberta to Ontario. Unfortunately, several events occurred over the months following the Kenny Rogers episode that caused the band to fold in the fall of 1972. The first and most disastrous was an incident in which Dianne Heatherington damaged her vocal cords, forcing the band to go on hiatus for nearly a year. Even if they wanted to continue without her Merry Go Round then lost bassist Bill Wallace, who accepted an invite to replace recently fired Guess Who bassist Jim Kale (who went on to form Scrubbaloe Cane), effectively reuniting him with his other former Brother bandmate Kurt Winter.
Upon Dianne's return to music and Winnipeg in late 1973, she was left without a band. Her reputation was maintaining well, however, thanks to the release of "Bye Bye Babe" in her absence. This allowed her to quickly throw together a new group of top musicians, which was given the name Sunny Lemmatina. Though short-lived, Sunny Lemmatina had the historical distinction of performing music for the Manitoba Theatre production of Godspell during 1974 (February 15th–March 10th).
Sunny Lemmatina broke up by the summer of 1974 due to Dianne wanting to head in a more "stripped down" jazzy direction. She opted to work with a solo piano player and for a few months worked smaller Winnipeg jazz clubs with pianist Mark Rutherford.
This again brought Dianne to the attention of the CBC, which in late-1974 contracted her to record a couple songs for their LM-400 series of compilation records. Usually focused on specific places or genres, the LM-400 series was instrumental in promoting Canadian artists from outside the conventional Rock & Roll musical sphere. This was perfect for Dianne, who in her new form was able to cover a wide spread of different musical genres.
CBC LM-421 was released in January of 1975 (after Dianne moved to Toronto) and represents a spread of mostly Winnipeg-based artists and composers. Alongside Dianne Heatherington, Winnipeg pianist Mark Rutherford had some songs released, and Winnipeg Folk/World quintet Pego (arranged by Dave Shaw) had some songs released. Here's a link to my recently posted video of Dianne's songs from this compilation, featuring around 40 photos: https://youtu.be/j1o8_YOqqJ4
Dianne's performances on CBC LM-421 featured a new band of (mostly Winnipeg) supporting musicians: Ed Philp (alto saxophone), Mark Freed (guitar), Herman Fruehm, formerly of Merry Go Round (synthesizer), Mark Rutherford (piano), and Don Thompson (viola). The songs are also written by a spread of Winnipeg writers:
"Check It"Out"—David Carbert (of The Orphans [Orfans] and Fellowship) writes the second track. This song is something of a proto-theatrical song with rock sounds that hint towards the subtleties of some 1980's rock.
"Lovin' You's So"Easy"—Dianne Heatherington and guitarist Mark Freed (of Chopping Block, Logan Avenue Comfort Station, etc.) write the third track. A "misty morning" kind of languid Jazzy-Pop track featuring great vibraphone flourishes from Toronto vibraphonist Don Thompson.
"My Old"Man"—David Carbert and bandmate Bill Merritt (of The Orphans [Orfans] and Fellowship) write the fourth and final track. A big band, jazzy, up-tempo number, with great sax solos by Ed Philip.
Dianne Heatherington's contributions on CBC LM-421 are the perfect closing testament to her Winnipeg years and how much those years meant to her. She made memories, made friends, and made history as one of Winnipeg's most dynamic singers and one of Canada's greatest female recording artists. She was charismatic, passionate, temperamental, and brave. The songs on CBC LM-421 are something of a love letter to her contemporaries of Winnipeg; her friends; her history.
STAY TUNED FOR PART II: The Toronto Years!
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