guess who

History

Early years

The Guess Who started out as a local Winnipeg band in 1960 called Chad Allan and the Reflections (later changed to Chad Allan and the Expressions). Each of the members of the band was born in Winnipeg.

Chad Allan and the Expressions signed with Quality Records in 1962 and released several flop singles before releasing their first hit, a 1964 cover of Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over" which reached No. 1 in Canada and No. 22 in the U.S. However, in an attempt to build a mystique around the record, Quality Records credited the single only to "Guess Who?" It was hoped that some listeners might assume the "Guess Who?" identity was deliberately masking several famous performers working under a pseudonym -- given the "beat group" nature of the record, perhaps even members of The Beatles.

It is debatable as to whether anyone was really fooled by this ruse, or if the record would have been a hit regardless of the artist credit. But what did end up happening was that, even after Quality Records revealed the band was 'really' Chad Allan and the Expressions, disc jockeys still announced the group as Guess Who?, effectively forcing the band to rename themselves. So on their first two albums the band was credited as both Guess Who? and Chad Allan and The Expressions.

Success

The immediate follow-ups to "Shakin' All Over" met with major success in Canada, but very little success elsewhere. Subsequently, Burton Cummings joined the band as keyboardist and co-lead vocalist (with Chad Allan) in late 1965. This line-up only lasted for a few months before Allan left, making Cummings the new full-time lead singer. At this point, the band's name became The Guess Who? (The question mark would finally be dropped in 1968.) Quality Records had a hit in the U.S. with a band with the same name The Reflections and asked the Canadian group to change its name. The Guess Who tag was used as a promotion but once the band had a hit under that name they did not want to struggle to get a new hit in order to establish a new following. they wanted to build in the fan base established by their first hit as The Guess Who.

As the group's lineup changed, so did their sound. Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman were now the band's main composers, and they moved away from Merseybeat-inspired rock to a sound that mixed rock, blues, and jazz. The 1969 ballad "These Eyes" was the group's first Top 10 US hit for their new label RCA Records. By the beginning of the 1970s, they had moved toward an edgier hard-rock sound with the album American Woman, the title track for which, "American Woman" and their hit "No Sugar Tonight" on the B side of American Woman were their only two No. 1 hits in the U.S. The Top 10 US hit "No Time" also dates from this time.

Lifestyle differences led Bachman to leave the group during their unfinished 1970 album The Way They Were, return to Winnipeg, and form Brave Belt, which eventually evolved into the supergroup Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman was replaced by two guitarists, fellow Winnipeggers Kurt Winter from the band Brother, and Greg Leskiw. Winter became the main songwriting collaborator with Cummings, and The Guess Who continued with more hit singles such as "Share The Land", "Hand Me Down World", "Hang On to Your Life" and "Albert Flasher".

In 1972, they recorded their highly acclaimed album "Live at the Paramount" which was recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. This preceded an overseas tour in November-December 1972 to Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Leskiw left the band in 1972, to be replaced by Don McDougal, and bassist Jim Kale left in 1973 after his lifestyle could no longer support touring. Winter's former bandmate Bill Wallace came in to take over bass duties. Cummings, Wallace and Winter wrote the Guess Who's last big hit, "Clap For The Wolfman", which was an homage to disc jockey Wolfman Jack, who incidentally, lent his own voice to the recording before McDougal and Winter left in 1974. Domenic Troiano would then become the new lead guitarist for the band, and Cummings' chief songwriting collaborator.

The Guess Who broke up in 1975. Cummings then went on to forge a successful solo career.

Reformations

After the initial break-up, one-time Guess Who bassist Jim Kale, on tour in Kenora, Ontario, found out from Cummings and Bachman that the name "The Guess Who" had never been registered. He promptly drove back to Winnipeg to register it, and maintains control of the band name to this day.

Beginning in 1978, a 'reformed' Guess Who featuring Kale and other Guess Who alumni (but not Cummings, Bachman or Allen) began touring and recorded an album called "Guess Who's Back" to minimal attention. Another studio album followed in 1979.

