Myles Goodwyn, co-founder, creative force, and guitarist/frontman in April Wine, died December 3. He was 75 and while no cause of death has been reported, for years he lived with Type 2 diabetes.
Goodwyn grew up in Waverly, Nova Scotia, and was influenced by an uncle who was a gigging musician; at age six, his father gifted him a Norma copy of a Gibson Hummingbird that he used to play along to records by country artists, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard.
As a high-schooler, he played in cover bands with bassist/friend Jim Henman
“We played nearly every day after school in a little woodshed at my parents house,” Henman recalled. “We started learning songs while my kid brother, Bob, would play drums on our mom’s sugar and flower cans.”
When friends formed a band to play a school variety show, Henman convinced his father to buy a bass so he and Myles could join, Myles borrowing Jim’s Eko electric. The group continued as a dance band doing Top 10 hits, each making $15 every weekend night. At 16, Goodwyn wrote his first song, “You Won’t Dance With Me,” which later became a hit for April Wine.
In 1969, Henman asked his cousins, Ritchie and David Henman, to start a band doing originals and touring Northern Canada. They agreed, but only if Jim could talk Goodwyn into being part of it. That fall, they became April Wine, which recorded two albums of mostly original music.
Jim Henman left the group while rehearsing for the second album, and Myles replaced him with Jimmy Clench. While recording the third album, Electric Jewels, Ritchie and David left the band and were replaced by Jerry Mercer (drums), and Gary Moffet (guitar). Supporting the album, they toured Canada coast to coast, building an audience on the strength of their live show.
In his September ’20 interview with VG, Goodwyn said the band’s next three albums, Electric Jewels, Stand Back, and The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy saw them progress as songwriters and musicians; on the latter, Goodwyn assumed producer duties for what became the first album in Canadian history to have platinum advanced sales orders.
“After On Record, I saw what was going on with us compared to how other bands – The Who, early Beatles, and of course Led Zeppelin – were making great albums that were not just a collection of singles,” he said. “By the time we started making Electric Jewels, I was starting to understand that we could do things besides radio singles. After Stand Back and The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy, the band really came together.”
In ’77, they added third guitarist Brian Greenway and signed to Capitol Records before beginning work on First Glance, the album that broadened their U.S. audience with the hit single, “Roller.”
Goodwyn first met Greenway in ’72, when the latter was in another band that toured parts of Canada with April Wine.
“They were the hot band in Montreal, and I really wanted to join them,” Greenway recalled.
It almost happened when Goodwyn hired Moffett; wanting a bigger live sound for the summer ’77 tour, Goodwyn called Greenway again.
“I jumped at the chance, of course, and Myles said if it went well, I’d become a permanent member,” he added. “By October, I was full-time and we went to do First Glance.”
Their follow-up, The Nature of the Beast, was co-produced by Mike Stone, who’d worked with Queen. It proved to be band’s biggest album in terms of acclaim and sales, reaching double platinum status in Canada, platinum in the U.S. with the hit “Just Between You and Me” reaching #25 in the fall of ’81.
In 2002, Goodwyn received the SOCAN National Achievement Award, in ’08 he was recognized with the East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award, and in ’10 was inducted to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
In 2016, Goodwyn released Myles Goodwyn and Friends Of The Blues, which received a JUNO nomination for Blues Recording of the Year and won an ECMA for Blues Recording of the Year. The follow-up, Friends Of The Blues 2, won the same blues category in ’20.
Goodwyn’s final performance with April Wine happened in March, 2023, in Truro, Nova Scotia. He continued to write, record, and perform in an acoustic quartet with Jim Henman, John Chaisson, and Steve Gaetz.
“Myles inspired future generations of musicians,” Henman said of his friend. “His music still gets daily airplay across Canada, and the band he fronted until 2023 continues to do 30-plus shows every year. His fans now span two generations and his contributions are part of the evolution of Canadian music.
“Having played acoustically with Myles this last six years was like going back 60 years. Myles and I co-wrote and recorded some great songs recorded some great songs, like ‘Some of These Children’ and our first Christmas song, ‘Ring The Bells,’ and had started a few more I promised him I would finish. We shared a lot of time talking about life, like old friends do. There’s a hole in my heart, but it’s full of memories.”
“Myles wrote classic hits in Canada and the world for almost two decades,” said Greenway. “That’s something to be proud of, and his legacy will remain every time one of his songs gets airplay. Everyone has a memory tied to an April Wine song, including me. I was a fan that got to join his dream band and have a career lasting 50 years plus. We still perform to appreciative audiences in Canada and the U.S. His memory will live on.”
In September of ’23, April Wine was granted a spot on the Canadian Walk of Fame, and Goodwyn was named to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
This article originally appeared in VG’s February 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
