John Till (December 28, 1945 – September 4, 2022) was a Canadian musician, best remembered as a member of two of Janis Joplin's bands - Kozmic Blues and Full Tilt Boogie.
Early life
Till was born in
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...
, on December 28, 1945.
His parents were both musicians who had a
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
band. His father played guitar,
tenor banjo, and double bass; his mother played both classical music and
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
on the piano.
Till attended
Stratford Central High School, where he met his future bandmates
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in the Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of F ...
and
Ken Kalmusky
Ken Kalmusky (18 November 1945 – 19 October 2005) was a Canadian bassist from Stratford, Ontario. He worked with some of the top names in the music industry, including Ronnie Hawkins, Ian and Sylvia, Jerry Reed, Amos Garrett, and Todd Rundg ...
.
Career
In 1957, when Till was around twelve years old,
he was invited to join Richard Manuel's band, which at the time didn't have a name but would soon become known as
The Revols
The Revols was a Canadian band from Stratford, Ontario, Canada, formed in 1957, with Richard Manuel on piano and vocals, John Till on guitar, Ken Kalmusky on bass, Doug Rhodes on vocals and Jim Winkler on drums. Fourteen- and fifteen-year-old ...
, with Till, Manuel, Ken Kalmusky (bass) and Jim Winkler (drums) forming the core of the group. They were eventually taken under the wing of
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American rock and roll singer, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...
, although by then Till had left the band to return to school.
Till played in local Toronto bands on the Yonge Street Strip through the early 1960s until he was asked to join Hawkins's band
The Hawks, that Hawkins had to rebuild after all the previous members of his band left to tour with
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
(see
The Band
The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...
).
Till played with Hawkins for three years before accepting an offer to join Janis Joplin's
Kozmic Blues Band, replacing guitarist Sam Andrew. Joplin would eventually disband Kozmic Blues and form the Full Tilt Boogie Band, taking Till and bassist Brad Campbell with her. Till toured extensively with Full Tilt Boogie and appeared on several television shows, including This Is Tom Jones and
The Dick Cavett Show
''The Dick Cavett Show'' is the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:
* ABC daytime, (March 4, 1968 – January 24, 1969) originally titled ''This Morning''
* ABC prime time, Tuesday ...
. The band also rode the
Festival Express, with the Grateful Dead, The Band and Delaney and Bonnie among others, who toured across Canada and played shows in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary.
Full Tilt Boogie recorded their classic ''
Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...
'' album, which reached the No. 1 spot on the
''Billboard'' charts in February 1971, after Joplin's death.
After Joplin's death, Full Tilt Boogie attempted to regroup and relocated to Woodstock, New York, to write and record new material. While there, Till played and recorded with several other musicians, including
Bobby Charles and Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary. When Full Tilt Boogie finally disbanded for good, Till moved back to Stratford, Ontario, retiring from the music industry and raising his family there.
[ In the foreword of ''Love, Janis'' (1992), Laura Joplin's biography of her relationship with her famous sister, Till, and his wife are thanked for providing some of the material for the book.
In November 2020, Till and Kalmusky – the latter deceased by then – were awarded Bronze Stars from the city of Stratford for "significant contributions to the cultural or social fabric of Stratford on a national or international scale."
]
Personal life
Till was married to Dorcas Till until his death.[ A biography of his life and career is scheduled for publication sometime in 2026.
]
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Ronnie Hawkins: history of The Hawks
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Till, John
1945 births
2022 deaths
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian rock guitarists
Canadian session musicians
Full Tilt Boogie Band members
Sportspeople from Stratford, Ontario