Art Bergmann (born on February 8, 1953 in Vancouver, British Columbia)[1] is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who was one of the key figures in Canadian punk rock in the late 1970s.[2]
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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 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 Los Popularos and Poisoned before the latter band signed to Duke Street Records in 1988.[2] Due to confusion with the popular American band Poison which had marred the band's most recent tour, however, the label decided to bill the band's releases as solo albums by Bergmann.[2]
He released his debut solo album, the John Cale-produced Crawl With Me, that year. 1990's Sexual Roulette, produced by Chris Wardman, became Bergmann's mainstream breakthrough, spawning the hit single "Bound for Vegas" and garnering him a deal with Polygram Records.[3]
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 did not renew his contract.
1998's Design Flaw, produced by Peter J. Moore and released independently, was a reworking of tracks from his first three albums, plus a cover of Gram Parsons' "Sin City". The songs featured Bergmann 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. Additionally, he was featured in Bloodied but Unbowed, a film featured at the 2010 Vancouver Documentary Film Festival.[4]