Richie Knight & The Mid Knights

Richie Knight & The Mid Knights Were A Canadian Blues Rock Band Popular On The Toronto Club Circuit In The Early Sixties And Going Through Several Lineup Changes. The Original Band Recorded No Album But Many 45's And Scored A Small Hit With "Charlena" In 1963. They Also Played Dick Clark's Parade Of Stars And Have Backed Such Legendary R&B Musicians As Jimmy Reed. Several Members Of The Group Went On To Play In Ronnie Hawkins Band The Hawks A Group Famous For Eventually Evolving Into The Band. In The Late Fifties Friends George Semkiw And Leo Donaghue Started The Band With Fellow Members John McCanliss And Jim Gwilliams. The Band Started Playing Some Dates In The Area Around Toronto. The Band Decided It Required A Bass Player And Roger Woods Is Brought Into The Unit Also Joining Was Barry Lloyd On Piano Along With Vocalist Rich Hubbard But By 1961 The Band Loses All But Semkiw Lloyd And Hubbard. Unfazed They Go About The Business Of Recruiting New Players That Will Eventually Become Richie Knight And The Mid Knights. In 1961 Semkiw Lloyd And Hubbard Add New Players Barry Stein On Drums Mike Brough On Sax And Doug Chappell On Bass Guitar. At This Time Barry Lloyd Switches From Piano To Hammond Organ. The Band Began Playing Dances Around Southern Ontario Quickly Becoming One Of The Circuit’s Favourite Groups. Finally In Early 1963 Gilliland Got The Band Into ARC’s Studio With House Producer Ben Weatherby Actually It Was The Label’s Office And Storage During The Day And Doubled As The Studio At Night. With Metal Garbage Pails Lifted Off The Floor And Stuffed With Rags To Stifle Any Sound The Band Started The Recording Process. There Were To Be No Overdubs Vocals And Instruments Were To Be Laid Down As One Item On A Mono Tape Recorder. The Process Took A Few Hours Stopping Each Time There Was Any Error Or To Move Microphones And Even One Time Due To A Train Passing Behind The Buildings Which Had No Sound Proofing. Four Hours Later Charlena Was Recorded Backed With "You Got The Power" A Ballad Originally Done By James Brown. ARC Records Approached The Band With The Idea Of Not Using Just The Name The Mid Knights On The Record Label Since Most Artists Of The Day Were Featuring The Name Of The Singer. After Much Discussion The Name Richie Knight Was Arrived At And The Birth Of The New Name Richie Knight And The Mid Knights. In The Late Sixties The Band Eventually Turned Into A Heavy Soul Group Renamin G Themselves The Mid Knight Revue After Lead Singer Richie Knight Among Other Members Had Left The Group. read less