Timothy James Thorney was born
February 4, 1955 in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. The son of James and
Jacqueline Thorney, he joined his first
band at age 14 and his career in music
began. A chance encounter with an
individual from the University of Manitoba
who wanted to record that band piqued
Tim's interest in the technical side of
music.
He attended River East Collegiate, and
graduated from Nelson McIntyre
Collegiate. According to his
brother, Tom, “He had the worst attendance
in the history of the school, because he
was playing shows. But he passed
everything because he was gifted, and not
just as a musician.”
Tim studied religion and economics at the
University of Winnipeg, but music was his
calling. He credited fellow
Winnipegger, Burton Cummings, with helping
him launch his own career.
“Tim was rehearsing and living with a band
on Chevrier Boulevard,” recalled Cummings,
who covered Thorney’s song Draggin’ ‘Em
Down the Line. “It was the dead of
winter, and they had no heat on. I
said to Tim, ‘Good lord, man, why are you
rehearsing in this cold?’ He looked
at me and said, ‘Burton, I’m just working
on paying my dues.’ ”
Tim first came to prominence as a
songwriter. In 1979, Thorney was at
an after-show party at a recording studio
in Winnipeg where he met Canadian singer,
Lisa Dalbello. Relocating to
Toronto, the two worked together on songs
that ended up on the Dalbello's 1981 album
Drastic Measures. Produced by Jim
Vallance and Bob Ezrin, the album featured
guitar player Jeff Baxter (of the Doobie
Brothers and Steely Dan) and songs
co-written by Bryan Adams, Lisa Dalbello
and Tim Thorney.
In 1983 and 1984, Thorney was a singer,
songwriter, and keyboard player with The
Front, a Canadian studio band that
released two albums of pop rock.
During that period, Tim entered into a
20-year venture with media entrepreneur,
Jody Colero. They formed The
Einstein Bros., a music production house
in Toronto, creating iconic Canadian
beer-commercial music, including the “Our
beer around here is OV” tune for Old
Vienna. The Einstein Bros. were also
responsible for converting the Glenn Frey
hit The Heat is On into a jingle for GM's
Pontiac Grand Am. “We were the bad boys of
the advertising business,” Colero
said. “We were bratty. We did
what we wanted, and hoped our clients
liked it.”
From 1994 to 1997, Thorney served as
musical director for the CBC’s Rita
MacNeil-hosted Rita and Friends.
In 1995, Tim and his younger brother Tom
became partners in Great Big Music, later
renamed Tattoo Sound + Music.
Through their studio work, they won
advertising awards for commercial
campaigns in Canada and the U.S.,
producing jingles for high-end clients
such as FedEx, Sympatico, 7-Up, and the
Ford Motor Company. He and his
brother, along with three others,
contributed to the three-time Emmy
Award-winning French-Canadian animated
children’s television series Rolie Polie
Olie, which secured them a Gemini Award
for best original music score for a
dramatic series.
In addition to film and television, Tim
has worked with many musical
artists. Among these projects:
producing Jimmy Rankin's 2001 album Song
Dog, co-producing Rankin's 2003 album
Handmade, producing Cassandra Vasik’s Juno
award winning album Feels Like Home and
co-producing Alanis Morissette's 2004
album, So-Called Chaos.
Tim's last recording endeavour was Villa
Sound, a studio he founded in 2012 with
engineer Adam Fair.
Tim Thorney had an artistic empathy and
was an introvert at heart. Perhaps
his biggest legacy was as a nurturer; a
man who managed to extract hidden talents
from people who didn't see it within
themselves. According to Adam, “Tim
would rather be at home or in the studio
than anywhere else.”
Tim Thorney passed away at his home in
Collingwood, Ontario on June 15, 2021.
