Dennis Edmonton (born Dennis Eugene McCrohan; 21 April 1943), also known by the stage name Mars Bonfire, is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter, best known for writing the hit song " Born to Be Wild" for Steppenwolf.

Career

Born Dennis Eugene McCrohan, he and his brother Jerry changed their surnames to ''Edmonton'' in the early 1960s. The brothers were part of the band the Sparrows, which later evolved into Steppenwolf. Another member of the Sparrows was

Bruce Palmer Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the seminal Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Early ...

, who later became a member of

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song " For What It's Worth", r ...

. Bonfire embarked on a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ' ...

career, while his brother Jerry became the drummer for Steppenwolf. After leaving the band, he often collaborated with

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

, co-writing and recording on the recordings of Fowley and artists associated with Fowley. On 22 June 2015, Bonfire was awarded the Cultural Impact Award by

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

at the 2015 SOCAN Awards in Toronto for the song " Born to be Wild".

Personal life

Bonfire was a prolific hiker in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

for many years. He has completed the

Hundred Peaks Section The Hundred Peaks Section (HPS) is a mountaineering society within the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club that serves to provide mountaineering activities for Sierra Club members in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, the Transverse Ra ...

list 25 times. He was noted by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' for his "affability and flexibility" as a hike leader. He currently resides in western Nevada with his wife.

Discography

Songs by Mars Bonfire that were recorded by Steppenwolf include: *" Born to Be Wild" ( ''Steppenwolf'', 1968) *"Faster Than The Speed of Life" ('' The Second'', 1968) *"Ride with Me" ('' For Ladies Only'', 1971) *"Tenderness" (''For Ladies Only'', 1971) *"The Night Time's for You" (co-write w/Morgan Cavett, ''For Ladies Only'', 1971) *"Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World)" ( ''Hour of the Wolf'', 1975) Albums: * ''Mars Bonfire'' (1968) * ''Faster Than the Speed of Life'' (1969)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mars Bonfire Canadian songwriters Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists 1943 births Living people Musicians from Oshawa Steppenwolf (band)