Artist / Band

Billy Thunderkloud & The Chieftones

Origin Edmonton, Alberta

Websites

No websites listed

Biography

Canadian band mostly active in the USA. Founded in 1964 as The Chieftones, the members adopted stage names and the new group name some time after the departure of Albert Canadien in 1969.

Lineup:
Vincent Clifford (3) (aka Billy ThunderKloud), and his brother
Barry Clifford (2) (aka Barry Littlestar), both from Kispiox/Kitwanga, British Columbia;
Jack Cecil (aka Jack Wolf) from Ayanish, British Columbia; and
Richard Douse (aka Richard Grayowl), from Kitmancool, British Columbia.

Relocating first to Toronto, then the tiny town of Boaz, Wisconsin, then Nashville and eventually booking out of Boston, the band's recordings dated from 1966-75. According to Gary Myers' excellent '60s Wisconsin discography "Do You Hear That Beat," all four members of this band were members of the Tsimshian Indian Nation of Northwest British Columbia, Canada. Two of the members discovered in an Edmonton Indian school that they were long-separated brothers; they formed the Chieftones and moved to southwest Wisconsin in the 1960s. The Chieftones had five entries on the country charts in 1975-76.

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