Bill Usher is a Canadian

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

. During the 1970s he was a member of the rock group

Truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

Background

He played on Bob McBride's ''Sea of Dreams'' album that was released in 1973. He produced artist Mark Rust, whose recording won Calf Audio their 3rd Crown PZM competition. In 1986, he became a member of the

CARAS The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular songs ...

nominating and voting committee. He was also the president of Kids Records, a Toronto-based

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Career

1970s

For a brief period he was a member of

and played bongos and congas on their 1973 self-titled album. In March, 1977, Usher was part of Bruce Cockburn's band which also included musicians, Vob Bouchier on string bass and Pat Godfrey on keyboards. Cockburn and his band had embarked on a -month Canadian tour beginning at the Playhouse in Fredericton on 20 February that year. The tour which was described by ''Billboard'' as extensive was completed prior to June that year. He played on Cockburn's ''Circles in the Stream album''. In the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' February 28, 1978, issue, the reviewer said that percussionist Usher supplies the spice.

1980s

He produced The Travellers' ''Merry Go Round'' album which was recorded at The Grange in Toronto and released on elephant Records LFN-80-03 in 1980. In 1985, he was in the group Tuin which also Cheryl Hurwitz, Dave Maddox and Christopher Woitach. According to the June 28, 1986, article in ''Billboard'', his company Kids Records had decided to cut its distribution deal with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

because it was more economical for their office to handle it themselves due to its emphasis on libraries and specialty stores. In 1987 he won the

Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year The Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year has been awarded since 1979 in recognition of the best quality children's performance album released in Canada. Between 1979 and 2002 it was known as Best Children's Album. It is one of several catego ...

. In 2014, he received the Presenter of the Year award at the Pacific Contact booking conference and trade show in Burnaby.''The Golden Star'', Apr. 22, 2014
KHC’s Bill Usher takes Presenter of the Year honours
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References

External links

ArtistInfo: Bill Usher

Discogs: Bill Usher
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usher, Bill Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian percussionists Canadian rock drummers Canadian record producers Truck (Canadian band) members