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HARLEQUIN


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SAY GOODNIGHT



Harlequin

L-R:  David Budzak, Gary Golden, George Belanger, Glen Willows, Ralph James
1980

  • Best known for the hit singles Innocence, Thinking of You, Superstitious Feeling, and I Did It for Love.
  • Signed to CBS/Epic Records in 1979.
  • Inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2006 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Albums
1979 - Victim of a Song
1980 - Love Crimes
1982 - One False Move
1984 - Harlequin
2004 - Harlequin II
2007 - Waking the Jester


Harlequin
Glen Willows
George Belanger
Glen Willows

Photo credit:  David M. Perich


Origins ...

(John) Hannah took off for Toronto, where he played in a band called Harlequin.  Ralph (James) soon joined him, but when that band broke up, the two came back to Winnipeg to assemble a new Harlequin with drummer Dave Budzak and school friend Gary Golden on keyboards and guitar.  Hannah did not last long, ultimately joining Streetheart.  Leroy Hawk (a.k.a. Laurie Koyle, younger brother of another school chum, Marty Koyle) joined on guitar.  He was later replaced by Glen Willows.

“With Harlequin, it was ‘Go big or go home,'” says Ralph.  “We had a vision of what we wanted to do and what we needed to do.  Being from Winnipeg, the Guess Who was our role model.  We felt we had a shot.  We became like the little engine that could.”

With manager Eric Green handling the bookings and Ralph and Budzak taking care of things on the road, Harlequin played every one-horse town in Western Canada.

“Our sets often depended on the harvest,” says Ralph.  “Sometimes we wouldn’t start until the guys came in from the fields at 2 a.m.”

When the band realized they needed a frontman, Ralph suggested ex-Fifth and Next singer George Belanger.

“We felt so confident about what we were doing that we had the nerve to approach George,” says Ralph.

“The first time I saw Ralph was with Pig Iron at the Pink Panther in Transcona,” says Belanger, who continues to perform with Harlequin today.

“I knew he was going to be somebody.  Ralph’s the reason I joined Harlequin.  I had confidence in him.  He had a work ethic and a route he wanted to go.  I wanted to write songs, and that’s what the band wanted.”

Ralph was the guy in charge in Harlequin, Belanger says.

“His business savvy was second to none.  He was focused, smart and always told the truth.  Ralph has a gruff exterior, but underneath is a heart of gold.”

Signed to Epic records, Harlequin released a string of platinum albums and hit singles, all the while becoming one of the hardest-working bands in Canada, touring relentlessly both here and in the United States.

“We were playing arenas in the States, opening for Triumph and April Wine,” says Ralph.

“We were young and living the rock-star life.”

The band headlined a huge rock festival in Puerto Rico, where their records were No. 1, followed by a headlining gig in Venezuela.

“It was mind-boggling for a bunch of kids from Winnipeg.”

But the reality was more sobering.  Expensive cover art and production costs meant the band saw little money from their records.  Despite a solid effort, Harlequin failed to gain a toehold in the lucrative American market.

“We really worked hard to crack the States, but the music that was happening at the time wasn’t the music we were doing,” Ralph says.

For Ralph, the road was becoming an endless grind.  He had been at it for 14 years.

 “I am proud of what we did in Harlequin,” says Ralph.

“The best songs we wrote still sound good today because they were recorded properly.”

John Einarson
Excerpt from ROCKER HAD A CHANGE OF TUNE published in the Winnipeg Free Press, February 14, 2016

Glen Willows
Glen Willows



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