Paul Roland Gogo (born April 24, 1965), known as Gogo, 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 ...

rock-and-roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

keyboard player, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for being the keyboardist of the Canadian rock band Trooper. His career has also included stints with rock vocalist Paul Laine. He is also the author of ''Frank Ney: A Canadian Legend','' a biography about

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

legislator, and longtime

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

mayor Frank Ney. In 2004, Gogo played a major role in the creation of ''Joyride!'', the debut album of his psychedelic rock group, The Super Groovy Band. The album has received positive acclaim from reviewers around the world. He was featured in the 2008 documentary film, ''Mellodrama: The Mellotron Movie.'' Gogo has an extensive collection of vintage electronic musical instruments which were on display in 2005 at the Royal British Columbia Museum in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. Musical instruments collection included a rare early rev

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Prophet V synthesizer which he donated to the

National Music Centre The National Music Centre (NMC; ) is a non-profit museum, performance venue, and recording studio located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The centre's permanent building, branded Studio Bell, is located at 850 4th Street S.E. in Downtown East Villag ...

in Calgary for perpetuity As part of the

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2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

festivities, Gogo was featured when Trooper performed on February 21, 2010. Coverage of the event was broadcast in Canada and around the world on networks such as CTV and

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. During the Winter of 2013, he gained international attention having had a stolen heirloom Framus banjo returned to him by the unusual tactic of offering friendship as a reward. He ran in an unsuccessful bid for Nanaimo City Council in 2014 suggesting partnerships on Civic projects and predicting a looming low-income seniors housing crisis. With Trooper, he received a White Hat from Tourism Calgary, a symbol of Western hospitality. 24th Sep, 2015 and Canadian Independent Music Association ROAD GOLD in the summer of 2018. In May 2023, Trooper was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Gogo received the Juno statuette as one of the inducted members. He is also the cousin of award-winning blues guitarist David Gogo and brother of Folk/roots musician John Gogo and brother of Marie Gogo Singer/Entertainer and original member of Juno Award winning Jerry Alfred The Medicine Beat.

Early life

The youngest of seven children (all musicians), Gogo received formal training in music and dance during childhood. He was raised in

by his parents Ken and Dodie Gogo, who were prominent musicians in the city. Ken Gogo is the only person to be presented with The Nanaimo Lifetime Cultural Achievement Award Posthumously and Dodie was choir director and organist with Saint Peters for 50 years 1958-2008. Gogo's first professional gig came at age 13, when he became the youngest ever hockey organist for the

Nanaimo Clippers The Nanaimo Clippers are a junior ice hockey team based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Island Division of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They play their home games at Frank Crane Arena. Franchise his ...

, a Junior "A", ice hockey team.

Social and charity work

Gogo’ is proprietor of Divine Mercy Transitional and Emergency House, providing safe affordable housing for low-income seniors. He teaches group campfire guitar and ukulele classes (as volunteer) and has twice headlined the telethon for The Child Development Centre. He also hosts numbers original community events as fund-raisers for STONE SOUP (which he is a director of) which is an independent charitable free-food source for up to 200 people per night. Also, Gogo was instrumental in arranging The Saint Peters Emergency Shelter In Nanaimo and has attended his 3rd degree

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

during his 4 terms on Parish Council. 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 ...

in 2020-2021 he formed and recorded a new

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

group called Jesus Music, which also includes Trooper bassist Scott Brown. The group describes itself as combining funk, orchestral, pop and ancient music.

References

External links

Trooper official website

Gogo Facebook fan page

Gogo's Road Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gogo (Canadian Musician) 1965 births Canadian male singers Canadian male biographers Canadian rock singers Canadian male songwriters Living people Musicians from British Columbia People from Nanaimo 20th-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian singers 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian biographers