Birrel Josef Mendelson (July 30, 1944 – February 7, 2023), known as Mendelson Joe, was a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, painter, and political activist, who was known for using his art to express political themes. Born and raised in

Toronto, Ontario 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 then moving to

Maple, Ontario Maple is a large neighbourhood in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada, north of Toronto. It was founded as a small village, located at the intersection of Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street. Geography Maple is located across Highway 40 ...

at age 13. He attended

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, graduating with a B.A. in arts, 1966.Joe, Mendelson, as told to Halim, Nadia. Alien: The Strange Life and Times of Mendelson Joe (Toronto, ECW Press, 2000) ISBN 1-55022-426-3 Joe was the nephew of Ruth Eisenberg, "Ivory" of Ebony and Ivory. He died by

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

on February 7, 2023, at the age of 78.

Music career

He began performing as a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician under the name Joe Mendelson in 1964. Four years later, he joined with guitarist Mike McKenna to form the band McKenna Mendelson Mainline. Despite achieving some success, he was dissatisfied with being in the group, and left in 1972 to pursue a solo career. The group reformed briefly in 1975. In 1975, after releasing two albums as "Joe Mendelson", he adopted his current name, "Mendelson Joe". On his earlier albums, he worked closely with other artists as co-producers, including former McKenna Mendelson Mainline bandmate Edward "Ted" William Purdy and

Colin Linden Colin Kendall Linden (born 16 April 1960) is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Linden plays acoustic and electric guitar, specializing in slide guitar, country blues, and ragtime fingerpicking, who frequently collaborates wi ...

. His later works were mostly self-produced. Likewise, his early albums mostly appeared on a series of independent labels (including Taurus Records,

Boot Records Boot Records was a Canadian country, bluegrass, and contemporary folk label formed in 1971 in Toronto by Stompin' Tom Connors and his manager, Jury Krytiuk. Early years Originally started as a format for Connors' recordings, Boot shortly after b ...

, and

Anthem Records Anthem Records is an independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company was formed in May 1977 by Ray Danniels and Vic Wilson with initial recording artists Rush, Max Webster, Liverpool and A Foot in Coldwater. The three ...

), but his later self-produced albums were released independently. In total, Joe recorded more than 30 solo albums, although only about half were officially released. In 1988, he appeared in an episode of ''

Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show ''The Elephant Show'' (from the second season onward, ''Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show'') is a Canadian preschool television show. It premiered on CBC on October 8, 1984, and ended on February 26, 1989, after 65 episodes over five seasons. ...

'' titled "Sunday in the Park". Around this period, a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for a novelty song he recorded, "Dance with Joe", received extensive airplay on

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

Painting career

First putting brush to canvas in 1975, Joe would also make a name for himself as a

contemporary artist Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art i ...

, pursuing painting, often portraits of famous Canadians. In 1980, he had a show of his work at the Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris in which his art style was described as "Dauntless Evidentiam". In 1985, he had a show of 25 portraits at the

Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian conte ...

in Oshawa titled "Working Women", curated by

Joan Murray Joan Murray (born August 6, 1945) is an American poet, writer, playwright and editor. She is best known for her narrative poems, particularly her book-length novel-in-verse, ''Queen of the Mist''; her collection ''Looking for the Parade'' which ...

.Mendelson Joe, "Working Women", Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 1985. His most famous painting depicted

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

with his face superimposed on a pair of human

buttocks The buttocks (: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed of a lay ...

."Mendelson Joe paints the town", ''The Globe and Mail'' (October 22, 2005) He published a book of his portraits, ''Joe's Toronto'', in 2005. Joe appeared in Derek May's 1981 documentary film on the Toronto art scene, ''

Off the Wall ''Off the Wall'' is the fifth studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on August 10, 1979, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's first album released through Epic Records, and the first produced by Quincy Jones, whom he met ...

''.

Discography

McKenna Mendelson Mainline

* ''McKenna Mendelson Blues'' (Paragon, 1969) 'bootlegged demo tape' * ''Stink'' (

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

, 1969) * ''Canada - Our Home and Native Land'' (

GRT Records GRT Records was the name of both a U.S. and a Canadian record label, both created by General Recorded Tape, a California-based company that existed from 1965 to 1979.Richard GreenGRT of Canada, Ltd. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-02-26 ...

, 1971) * ''The Bump 'n' Grind Review'' (GRT Records, 1972) * ''Mainline: No Substitute - The Grand Reunion of Mainline'' (Taurus Records, 1975)

Solo

* ''Mr. Middle Of The Road'' (Nobody Records, distributed by GRT Records, 1972) 'as Joe Mendelson' * ''Sophisto'' (Taurus Records, 1975) 'as Joe Mendelson' * ''Not Homogenized'' (

, 1979) * ''Jack Frost'' (Boot Records, 1980) * ''Let's Party'' (Boot Records, 1981) * ''Not Safe'' (1982) * * ''The Name of The Game Ain't Schmaltz: Some of the Best of Mendelson Joe'' ( Stony Plain Records, 1984) * ''Fragile Man'' (Health Records, 1986) * * ''Born To Cuddle'' (

, 1988) 'recorded with the Shuffle Demons' * ''Addicted'' (Anthem Records, 1991) * ''Women Are the Only Hope'' (1992) * * ''Humans Bug Me'' (1997) * * ''Spoiled Bratland'' (1998) * * ''Everybody Needs a Pimp'' (1999) * * ''Humans'' (Old Bold Records, 1999) * * ''Live At Sixty-Five'' (Old Bold Records, 2010) * * ''Buried Treasure'' (2014) * ''* Independently released''

References

External links

Mendelson Joe
*
Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelson Joe 1944 births 2023 deaths 2023 suicides 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters Artists from Toronto Canadian blues singers Canadian blues guitarists Canadian male guitarists Jewish Canadian musicians Canadian humanists Canadian male singers Singers from Toronto Anthem Records artists Canadian male singer-songwriters 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters Deaths by euthanasia Suicides in Ontario