Edward Bear

Edward Bear. Toronto rock band formed in the late 1960s as the Edward Bear Revue, a quintet which took its name from a character in A.A. Milne's book Winnie-the-Pooh. It played at first in Yorkville coffeehouses and as a trio began recording for Capitol in 1969. Members 1969-74 were the singer-songwriter-drummer Larry Evoy, the guitarist Danny Marks until 1971, replaced by Roger Ellis, and the organist Paul Weldon until 1972, replaced by Bob Kendall.

Though Edward Bear's original leanings (evident on its first LP, Bearings, 1969, Cap SKAO-6238) were to blues-rock, its success resulted from the wider appeal of Evoy's singing and songwriting. Three of the band's singles were popular internationally: 'You, Me and Mexico' (1970), the million-seller 'The Last Song' (1972), and 'Close Your Eyes' (1973). Its Canadian hits included 'You Can't Deny It' (1970), 'Fly across the Sea' (1971), 'Masquerade' (1972), and 'Freedom from the Stallion' (1974). Its other LPs were Eclipse (1970, Cap SKAO-6349), Edward Bear (1972, Cap ST-6387), and Close Your Eyes (1973, Cap SKAO-6395). The band, which received a Juno Award for the outstanding performance of 1972, appeared in many Canadian centres.

With the demise of Edward Bear in the mid-1970s, Evoy pursued a solo career, releasing the LP Larry Evoy (Attic LAT-1049) in 1978; a compilation album, The Best of the Bear (Edward Bear 1969-84) (Cap SN-66154) included solo Evoy material. Danny Marks remained a popular performer in Toronto nightclubs through the 1980s with his parodic impressions of other musicians and his extensive repertoire of pop and rock songs.

Bibliography

Hambleton, Fergus. 'The Bear,' CanComp, 50, May 1970

'Last Song: the anatomy of a major hit record,' CanComp, 77, Feb 1973

Martin, Robert. 'Edward Bear's chaos all comes out honey,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 17 Mar 1973