Song:Oh What A Feeling
Album:Some Of The Best Of Crowbar
Like The Band, Crowbar backed up legendary rocker Ronnie Hawkins before splitting off and doing their own thing. Oh What A Feeling is their signature song and biggest hit. But they were unknown outside Canada. Crowbar were from Ancaster, ON which is outside Hamilton. The roots of Crowbar go back to the late 50s when bassist Roly Greenway played with The Centurys from Guelph, ON. He was also in Joe Pino & The Starlites and The Ascots. It was in The Ascots that he met guitarist Rheal Lanthier and they played the Vegas lounge circuit for two years. Greenway returned to Canada and toured with popular pop singer Bobby Curtola. In 1967, Greenway reunited with Lanthier and formed The New Ascot Revue with lead singer and keyboard player Kelly Jay (real name: Blake Fordham) and harmonica whiz King Biscuit Boy (real name: Richard Newell). Newell brought them to Hawkins and a new backing band was formed with Richard Bell on keyboards, John Gibbard on guitar and Larry Atamaniuk on drums. They were called ...And Many Others. So they toured with Hawkins for a couple of years until one day he fired them saying "You guys are so crazy you could **** up a crowbar in three seconds". The new group was named Crowbar. After Sonnie Bernardi replaced Atamaniuk and Josef Chirowski replaced Bell, Crowbar recorded their debut album Official Music. King Biscuit Boy left after that album and Kelly Jay took over as lead singer and main songwriter. Bad Manors was their next album and Oh What A Feeling was a hit in Canada. Because of drug references in the lyrics, US radio would not play the song. They were a fun live band and I saw them at the CNE Bandshell in 1971. Crowbar was on the small Canadian label Daffodil Records. They were doing well in Canada but were lured to Epic Records to reach the US market. After two unsuccessful albums, Crowbar split up in 1974. This comp was originally released by Stony Plain and re-released last year by UniDisc. Crowbar reunites occasionally and plays nostalgia shows in Canada. Here's a video for Oh What A Feeling by Crowbar. Thanks to JAM! Music for the Crowbar bio.
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