Christopher Ward (songwriter)

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For other persons of the same name, see Christopher Ward.

Christopher William Ward (born 28 July 1949 at Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian songwriter and broadcaster, known as a former long-standing on-air personality at MuchMusic, Canada's music video network, where he and J.D. Roberts were among the first video jockeys in 1984.

Contents

[edit] Broadcasting

Some of Ward's early television appearances began in 1978 on the CBC children's series Catch Up, as leader of the show's band.

Before MuchMusic launched, Ward hosted a weekend, all-night video program called City Limits on CITY-TV in Toronto. On Friday and Saturdays, from midnight to 5 a.m., Ward broke ground as Canada's first "veejay". The show was broadcast from CITY-TV's old Queen Street East studios and apart from playing the latest music videos, hosted guests. Bands such as Bon Jovi and actors like Mike Myers- playing his Wayne's World character long before Saturday Night Live made it famous- added to the prototype of what MuchMusic would become. The show also had "video clip" contest segments which gave winners prizes to special events like movie debuts. Broadcast only in the Toronto region, it was a major way music videos were introduced to the Canadian public. MTV, the American television network was not broadcast in Canada due to regulatory laws protecting Canadian Content until 2006, and when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted a broadcast licence for an all music channel to begin in 1984, CHUM-CITY won the lucrative rights. The application process to the Commission included Ward's current show as evidence of experience in broadcasting music video entertainment.

After spending years as a MuchMusic veejay, he hosted another show titled City Limits during his time with the network, a series that spotlighted alternative music. Even after his departure from MuchMusic in the late 1980s, he was still involved in the channel off-and-on, most notably as the faux-French-accented host of the annual Fromage specials until he was replaced by Ed the Sock.

[edit] Songwriting

He has written many songs with artists as diverse as Hilary Duff, Diana Ross, Wynonna Judd, Amanda Marshall, Tina Arena, Anne Murray and Meredith Brooks. His best known song to date is the Billboard number one single "Black Velvet", recorded by his then-girlfriend Alannah Myles. Ward has also released several of his own recordings, including the singles "Once in a Longtime" (1977) and "Maybe Your Heart" (1978) (both co-written with his longtime friend Stephen Stohn the executive producer of Instant Star) and "Boys and Girls" (1987). The music video for "Boys and Girls" featured both Alannah Myles and comedian Mike Myers in an early version of his "Wayne Campbell" character.

Starting in 1997, Ward became a member of Ming Tea, the tongue-in-cheek celebrity rock band assembled by fellow Canadian Mike Myers (whose association with Ward dated back to before the MuchMusic years) for the first and third Austin Powers films; the group performed the faux-sixties songs "BBC" and "Daddy Wasn't There".

Recent work (much of it in collaboration with Rob Wells) includes songs for Alexz Johnson in the TV series Instant Star, with two albums so far - Songs from Instant Star and Songs from Instant Star Two. Along with Rob Wells, he has also been working with Lindsay Robins.

[edit] Discography

  • Spark of Desire (1978)
  • Time Stands Still (1981)
  • Christopher Ward (EP) (1987)

[edit] External links

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