Ken Tobias

Ken Tobias was a singer, songwriter, musician and visual artist from Saint John, New Brunswick, whose recording career stretched from the late 1960s into the final years of his life. His songs included ‘Stay Awhile’, ‘Dream #2’, ‘I Just Want To Make Music’, ‘Every Bit Of Love’, ‘Give A Little Love’, ‘Lady Luck’ and ‘New York City’, and his work moved through Canadian radio, television, film and recording studios for more than six decades.

Tobias began performing as a child. He later recalled singing and modelling at the old Zellers store on King Street in Saint John when he was four years old, receiving a bag of candy for the job. Music soon became a regular part of his life. With his brother Tony Tobias, he formed The Ramblers, and the brothers eventually had their own local radio program.

In 1964, Tobias was selected to represent Atlantic Canada in a nationally broadcast Dominion Day concert from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. He was introduced by a young Alex Trebek and performed his own composition ‘This Is The Maritimes’. The Ramblers also appeared that year on the Dartmouth “Y” Hootenanny recording, performing ‘Whaling Ship’, Tobias’s ‘Little Drops Of Water’ and ‘This Little Light Of Mine’.

After high school, Tobias moved to Halifax and became part of the active CBC music scene there. He appeared on Music Hop and worked with guitarist and producer Brian Ahern in The Badd Cedes. The group later evolved into Chapter V, while Tobias moved increasingly toward songwriting and singing.

He also joined the national cast of CBC television’s Singalong Jubilee. The program placed him alongside a young Anne Murray, Gene MacLellan, John Allan Cameron and other Maritime performers, giving Tobias solo appearances as well as ensemble and duet work. His songwriting was already becoming an important part of what he was doing, and the CBC years gave him an audience across Canada before the beginning of his solo recording career.

Tobias later moved to Montreal, where he worked the club circuit and became part of Crystal Staircase with Lisa Hartt, Skip Layton, Charlie Clark and Mike Waye. The group’s vocal arrangements gave Tobias another outlet for his developing songs. After Crystal Staircase ended, he formed Book of Tobias with Clark and Waye.

A chance meeting with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers soon changed his direction. Medley was staying at a Holiday Inn near where Tobias lived in Montreal. Tobias was told that Medley was willing to hear him, so he arrived with his guitar and played some songs. Medley invited him to attend his show that evening and eventually offered Tobias an opportunity to work in Los Angeles.

Tobias moved to California and became a salaried songwriter with Medley’s production company. Medley produced Tobias’s first solo single, ‘You’re Not Even Going To The Fair’, released on Bell Records in 1969. The record gave Tobias his first national chart appearance in Canada and his first recognition from BMI for Canadian airplay.

During his time in Los Angeles, Tobias became close to songwriter Sharon Sheeley, whose credits included Ricky Nelson’s ‘Poor Little Fool’ and Brenda Lee’s ‘Dum Dum’. Through Sheeley and the Los Angeles music community, Tobias met performers including Ricky Nelson and The Everly Brothers. He continued writing steadily, although problems with his American work authorization prevented him from touring properly in support of his own recordings and eventually brought that first period in California to an end.

One of the songs Tobias had left behind in Montreal was ‘Stay Awhile’. Charlie Clark and Mike Waye subsequently joined The Bells, and when the group needed new material, Tobias’s song was brought forward. He was still in Los Angeles when BMI Canada contacted him to tell him that ‘Stay Awhile’ was becoming a hit.

The Bells’ recording, featuring Jackie Ralph and Cliff Edwards, reached No. 1 in Canada and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. It also reached No. 4 in Cashbox and sold more than two million copies. Tobias later remembered calling BMI in New York to follow the record’s progress on the charts. ‘Stay Awhile’ became his most widely known composition and was subsequently recorded by other performers, with instrumental versions appearing from Floyd Cramer and Billy Vaughn.

With his American work situation later resolved through a new production arrangement, Tobias returned to recording. His first album, Dream #2, appeared through Verve and MGM in 1972. Produced and arranged by Michael Lloyd at MGM Recording Studios, it included Tobias’s own version of ‘Stay Awhile’ together with ‘My Lady Of Harlem’, ‘Double Cross Woman’, ‘How Does It Feel To Be In Love’, ‘I’m Goin Home’, ‘I Know I Can’ and the title song.

The album established Tobias as a solo recording artist after the success he had already enjoyed as a writer. ‘Dream #2’ became a Canadian hit, while ‘I Just Want To Make Music’ developed into another of his most enduring songs. Tobias was also working in Los Angeles among some of the leading session musicians of the period and toured for a time with The Everly Brothers.

