This whole music thing started with my mom. She played piano and sang. I don't remember which songs; they could have been "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?", or maybe even "Row. Row, Row Your Boat". It doesn't matter. She taught me how to sing harmony. My mom and dad used to have sing-a-long parties in the basement of our house on Benjamin Avenue. Dad is a great singer, and at 88 still belts out a mean Sinatra. My parents gave me the gift of music for which I will always be grateful.

I started taking Hawaiian (really?) guitar lessons when I was 9. I learned to play "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean", a Scottish ballad that should only be played on bagpipes. When I was 12, and in grade 7 at D. Roy Kennedy Public School, I joined the choir. I played a sailor in Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, and in grade 8 got the part of Koko in The Mikado, another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. I liked singing, and was having fun doing it. My grades 7 and 8 music teacher, Doreen Givens, talked me into joining a couple of church choirs. As a pre-pubescent soprano I sang for Glebe United and Woodroffe United churches.

I lived on Compton Avenue while all this was going on, just down the street from my best friend Brad Campbell. Brad and I used to sing Kingston Trio songs in his basement. I think we were the first airband. "Scotch and Soda" is still one of my favourite songs.

In 1963, Brad went off to Woodroffe High School and I started attending Ottawa's Nepean High School where I met Brian Bradfield. Everything at school was going along smoothly until February of 1964 when The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. Just as it did for thousands of other boys my age, that television show changed my life. I remember Brad and I spent hours on the phone after that performance talking about what we had witnessed. Music became more important than anything else. It was all-consuming, and set me on my life's course.

We put together a few bands in the beginning; The Decades, B.C. and The Cavemen, and The Quotations. With a member or two from another local band called The Rising Suns, we became The Fifth Dimension. The first lineup was me, Brian, Brad, Jack Arsenault and John Miron. After some memorable experiences in Kazabazua and beyond, Keith Richardson came in to replace John, and we recorded our first single for Sir John A. Records called "Baby Boy". Just before we released the record, a band from the U.S. released a little song called "Up Up and Away". That band was The Fifth Dimension. Faced with a name change only days before we released our record, we chose to call ourselves The Five D. Mark Corbin from The Scoundrels came in to replace Jack before we recorded our second single ; "Runnin' 'Round in Circles" in 1967. The band went on to release its third and final single, "She Can't Be my Girl" in 1968.

Ever since, I've continued making music. I was a member of The Playdates, Skyhound, Foxfire, The Rhythmaires, Fowler Street, Bolt Upright and The Erections, Springwell, Fizz, Up All Nite, The Dennis Whitty Band, and Reg Carkner and The Terrence Christopher Band. I'm currently playing percussion and singing in The Kim Kalen Trio, and am a cast member in "A Musical Oddysey", a musical that celebrates Canadian music.

Brad, Brian, Keith and I get together once a week to play music and misbehave. We call ourselves The Yohawks. We finally finished our album at studioNINE and hope it will become one of your favourites in the months ahead. The album is called MPH. Check it out.

Thanks for stopping by,

Dave