Art Bergmann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Art Bergmann (born 1954 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who was one of the key figures in Canadian punk rock in the late 1970s.

Bergmann began his musical career with an Abbotsford band called the Mount Lehman Grease Band. After Mount Lehman folded, Art founded his own band, called the Notorious Smorg Brothers, which he stocked with a myriad of different support artists.

Bergmann was later the lead singer and songwriter for Vancouver, British Columbia punk stalwarts Young Canadians (formerly The K-Tels). Although the Young Canadians only recorded two independent EPs and a single before breaking up, their song "Hawaii" (co-written with Ross Carpenter) is one of the classic Canadian punk anthems. (Although long out of print, the EPs, along with some unreleased live material, were reissued in 1995 as the album No Escape.)

In the 1980s, Bergmann played with Vancouver independent bands Poisoned and Los Popularos before signing to Duke Street Records as a solo artist in 1988. He released his debut solo album, the John Cale produced Crawl With Me, that year. 1990's Sexual Roulette, produced by Chris Wardman (Chalk Circle, Rusty, Emm Gryner, Randy Bachman, Sons of Freedom) who went on to produce Bergmann's next two albums, became Bergmann's mainstream breakthrough, spawning the hit single "Bound for Vegas" and garnering him a deal with Polygram Records.

He followed up with a self-titled album on Polygram in 1991, again garnering significant radio airplay for the singles "Faithlessly Yours" and "Message From Paul". He moved to Sony Records for 1995's What Fresh Hell is This?, which won that year's Juno for Best Alternative Rock Album. However, his record sales, while solid, were not spectacular, and Sony dumped him.

1998's Design Flaw, produced by Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies), released independently, was a reworking of tracks from his first three albums, plus a cover of Gram Parson's "Sin City". The songs featured Art on acoustic guitar, with backing by Chris Spedding on electric. Bergmann then re-released 1984's Vultura Freeway in 2000.

Bergmann covered "Prisoners of Rock and Roll" on the Neil Young tribute Borrowed Tunes and contributed a song for the soundtrack to Terminal City Ricochet.

He has also appeared in two Bruce McDonald films, Highway 61 (as Otto) and Hard Core Logo (as himself).