Boulevard is 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 ...

band (originally abbreviated Blvd) formed in 1983 in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

by Mark Holden (saxophone/vocals). After releasing two studio albums, they disbanded in 1991. They reunited 23 years later, in 2014, and played at Firefest in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, England. They released their third studio album in September 2017.

History

In 1983, saxophonist Mark Holden co-founded Thunder Road Studio in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He started a studio project called Modern Minds using studio players in Calgary. In 1984, he asked Andrew Johns to join as keyboard player and lead vocalist, while redoing some of the old demos. Other members who made up the group were Randy Gould on guitar, Jerry Adolphe on drums, Hans Sahlen on bass, lead vocalist David Forbes and Holden on saxophone. In 1984, they signed with CBS Records and traveled to Germany to make a video for the first single, "Rainy Day In London", and to perform on the television shows ''Ronny's Pop Show'' and ''Bananas''. The single topped out at No. 45 on the ''Billboard'' charts in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Their performance of the song "Far From Over" was included in a compilation released by ''Ronny's Pop Show'' that year. The group remained in Calgary until it signed a deal with MCA Records in 1988, and moved to Vancouver to procure management with the Bruce Allen talent agency. Sahlen stayed in Calgary and was replaced on bass by Randy Burgess. In 1988, Boulevard recorded their debut album at Vancouver's

Ocean Sound Heart Hampshire (formerly Ocean FM and Ocean Sound) is a British Independent Local Radio station serving South Hampshire, West Sussex (excluding Worthing) and The Isle of Wight primarily for Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Chichester ...

by producer Pierre 'Baz' Bazinet, and was mixed by rock producers

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer and musician. In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he coll ...

and Mike Fraser. The album, ''BLVD.'', produced four singles with videos for "Never Give Up" and "Far From Over". The band gained exposure by touring Canada and opening for

Glass Tiger Glass Tiger is a Canadian rock band from Newmarket, Ontario that formed in 1983. The band has released five studio albums. Its 1986 debut album, '' The Thin Red Line'', went quadruple platinum in Canada and gold in the United States. Two single ...

. They also opened for

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on the final leg of the band's

Third Stage ''Third Stage'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 24, 1986, on MCA Records, as the band's first album on the label. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, s ...

tour. By 1990, Boulevard had revised their line-up with Thom Christiansen (formerly of

Idle Eyes Idle Eyes is a Canadian Pop Rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They are best known for the Canadian hit single "Tokyo Rose", which peaked at #16 on '' RPMs Canadian singles chart in June 1985. History The band had its genesis in 1980 ...

on bass, and Randall Stoll on drums. They recorded ''Into the Street'' at Venture Studios in Vancouver with

John Punter John Punter (born 27 January 1949) is an English and Canadian former record producer and recording engineer. He has worked with many bands and musicians, such as Spoons, Japan, Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Re-Flex, Doctors of Madness, ...

and, that year, released two singles in Canada. The band broke up in 1991. In 2013, Boulevard reunited to play at Firefest 2014 in

. When they arrived in the UK, they were astonished to find that fans had traveled from all over the world to see them. The members decided to look at some previously-unreleased songs. They added new material and had enough for an album. On February 27, 2015, Boulevard went into

The Warehouse Studio The Warehouse Studio is a multi-media recording facility and photography studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Bryan Adams. Building The studio is within the Oppenheimer Building, a three-story Victorian building recognized ...

in Vancouver and filmed the DVD ''Boulevard - Live from Gastown'', which included all five of the band's Canadian top 40 singles, as well as some tracks from the band's catalog, including some songs performed live in their entirety for the first time. By now, the band members were Holden, Stoll, Forbes, and Johns, with Corey Curtis on bass and David Corman on guitar. On July 16, 2017, the band, now named 'Boulevard IV', released the first song from their reunion record, "Life Is A Beautiful Thing", which aired live on the Steve Price Rock Show on ArFM. The following day, Melodicrock.com announced the name of the new album as ''Luminescence''. It was released on September 22, 2017. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the band remotely performed songs as fundraisers for Food Banks Canada.

Discography

Albums * ''Blvd'' (1988), MCA Records * ''Into the Street'' (1990), MCA Records * '' IV: Luminescence'' (2017), MelodicRock Records Singles * "Rainy Day in London" (1984) * "In the Twilight" (1988) * "Never Give Up" (1988) CAN No. 23 * "Far From Over" (1988) CAN No. 26 * "Dream On" (1988) CAN No. 31 * "Lead Me On" (1990) CAN No. 21 * "Crazy Life" (1990) CAN No. 47 * "Need You Tonight" (1990) DVDs * ''Live from Gastown'' (2015), Rocktopia Records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulevard Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups reestablished in 2014 Musical groups from Calgary Canadian rock music groups 1983 establishments in Alberta 1991 disestablishments in Alberta