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April Wine. Montreal hard-rock band. It was formed in 1969 in Halifax by the singer, songwriter and guitarist Myles Goodwyn (b Woodstock, NB, 23 Jun 1948) and moved to Montreal a few months later. Other members were the guitarists David Henman (1969-73) and Gary Moffet (1973-84) the bass guitarists James Henman (1969-71), James Clench (1971-6) and Steve Lang (1976-84) and the drummers Ritchie Henman (1969-73) and Jerry Mercer (1973-84). The guitarist Brian Greenaway was added in 1977. April Wine's repertoire, written for the most part by Goodwyn and characterized by a certain melodic strength, included hard-rock material that worked well in concert, and ballads that were suited to pop radio. The second of April Wine's singles, 'You Could Have Been a Lady' (1972) was a minor hit internationally, as were the later 'Roller' (1979) and 'Just Between You and Me' (1981). The band's Canadian hits included 'Bad Side of the Moon' (1972), 'Lady Run, Lady Hide' (1973), 'I Wouldn't Want to Lose Your Love' and 'Oowatanite' (1975), 'The Whole World's Going Crazy' (1976), 'You Won't Dance with Me' (1977), 'Sign of the Gypsy Queen' (1981) and 'Enough is Enough' (1982). Among its other songs, 'Rock and Roll is a Vicious Game', 'Say Hello' and 'I Like to Rock' were also popular. Of April Wine LPs 1971-85 Stand Back, Greatest Hits and Nature of the Beast each sold more in excess of 200,000 copies in Canada, and The Whole World's Going Crazy, Harder... Faster and Power Play, more than 100,000. April Wine was a leading touring band in Canada during the late 1970s and early 1980s, eventually headlining in arenas and outdoor stadiums (eg, playing for 25,000 at the CNE Grandstand in 1981). The band made its US debut in 1978, initially opening for the Rolling Stones (with whom it had played a much-celebrated engagement at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1977), Rush, Styx, etc. Tours followed in Europe during the early 1980s. April Wine won Felix awards in 1981 and 1982 as the best-known Quebec artist outside of the province and received eight Juno nominations 1975-83 as group the year, the latter signalling the remarkable consistency and longevity of the band's popularity. April Wine disbanded after a national tour in 1984. Goodwyn and Greenaway pursued solo recording careers; the former had a Canadian hit in 1988 with 'My Girl'.
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