In 1983, Bachman, Cummings, Jim Kale and Garry Peterson (the "American Woman" line-up) reunited as The Guess Who to play a series of gigs and record the Together Again live album.

After this reunion, Bachman and Cummings resumed their solo work, and Kale resumed touring with various musicians under The Guess Who banner. A new Guess Who studio album with vocalist Terry Hatty was released in 1995, but virtually no attention was paid to it in the mainstream press, and the few reviews of the album were almost all overwhelmingly negative.

In May 1997[1] with their hometown of Winnipeg facing a potential disaster flood that had already taken cities south of the border, Bachman and Cummings reunited in Winnipeg for the first time in 10 years in an emotional fund raiser for disaster relief organized by Tom Jackson. During the concert it began to rain, then thunder, then lightning. Through the rain Cummings kept singing (while the band crew tried to cover things in plastic), at one point Cummings acknowledging that if the audience didn't leave he wouldn't either, and he didn't until the lightning started to strike. It was a temporary pause though and the concert continued a short time later.

In 1999, Cummings, Bachman, Peterson and Kale reunited once again. This led to a cross-Canada tour for the band beginning in 2000, although health issues of Kale's precluded his involvement. Nevertheless, he did permit the band to use "The Guess Who" name.

In 2001, the band received honorary doctorates at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba. For lead vocalist Cummings, it was a privilege to receive the doctorate, since he did not graduate from high school. That same year the group was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

In 2004, Kale once again started touring with his version of the Guess Who (known as the "Klones" by Cummings). Bachman and Cummings were planning on touring as "Bachman & Cummings" in the summer of 2005 with Toronto's The Carpet Frogs. Cummings and Bachman still can't use the "Guess Who" name unless they hire Kale, which they refuse to do because of what they feel is his unreliable nature on tour.

Bachman toured in 2005 with a group called Randy Bachman's Rock Thing.

On April 25, 2006, Bachman and Cummings reunited and performed hits from The Guess Who, and solo careers at Club 279 in the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto in front of a small crowd of about 150 to 200 people. This concert was not open to the public - one had to be invited or win tickets.

"Bachman Cummings" toured Canada in June 2006, and again in September. The Guess Who visited Ashland, Kentucky, on July 5, 2006, for a one-night-only free show with The Bellamy Brothers.[2] The band played three brief concerts at the Flower Power Concert Series at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The Guess Who played at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania the week of August 6, 2006 at a private function for Sheetz Inc.

Lineups

The Silvertones

• 1960 Chad Allan (Allan Cobell), Bob Ashley, Brian Donald, Johnny Glowa, Jim Kale, Larry Wah

Chad Allan & The Silvertones

• 1961 Chad Allan, Bob Ashley, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Carol West

Chad Allan & The Reflections

• 1962 Chad Allan, Bob Ashley, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
• 1964 Chad Allan (Allan Cobell), Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Bob Ashley, Garry Peterson

The Guess Who

• 1965 Chad Allan, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Burton Cummings
• 1966 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Bruce Decker, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
• 1966 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
• 1970 Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Greg Leskiw, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter
• 1972 Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter
• 1972 Burton Cummings, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace, Kurt Winter
• 1974 Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Domenic Troiano, Bill Wallace
• 1979 Bobby Bilan, Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall, (Guess Who's Back LP)
• 1979 David Inglis, Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall, Kurt Winter
• 1979 David Inglis, Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall, Bobby Bilan
• 1981 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace
• 1982 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
• 1990 Terry Hatty, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Leonard Shaw
• 1997 Carl Dixon, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Leonard Shaw
• 1998 Carl Dixon, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Ken Sinnaeve, Leonard Shaw
• 1999 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson (one show)
• 2000 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson (one show)
• 2000 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings,Don McDougall, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace (to end 07/31/03)
• 2004 Bobby Bilan, Carl Dixon, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Leonard Shaw
• 2006 Carl Dixon, Jim Kale, Laurie MacKenzie, Garry Peterson, Leonard Shaw (currently touring the U.S.)

