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
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.”