Chester was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

band, active primarily from 1972 to 1975.Chester
at

Jam! Jam! was a Canadian website which covered entertainment news. It was part of the Canoe.com online portal, formerly owned and operated by Quebecor through its Sun Media division, and now owned by Postmedia Network. Jam! was the only media outl ...

's Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Although they released only two singles in their original form before breaking up, the single " Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" was a Top 10 hit on the Canadian pop charts in 1973 and the band garnered a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nomination for Most Promising Group at the

Juno Awards of 1974 The Juno Awards of 1974, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 25 March 1974 in Toronto at a ceremony at the Inn on the Park's Centennial ballroom hosted by George Wilson of CFRB radio's ''Starli ...

."Juno Award Nominees Listed". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', March 9, 1974.

Background

The band was formed by keyboardist Glen Morrow in 1972, and included vocalist Jim Mancel, guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Argue, bassist Mel O'Brien and drummer and pianist Wedge Monroe. Mancel had some success with his 1970 single, " I Could Give You the World" which won him an award at the 3rd Olympiad of Song in Greece. It was also a hit on the Top 30 MAPL Canadian Chart.

Career

In summer 1973, their single " Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" premiered on ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' magazine's RPM100 and Adult Contemporary charts, eventually peaking at #10 in the RPM100 the week of September 22, 1973, and at #8 in the AC chart the week of October 27, 1973. The record managed to chart in the United States. Entering the ''Cash Box'' Looking Ahead chart on October 6, 1973, it had seven weeks run with one of those weeks (September 1) just making it into the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Singles chart. The last position was at #114. It also entered the ''Record World'' 100 - 150 singles chart at #114 on September 8, 1973. It peaked at #101 on October 6. The follow-up single "Start a Dream", released in 1974, did not chart.

Post Chester

Argue left the band in 1974 to pursue a solo career. Although the remaining band members initially continued as Chester, they released no further recordings before breaking up in 1975. Mancel recorded a solo single under his own name; in 1977, Mancel and Morrow each separately revived the band name Chester for two singles. New vocalist Fran Cheslo performed with Morrow's version of the band. Argue recorded the single, "Dancing With Your Lady" bw "Oh Yeah" that was released on Celebration CEL 2101X in 1975. The song also got onto the

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compilation, ''Sounds Spectacular'' that was released that year. He became involved with

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but left after twelve years. Jim Mancel went on to have a hit in 1975 with " Let the Phone Ring".

Later years

In 1996 the band received a Classics Award from

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

, to mark "Make My Life a Little Bit Brighter" having been played 100,000 times on Canadian radio."SOCAN Awards Canada's Songwriters". ''

'', December 7, 1996. A compilation album, containing the singles released by Chester and those released by Argue and Mancel as solo artists, was released in 2006 on

Unidisc Music Unidisc Music is a Canadian independent record label. The label is known for releasing rare music, that was made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s. Genres include rock music, rock, electronic music, electronic, funk, Soul music, soul, hip hop ...

References

{{reflist, 2 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian pop rock music groups Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1975