Goodwyn, Myles

Websites:  https://www.facebook.com/mylesf.goodwyn, https://www.aprilwine.ca/the-band/myles-goodwyn/, https://mylesgoodwyn.com/
Origin: Woodstock, New Brunswick, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Myles Goodwyn, singer, guitarist, writer, producer and leader of the multi-Platinum selling rock band April Wine, has shaped and directed the group from its earliest beginnings. April Wine has sold over 10 million recordings worldwide.

Myles Goodwyn’s voice is as distinctive and immediately recognizable as his song writing skills are prolific. Myles and the other members of April Wine were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 2010.

Goodwyn received the prestigious East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and the SOCAN National Achievement Award in 2002. In 2016 he released his memoir named, Just Between You and Me, which became an instant best seller on the Globe and Mail`s Non-Fiction List. His second book, Elvis and Tiger (fiction) was published in 2018 and was also very well received.

The Myles Goodwyn and Friends Of The Blues recording released in 2018, it earned international acclaim and a Juno Nomination for Blues Recording of the Year in 2019. The recording won the ECMA award for Blues Recording of the Year 2019. His follow up blues recording in 2019, Myles Goodwyn and Friends of the Blues2, won the same blues category, in 2020.

Myles continues to record and perform in with April Wine in 2022. He also performs live with his acoustic trio which includes himself, Jim Henman and Bruce Dixon.

Singer, guitarist, writer, producer and leader of the band, Myles’ passion and drive shaped and directed the group from its earliest beginnings. He is the only remaining original member of the group since the inception of April Wine in 1969.

Myles grew up poor and is the classic “small town kid makes good” success story. As a young teen, Myles honed his skills, playing in bands such as East Gate Sanctuary and Woody’s Termites.

From the very beginning, Myles plotted the course of the band. His unique, but classic rock voice gives April Wine a distinct and immediately recognizable sound. Ranging from hard rock classics to soulful ballads, his vocal range and style can really grab a hold of you. His songwriting skills are prolific. He has penned virtually every April Wine song. He has a knack with words and seems to have an ability to write a catchy tune at will.

Through the ups and downs and changing faces of the band, the one thing that has remained constant is Myles Goodwyn. Even today and with their latest release and shift in direction, his voice is as strong and apparent as ever.

Now in its fourth decade, April Wine continues to charge ahead as one of Canada’s very best rock bands. And as far as rock history goes, Myles Goodwyn is already a living legend (especially in the annals of Canadian rock history), being known as one of the all time greats.

Myles Francis Goodwyn (born Miles Francis Goodwin on June 23, 1948) is a Canadian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the only original and longest serving member of the Canadian rock band April Wine. Goodwyn has led the band from its formation and modest garage band roots to multi-platinum sales and peak. Remaining the band's lead vocalist and guitarist.

Following the band's peak years during the 1970s and early '80s, Goodwyn disbanded April Wine and pursued a solo career. After a brief relocation to the Bahamas, Goodwyn returned to Canada and reformed April Wine in 1992. He continues to lead the band to the present day.

In 2002, Goodwyn was the recipient of the National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards held in Toronto.

In January 2003 Goodwyn received an ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact on the music industry of Atlantic Canada.

In March 2008, Goodwyn stated in an interview that he had been back in the studio recording his second solo effort Myles Goodwyn & Friends of the Blues. This will be an all-blues album featuring guest performers such as Amos Garrett, David Wilcox, Frank Marino, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, and Rick Derringer.

In 2016, his autobiography, Just Between You and Me, was released.

In 2018, his second solo album Myles Goodwyn and Friends of the Blues was released.

POSTED MAY 15, 2023
Canadian Song Writers Hall of Fame
Year of Induction: 2023
Origin: Halifax, NS

Nova Scotia has produced no end of iconic songwriters, from country music legend Hank Snow to folk roots and pop artists Rita MacNeil, Denny Doherty, Jimmy Rankin, and Sarah McLachlan. The Bluenose province can also boast its contribution to rock, through Myles Goodwyn, principal songwriter of April Wine. Goodwyn has been called “unequivocally Canada’s greatest rock and roll songwriter.” Born in June 1948 in Woodstock, Nova Scotia, he was the oldest of three boys in a family of modest means. As a child he absorbed the country styles of Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams, and later early rock and roll. At age eleven he lost his mother to cancer and turned to music, learning Hank Snow’s songs on guitar and singing in his church choir. “Music was my salvation,” he remembered in his popular 2016 memoir, Just Between You and Me.