His second album, The Magic’s In The Music, took him to AIR Studios in London, England, in May 1973. The album was produced by Jon Miller, Rod Edwards and Roger Hand and engineered by Bill Price, assisted by Steve Nye. Tobias sang and played acoustic guitar, with Rod Edwards on keyboards and synthesizer, Bob Wilson on electric guitar, B.J. Cole on pedal steel guitar, Bruce Lynch on bass, Michael Giles on drums, Tony Carr and Andy Fuller on percussion, Graham Smith on mouth harp and Graham Preskett on violin.

The record included ‘On The Other Side’, ‘Good To Be Alive In The Country’, ‘Clouded Blue’, ‘Fly Me High’, ‘Darlin’ Butterfly’, ‘I Wish I Was A River’ and ‘My Songs Are Sleeping’. The instrumentation gave Tobias room to work with acoustic guitar, pedal steel, keyboards, violin and percussion within songs that remained centred on his own writing and voice.

Tobias returned to Canada and began an important association with Attic Records. His 1975 album Every Bit Of Love was released by Attic and recorded at RCA Studios in Toronto. Tobias co-produced the sessions with John Capek, with Don Geppert engineering and Dave Balan and Kevin Fuller assisting.

Tobias handled vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, harmonica and percussion. Davey Murrell played electric guitar, Capek supplied keyboards and synthesizer, and Wedge Munroe played drums. The album produced several important Canadian singles, including ‘Every Bit Of Love’, ‘Run Away With Me’, ‘Give A Little Love’ and ‘Lady Luck’. ‘Every Bit Of Love’ reached the national Top 20, while ‘Lady Luck’ reached No. 1 on the Canadian easy-listening chart.

Siren Spell followed in 1976. Tobias produced and arranged the record himself, with Tony Tobias serving as associate producer. Sessions took place at Manta Sound in Toronto during June and July, following pre-production at Kensington Sound. Don Geppert engineered, assisted by Gary Gray and John Naslun.

The musicians included Davey Murrell on lead electric and acoustic guitar, Bill Scullion on bass, Paul Greco on drums and percussion, D. Michael Mooney on keyboards, Simon Stone on saxophone and Elaine Overholt on backing vocals. Tobias supplied lead and backing vocals, guitars and percussion. Songs included ‘Lovin’ Fever’, ‘Before The Party’s Over’, ‘Oh Lynda’, ‘Already Gone’, ‘Nature’s Song’, ‘Dancer’, the nine-minute ‘Pirates And Kings’ and ‘Dream #1’. The album carried the full four-point MAPL designation identifying its recordings as Canadian content.

The following year Tobias released Street Ballet. He again wrote and produced the material, working with Rick Edgett, Bill Scullion, Bob DiSalle, Memo Acevedo, Simon Stone, Richard Waychesko, Elaine Overholt, Colina Phillips and Sharon Lee Williams. Milan Kymlicka contributed to the arrangements, along with Tobias, Overholt and Stone.

The album produced the Canadian Top 40 singles ‘New York City’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Be Alone’. Other songs included ‘Love Can Last Forever’, ‘Downtown’, ‘Hats Off’, ‘Writing Down This Song’, ‘Old Timer’, ‘The Lady Craves Love’ and ‘Blackbird’.

Tobias’s songs were also recorded by other artists. Anne Murray recorded ‘Some Birds’, Susan Jacks recorded ‘Dream #2’, and Cliff Edwards recorded Tobias compositions including ‘My Songs Are Sleeping’.

His music also entered television. ‘Good To Be Alive In The Country’ was performed by Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman. In 1978, Tobias travelled to Rome for work connected with the Italian western Sella d’Argento, directed by Lucio Fulci and released internationally as Silver Saddle. Tobias sang the title song ‘Silver Saddle’, credited to Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, Vince Tempera and Tobias, and also performed ‘Two Hearts’. Both songs were issued in Europe on a Cinevox single.

During the 1980s, Tobias increasingly worked outside the conventional album cycle. In 1983 he recorded ‘Here You Are Today (Theme For Saint John)’, prepared in connection with Saint John’s bicentennial celebrations. Tobias sang the composition with Joe Sealy on piano, Bill Scullion on bass and Dave Burton on drums. Tobias and Sealy arranged the recording, with Tobias producing it for Gloosecap Music and Tony Tobias serving as executive producer.

That same period brought recognition for Tobias’s commercial music work. In 1983 he received a CLIO Awards finalist certificate for his creative contribution to a Tourism New Brunswick radio commercial, covering music production, composition and lyrics.

Two further albums appeared in 1984. Gallery was developed as a CBC co-production and returned Tobias to a collection of contemporary songs, while Friends: A Kid’s Album Of Pop Songs was released through CBS’s Kiddin’ Round label. Tobias continued to write for specific projects and increasingly became involved in film and documentary scoring.

