Parachute Club

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Parachute Club was a Canadian band formed in Toronto in 1982.

The band consisted of Lorraine Segato on vocals and guitar, Lauri Conger on keyboards and vocals, Billy Bryans on drums, Margo Davidson on saxophone and vocals, Julie Masi on percussion and vocals, Steve Webster on bass and Dave Gray on guitar. Their first album was produced by Daniel Lanois. The song "Rise Up" from that album won a Canadian Juno Award for Single of the Year.

Steve Webster left to perform with Billy Idol and Keir Brownstone replaced Webster on their second album At the Feet of the Moon in 1985, produced by Michael Beinhorn. They received a Juno Award for Group of the Year the same year.

In 1986, they released their third album, Small Victories. The album included the song "Love is Fire" featuring Segato singing a duet with John Oates of Hall & Oates. Oates produced the single, as well as several other Small Victories tracks; The Parachute Club and Mike Jones were credited as producers on the reminder of the album.

After a final non-album single in 1987 ("Big Big World"), the band members went their separate ways in 1989.

In 2005, critic Greg Quill wrote in the Toronto Star that "No musical collective bespoke this city during a specific period as powerfully as Parachute Club did in the 1980s. Their infectious, inclusive, soca-soaked dance music carried important messages about the social changes Toronto was experiencing at the time, about sexual and personal politics, about the need for hope and courage in an age of confusing, impersonal rhetoric from local policymakers and world leaders."


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[edit] Reunion and reconstitution

On May 14, 2005, the band performed a reunion show in Toronto, co-headlining with Martha and the Muffins. On September 3, 2005, a reconstituted Parachute Club, including Segato, Bryans, Gray and Brownstone, with new members Mystic Walsh and Miranda Walsh (daughters of Eric Walsh, lead singer of Toronto reggae band Messenjah) on vocals and Ashley Wey on keyboards, headlined the City Roots music festival. Members were coy about whether their reconstitution was permanent.

In 2006, Parachute Club were inducted into the Canadian Indies Hall of Fame.

[edit] Albums

  • The Parachute Club (1983)
  • At The Feet Of The Moon (1984)
  • Moving Thru The Moonlight (1985)
  • Small Victories (1986)

[edit] Singles

  • "Rise Up" (1983) #18 CAN, #4 CHUM
  • "Alienation" (1984)
  • "Boy's Club" (1984)
  • "At The Feet Of The Moon" (1985) #11 CAN, #8 CHUM
  • "Act Of An Innocent" (1985)
  • "Sexual Intelligence" (1985)
  • "Love Is Fire" (1986) #31 CAN
  • "Love And Compassion" (1987)
  • "Walk To The Rhythm" (1987)
  • "Introduction To The Big World" (1988)

[edit] Reference

  • Greg Quill, "Ready to rise up", Toronto Star, 1 September 2005, page G1
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