1971: I was walking down the basement stairs on my 7th birthday when I heard the DJ say “Happy Birthday To Elvis Presley” Upon hearing this I proceeded to fall down the steep wooden stairs all the way to the bottom. I’ve always seen this moment as a sort of transformational episode. In later years when I was struggling to get off the ground in Toronto I would remind myself that I was born on the King’s birthday (January 8th, 1964) and it would inspire me to never give up! Years later would discover it was also David Bowie’s birthday but that’s a whole other thing.

1977: My first band was formed at age 13 with a couple of friends and we were called Paper Moon. We wrote such awful classics as “Pencil Pusher” and “Prehistoric Lady”and literally did not know how to play our Simpson Sears instruments. From high school I went straight to the bars. I wasn’t old enough yet to be in a bar, so I had to get a letter of permission from the Ontario Government in order to perform at ‘The Lions Tavern’ in Port Dalhousie. My older brother Don told me I would have to learn a whole pile of cover songs by the greats if I was gonna succeed there. So I took out albums from the local library and tried to learn as many songs as I could.

1981: At age 17, I started playing three nights a week and to my amazement there was a genuine buzz around town. Pretty soon I was packing them in every weekend. Singing myself hoarse and making a small earning. In my mind it seemed a miniature St Catharines version of Beatlemania was taking place. The local newspaper ran a feature on me with the headline “One Man Jukebox” which people still ask me about today. The learning of so many songs and performing as much as I was, became a valuable education for me. It gave me the idea that maybe I could make a go of it. I still hadn’t written any good songs yet nor had I found my voice but I had something or at least it seemed that way.

1985: Well, life takes many twists and turns and in 1985 I found myself living in Quebec with a woman I’d met while tree-planting and a brand new baby boy. There was an old out of tune piano in the barn where we lived, and so I started composing my first proper song “Speaking With The Angel”. I didn’t think too much of it at the time but this song would end up opening all the doors. It led to a my first publishing deal AND my first record deal.

1988: I moved my young family to try make a go of it in Toronto. I started playing all the open stages in Toronto and meeting some incredible people. One such person was a guy named Bob Wisemen. He liked my tunes and offered to make a demo for me. This demo later became my first full length album called “Grand Opera Lane”. Bobby helped me shop the album around to all the big labels in Toronto and I got a firm “NO” from each one. By this point I was pushing thirty and was not exactly thriving in Toronto. Many people in my orbit were giving me tough love and telling me that it probably wasn’t gonna happen and that I should quit pursuing my dream of a music career to look for a more secure job. My courier job wasn’t paying the bills, I had two small kids, and I decided to start busking downtown to try and make extra money. Even so, I kept reminding myself that I was born on Elvis’s birthday. Surely that meant something?

1993: It was around this time when Bob Wiseman called and told me he had played my music for some big wigs down in Hollywood and a fellow named Ronnie Vance wanted to meet me. Ronnie was the head of publishing at Geffen Records. Apparently he was knocked out by my song “Speaking With The Angel” and hoped to sign me to a publishing deal. As luck would have it, he was fired from Geffen shortly thereafter and I sank into a deep despair. I even applied for a job at the Post Office. About a year later, Ronnie called me out of the blue and said he was now the head of Publishing at a new label called Interscope Records. He hadn’t forgotten about me! After signing with Interscope as a writer, it wasn’t very long (a year or so) that this would turn into a record deal which of course was my ultimate goal.

1995 to Present: Before I knew it I was fully living the musical life I’d always dreamed of, crafting songs, making records, touring all over the world and sometimes I would pinch myself. Surviving the record industry has been (and continues to be) a roller coaster ride and not always fun. I’ve been bounced around a lot from label to label. I’ve had albums that have done quite well while others seemed to die upon release. I’ve met most of my heroes. I’ve headlined the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve had my songs covered by some truly notable artists and even won a few awards.

So this February 29th at Massey Hall I will be celebrating, not only my 60th birthday, but a life committed to pure songwriting. I’m proud of my contribution to the Canadian Songbook. I don’t always feel that it is valued very much (or at all) by the Canadian Music Industry at large. The upcoming “Sexsmith At Sixty” concert is my way of standing up for myself.

Thanks to all of you for your support, listening to my music, attending concerts, and the ongoing encouragement over the years. It means the world to me!

I hope to see you at Massey Hall on Feb 29th!
Love, Ron

Follow Ron On All Your Favourite Platforms