His screen work included Shelley Saywell’s 1987 documentary Shahira and the 1988 film Toronto: Struggle For Neighbourhood. In 1989 he composed music for Ballet Jörgen’s Dreams Of A Subtle World. Two years later he completed music for Michael Maclear’s two-hour CBC documentary The Greenpeace Years.

Tobias returned to studio recording in late 1992. At Reaction Studios in Toronto, he recorded six new songs that were issued to Canadian radio in 1993 through The Pangaea Music House, operated by Tony Tobias.

Those recordings survive on the uncommon two-CD Ken Tobias / Bloorstation Radio / Promo Sampler, catalogue number PMH-2CD 1001. Tobias’s disc contains ‘Don’t It Break Your Heart’, ‘What’s Your Name’, ‘One More Try’, ‘Water From The Moon’, ‘Secrets’ and ‘Freedom’.

The sessions were produced and arranged by Tobias, with James Stewart engineering and Sharon Hookway serving as production coordinator. Michael McFarlane and Steve Briggs played guitars, Neil Tatay keyboards, Paul Kobayashi bass and Jeff MacPherson drums and percussion, with Joanne Powell contributing backing vocals. Tobias and Stewart mixed the recordings at Reaction Studios, and the finished material was mastered at MusicLane in Markham.

The accompanying Pangaea promotional notes deliberately presented the recordings as a reintroduction. They reminded radio programmers that Tobias had continued writing throughout the years when he had released fewer records and described the six songs as some of the strongest work of his career. The sampler was followed by television appearances and live performances during 1993 and 1994 and provides an important record of Tobias returning to active recording after several years devoted largely to commissioned work.

Visual art had meanwhile become an increasingly substantial part of his life. Tobias had drawn and painted since childhood and eventually developed a large body of work that included landscapes, portraits, still lifes, fantasy subjects and images inspired by space. His own art biography later estimated that he had created roughly 500 works, with more than 200 entering private collections in North America and Europe. His paintings were also represented by True North Gallery in Ontario.

Tobias returned to Saint John in 2004. He continued writing, performing and working with other musicians, including Jessica Rhaye, with whom he developed a close musical friendship. Rhaye later recalled Tobias working closely with her on songs, helping reshape lyrics, verses and choruses until the material was right.

On May 15, 2008, Tobias released From A Distance through The Pangaea Music House, his first studio album in more than a decade. The ten new songs were recorded in Saint John with Tobias on electric and acoustic guitars and lead and backing vocals, Rick Edgett on guitars, Graeme McCausland on keyboards, Jon B. Goud on bass, Dave Bartlett on drums and percussion, and Jessica Rhaye and Maureen Moulton-Pye on backing vocals.

Tobias produced and arranged the album for Gloosecap Music Ltd. He and Andrew MacRae recorded and mixed the sessions at Fluid Audio Group Studios in Saint John, assisted by Matt Benoit and Alain Benoit. Tobias later remixed the material at Gloosecap Studio, with Jeff Elliott mastering in Toronto. The album included ‘Call Me’, ‘From A Distance’, ‘Heart Of Stone’, ‘My Maria’, ‘Stars In The Water’, ‘I Had A Dream’, ‘Taboo’, ‘Like Innocence’, ‘Baby Of Mine’ and ‘Wings Of My Guitar’.

Recognition for Tobias’s songwriting accumulated throughout his career. He received numerous BMI certificates and the PRO Canada Crystal Award in 1988. Five of his compositions received SOCAN Classic Awards, each recognizing 100,000 Canadian radio performances. ‘Every Bit Of Love’ received the honour in 1994, followed by ‘Stay Awhile’ and ‘I Just Want To Make Music’ in 1995, and ‘Dream #2’ and ‘Give A Little Love’ in 2002.

In 2013, Music New Brunswick presented Tobias with its first Directors’ Lifetime Achievement Award. He was subsequently selected for the Casino Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame, with the induction ceremony taking place in Cape Breton in 2017.

Tobias continued to write songs and paint through his final years. During and after the COVID period he returned to unfinished material and produced a substantial amount of new work. Among the songs completed during this period was ‘The Writing On The Wall’, recorded and produced by Tobias in 2023.

Another late composition, ‘Down In Hollywood’, looked back at the years he had spent in Los Angeles more than half a century earlier. The song recalled Hollywood Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, the Whisky a Go Go, the Troubadour and people Tobias had known during those years, including Sharon Sheeley. His family later identified it as one of his favourite recent songs.

Ken Tobias died in Saint John on October 2, 2024, at the age of 79. He had continued writing and painting almost to the end of his life and left behind recordings that had not yet been released.

‘The Writing On The Wall’ appeared in June 2025. ‘Down In Hollywood’ followed on July 25, 2025, the day Tobias would have turned eighty. More than sixty years had passed since the young Saint John songwriter had stood on Parliament Hill and performed ‘This Is The Maritimes’, and the music he left behind was still being released.

-Robert Williston