Joe Hall (born Hans Joachim Boenke; May 15, 1947 – March 22, 2019), was a
German-Canadian folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
singer-songwriter.
Biography
Hall was born in
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...
, Germany, the son of Johann Boenke and Johanna Maria Zeirmann.
[ "Joe Hall: Obituary", ''National Post'', March 29, 2019]
Retrieved April 2, 2019 He grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, and by the 1960s had begun performing in a trio, ''Drummond-McCaul'', with pianist, Daryl LeBerg and guitar player, Bill Williams, and by the mid-1960s had begun performing and touring with another band, the ''Eyeball Wine Company'' with Roger Brant on bass and George Dobo on guitar and piano. An album, ''Joe Hall and the Eyeball Wine Company'', was recorded in 1972 and released as a CD many years later. An earlier record, produced by Bob Ezrin, was never released. His first release was an album entitled ''H J Boenke'', his birth name, produced by Hall and his longtime collaborator, Tony Quarrington, and engineered by
Daniel and
Bob Lanois
Robert Jacques Lanois (April 4, 1948 – April 19, 2021) was a Canadian sound engineer, record producer, and harmonica player. He released his first album, ''Snake Road'', in 2006, in collaboration with his brother Daniel Lanois. He also recorde ...
, in 1976. Also playing on the album were George Dobo, keyboards; Roger Brant, bass; Mike Boyer (of the Humble Sponge), drums, and Joe Mendelson, "demented steel". The album was actually Volume 5, Number 2 of ''Impulse'', a Canadian arts magazine edited and published by
Eldon Garnet, a frequent collaborator of Hall’s in diverse realms including performance art and garden variety absurdity.
[ Kerry Doole, "RIP: Continental Drifter Joe Hall", ''FYI Music News'', March 25, 2019]
Retrieved April 2, 2019 In the 1970s and 1980s he led a new band, ''Continental Drift'', composed of Hall , Tony Quarrington on guitar, George Dobo on keyboards, and additionally Paul Quarrington
Paul Lewis Quarrington (July 22, 1953 – January 21, 2010) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.
Background
Born in Toronto as the middle of three sons in the family of four of Bruce Quarrington,< ...
on bass and Martin Worthy on drums, based in Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, and released several more albums. Many of his later records were released independently and included new incarnations of the continental drift with J.P. Hovercraft on bass and no one at all on drums.[ Kerry Doole, "RIP: Continental Drifter Joe Hall", ''FYI Music News'', March 25, 2019]
Retrieved April 2, 2019 Hall collaborated with Willie P. Bennett as well as Continental Drift members Tony Quarrington and J.P. Hovercraft as “The Screaming Vegetables” on two independent releases in the 90’s.
As well as his songs, Hall became noted for his "eccentric and often very funny stage chatter". Johnny Loftus, Review of ''Travelling Without Deodorant'', ''Allmusic''
Retrieved April 2, 2019[ "Death of Joe Hall leaves empty space on Canadian music scene", ''Toronto Moon'', March 25, 2019]
Retrieved April 2, 2019
From the late 1980s he lived in Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...
. He continued to perform, and recorded and mentored younger musicians. He died at home in 2019, aged 71, after suffering from liver cancer
Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...
for several years.[
]
Bibliography
* ''Hans Wurst songs by: Joe Hall'' (1990)
Discography
* ''Joe Hall and the Eyeball Wine Company'' (1972)
* ''H J Boenke'' (1976)
* ''Joe Hall and the Continental Drift'' (1977) *
* ''On the Avenue'' (1978) *
* ''Drinking with the Continental Drift'' (1979) *
* ''Rancho Banano'' (1980) *
* ''Skeleton Key'' (1987)
* ''Rapture'' (1993)
* ''Fresh Outta Rehab'' (1995) as ''Joe Hall And The Screaming Vegetables''
* ''Travelling Without Deodorant: The Best of Joe Hall 1972–1988'' (1999) Compilation
* ''Geezerhood'' (2005)
* ''Incontinental Drift'' (2007)
* ''Direct to Delete'' (2016) as ''Joe Hall And The Drift''
* Credited to ''Joe Hall And The Continental Drift''
See also
* List of German Canadians
This is a list of notable German Canadians.
Academics
* Heribert Adam – political sociology, political sociologist with a focus on ethnonationalism, born in Germany
* Hans Heilbronn – mathematician born in Berlin
* Fritz Heichelheim – Ger ...
References
External links
Website
Archived blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Joe
1947 births
2019 deaths
Canadian male singer-songwriters
20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters
German emigrants to Canada
Canadian folk rock musicians
21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters