Fehr, Wayne

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Origin: Altona, Manitoba, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Wayne Fehr was born in Altona, Manitoba where he spent the first ten years of his life. During this time he acquired a taste for country music and at the age of nine, his fingers first plucked the strings of a borrowed guitar. It was not until his twelfth Christmas was he to receive his own. Wayne's first public appearance was at the age of 13 when he won a spot on a variety television show by winning an amateur talent contest. At the age of 16, he left school to join a travelling dance band for three years and left in 1969 to form his own group. The group was named the "Spittin' Image." Having the band was one thing but soon it became obvious that Wayne had to get out to promote the group. He travelled from town to town and convinced hotel owners that they needed country music in their establishments. Wayne's approach to the problem worked because they soon had more work than they could handle and were developing quite a following. In 1971, Wayne and Spittin' Image decided to try their luck on the road. They organized an across Canada tour. Initially they met with tremendous success but as time progressed jobs became harder to get and one year after inception the tour and the band disbanded. Wayne arrived back in Manitoba at ta low ebb and found himself out of the music business for two years when he encountered some personal problems.

In 1973 Wayne met his wife Rita and she joined his old group Spittin' Image. This lasted only a few months and Wayne and Rita joined forces with his uncle and formed a group called "The Country Kinfolk." After playing together for a year the Country Kinfolk cut an album which featured two of Wayne's own songs, "The Wedding Song" and "Cajun Lulabyou." The Country Kinfolk continued to play together until the winter of 1976, when coming home from a show they were involved in an automobile accident. Wayne's wife Rita was fatally injured and Wayne was hospitalized with a badly shattered leg. Wayne remained in hospital for six months and it was during this convalescence that he wrote several of the songs that appeared on "Mood Country" his first album on the Sunshine Record label. The songs included Memories, Painted Desert, I will Love You, Talk to Me and First Love. The album was released in January 1977, six months after his release from hospital. Wayne's second album, "Buckskin and Satin" was recorded in early 1978 and released in the fall of the same year.

In 1979 Wayne insisted in organizing the first Call of the Wild Mountain Music Festival with the festival president, Lewis Kaselitz. He appeared at the festival much to the pleasure of some 8,000 people who came. During this time Wayne also wrote "Once In A Lifetime" b/w "Dance Hall Cowboy" which was recorded by Sheila Dawn from Altona, Manitoba. He later wrote Sheila's second release, "First Snow Of The Year" which has appeared on hit parade charts across Canada and on RPM, the official country music hit parade chart for Canada. Wayne had done much to further Sheila's career, especially in the early stages when she was just starting out in the music business. Wayne has become one of Manitoba's most promising Country Music performers, having his songs charted on many country hit parades across Canada.