Discography

Albums

• 1965 Shakin' All Over
• 1965 Hey Ho (What You Do To Me)
• 1966 It's Time
• 1968 The Guess Who
• 1968 A Wild Pair (half Guess Who / half Staccatos (Five Man Electrical Band))
• 1968 Canned Wheat
• 1968 Wheatfield Soul
• 1969 Sown and Grown In Canada
• 1970 American Woman
• 1970 Share the Land
• 1971 Guess Who Play The Guess Who
• 1971 The Best Of The Guess Who
• 1971 So Long, Bannatyne
• 1972 Shakin' All Over (re-issue)
• 1972 The Guess Who Live At The Paramount
• 1972 The History Of The Guess Who
• 1972 Rockin'
• 1972 Wild One
• 1973 The Best Of The Guess Who (re-issue)
• 1973 The Best Of The Guess Who Volume 2
• 1973 Artificial Paradise
• 1973 #10
• 1974 Road Food
• 1974 Flavours
• 1975 Power In The Music
• 1976 The Way They Were
• 1977 The Greatest Hits Of The Guess Who
• 1978 Guess Who's Back?
• 1979 All This For a Song
• 1984 Together Again
• 1986 The Best Of The Guess Who Live
• 1988 Track Record: The Guess Who Collection
• 1995 Liberty
• 1995 Lonely One
• 1997 The Guess Who: The Ultimate Collection
• 1997 Razor's Edge
• 1998 The Spirit Lives On (Live)
• 1999 Down The Road (Live)
• 1999 The Guess Who: Greatest Hits
• 2000 American Woman (Remastered)
• 2000 Live At The Paramount (Remastered with bonus tracks)
• 2000 Share the Land (Remastered)
• 2000 Running Back Thru Canada (Live)
• 2001 This Time Long Ago
• 2003 Platinum & Gold Collection: The Guess Who
• 2003 The Guess Who: Anthology
• 2004 Wheatfield Soul / Artificial Paradise (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
• 2004 So Long Bannatyne / #10 (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
• 2004 Rockin' / Flavours (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
• 2004 Road Food / Power in the Music (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
• 2004 The Best of Running Back Thru Canada
• 2005 Let's Go
• 2006 Bachman-Cummings Song Book (The album contained tracks from The Guess Who, Burton Cummings, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

Major hit singles

• "Shakin' All Over" - 1960; original by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, 1965; covered by The Guess Who, 1970; performed live by The Who
• "These Eyes" (Bachman - Cummings) - 4/69, reached no. 6 on U.S. Billboard charts
• "Laughing" (Bachman - Cummings)- 7/69, reached no. 10
• "Undun" (Bachman)- b side of "Laughing" reached no. 22
• "No Time" (Bachman - Cummings) - 1/70, reached no. 5
• "American Woman" (Bachman - Cummings - Kale - Peterson)- 3/70 - The first Canadian rock song to hit #1 in the American Music Charts which in turn put The Guess Who on the Canadian Charts
• "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" (Bachman / Cummings) - b side of "American Woman"

All of the above included Randy Bachman before his departure.

• "Share The Land" (Cummings) - 11/70, reached no. 10
• "Hand Me Down World" (Winter) - 8/70 - reached no. 17
• "Clap For the Wolfman" (Cummings - Wallace - Winter) - 8/74 - reached no. 6

DVDs

• 2002 Running Back Thru Canada (Live with bonus tracks)
• 2003 Toronto Rocks - Two tracks only - with the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush and others.

Books

• 1995 American Woman - The Story of The Guess Who by John Einarson - Quarry Press, Ontario, Canada

The Guess Who in the movies

• "Undun" is heard briefly in the movie Jackie Brown, although it doesn't appear on the film's soundtrack.
• "No Time" plays during the student riot scene in the 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley.
• "American Woman" is used in the film American Beauty, although it doesn't appear on the film's soundtrack.
• A karaoke version of "American Woman" is sung in The Cable Guy.
• In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, mentions the Guess Who. In director Cameron Crowe's extended "Bootleg" version of the film, Bangs talks longer about the band and mentions a live version of "American Woman."
• Both the Lenny Kravitz and the Guess Who's versions of "American Woman" are in the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The Kravitz version is also on the film's soundtrack.