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Canada - I Don't Believe / Coochy Coo - 7

I Don't Believe / Coochy Coo - 7"
RCA - 1970


Michael Panontin
Clyde Harvey spent the bulk of his childhood in Tacoma, Washington, but after finishing high school the classically trained pianist made his way up the Cascadia coast to the equally cloudy skies of Vancouver. It wasn't long before he had hooked up with some musicians and formed a band. After several years of gigging - first in Vancouver and then later down in Hawaii and L.A. - Harvey returned to the lower mainland and joined a new group, which after first calling themselves Fox settled on the strikingly unoriginal Canada.

Canada signed on to RCA Records and started working with producer Bill Misener, a talented singer, songwriter and producer who is weirdly best remembered as the voice of Folgers Coffee from 1985 to 1998. They issued 'I Don't Believe' in 1970, and though the funky sing-along failed to find much traction on the charts, it did manage to score a bit of ink in the August 8, 1970 edition of Cash Box. To wit: "On the domestic front RCA has just released a couple of Bill Misener productions that could shake the recording scene. The disk having the most potential would appear to be 'I Don't Believe' by Vancouver's Canada. The plug side was written by group organist Clyde Harvey. Formerly Fox, this group have found an eager following throughout Upper Canada and are currently on a tour of the western provinces. The disc has already been picked up by radio stations in the areas in which they are known."

Canada managed to tour with the likes of Ike and Tina Turner, the Guess Who, and Janis Joplin. But with little in the way of record sales, the group soon dissolved and Harvey made his way up to Edmonton, where he studied music theory and drama at Grant McEwen College before settling into a long career on the Canadian hotel and lounge circuit.
         



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