In 1969, searching for a fresh sound, Goodwyn and his long-time friend, Jim Henman, plus the latter’s cousins David and Ritchie Henman formed April Wine. Goodwyn explained, “The decision to go entirely original happened . . . when they heard me play a riff of a song I was working on. . . . they were floored by how heavy it rocked, and that was the inspiration for the declaration by all of us that we would, henceforth, be a 100 per cent original group.”

Six months later, on April 1, 1970, April Wine left Nova Scotia for Montréal, where they signed a recording deal with Aquarius Records. Their first album was released in 1971, which included their first single, the Goodwyn-written rocker Fast Train. It was a hit. In no time, April Wine became Aquarius’s top act and a highly popular touring band, playing in small and large cities across Canada. Goodwyn told the National Music Centre: “We were playing small places, anywhere, on the strength of the first album…. People were being bussed in from everywhere around to see the shows.”

April Wine became a multiple platinum-selling phenomenon, selling over 10 million records with Goodwyn-penned classics like Roller, I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, and I Like to Rock. Their album “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy” became the first Canadian album to sell over 100,000 copies.

April Wine’s top moments included opening for Stevie Wonder at the Montréal Forum in 1973; playing with the Rolling Stones at Toronto’s El Mocambo in 1977; and recording before a sold-out audience in 1981 for their “Live in London” album, recorded in London, England. And Goodwyn’s Enough is Enough was the first Canadian song aired on MTV.

April Wine members came and went over the years, with Goodwyn remaining as the only original member. After releasing 22 studio and two live albums, they disbanded in 1984. In 1993 the re-banded April Wine resumed touring, once again selling out shows continent-wide.

In March 2009, April Wine was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and received the JUNO Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Goodwyn and April Wine were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. They can also boast two Félix awards and several SOCAN Classic awards.

Goodwyn’s songs—in styles from edgy rock to romantic ballads, from country to blues—reveal variety and depth springing from a boundless well of talent. His subject matter is wide-ranging, encompassing piano classics such as Comin’ Right Down on Top of Me, Like a Lover, Like a Song and I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, the environmental song Lady Run, Lady Hide, and songs about the music business such as Rock N’ Roll Is a Vicious Game, Electric Jewels and Face the Storm. Nor is he afraid to tackle political topics: listen to Blood Money (the scandalous Clifford Olson payoff) and Some of These Children (unmarked residential school graves).

He is a hard-working master of his craft: “I worked diligently and tenaciously on becoming a good, consistent songwriter. To me it is the most important part of what I do. Always has been.”

Goodwyn’s musical achievements earned him the East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award and SOCAN’s National Achievement Award, for which he whole-heartedly acknowledges his bandmates’ contributions: “I know I was lucky to have this band to interpret my songs and to help make them as good as they could be by giving of their talents, unselfishly, time after time. I owe them much, and I hope they know that.”

Goodwyn also recorded two blues albums in 2018 and in 2019, garnished a JUNO nomination for Blues Album of the Year (2019) and won two ECMA Awards for Blues Album of the Year, back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. And he gives back to his community by supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada since 2003 and as co-founder of Soleful Caring . . . Shoes for the Homeless, collecting and distributing “gently used” footwear for men and women, coast-to-coast in Canada. In 2022, Goodwyn released “For Ukraine,” which was written in support of the citizens of war-torn Ukraine. The song won him the SIFA award for Best Social Impact Music/Art 2022.

Goodwyn gave his final live performance with April Wine on March 2, 2023. But that doesn’t mean he’ll rest on his laurels: He will continue writing and producing for April Wine as the band will continue to tour with his artistic involvement, and his third blues recording will be released in the summer of 2023.

May 2, 2023 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame