Poor Souls was a Scottish band who had a hit in the UK, broke up and then re-emerged as a Canadian band who recorded for the

Quality Records Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists. The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...

label, and two hits in 1970 with "Lookin’ Round", and "Comin' Round". They also had another with "Land of the Few".

Background

The group's history goes back to Dundee, Scotland when a group called The Johnny Hudson Hi-Four aka The Hi-Four was formed. When another musician, Chick Taylor came on board, the name was changed to The Poor Soul. The UK line up consisted of John Moran (aka Johnny Hudson) on guitar & vocals, Doug Martin on bass & vocals, Chick Taylor on guitar & keyboards and John Casey on drums & vocals. After sigining with Decca in 1965, they recorded the single, "When My Baby Cries" which was released in June that year on Decca F 12183. The song was a climber for the week ending, Sunday 11 July 1965. In 1966, they were signed to ALP Records. In July, they had chart success with "Love Me". The group toured the US military bases in East Anglia. In late 1966 the label went into receivership. The group later went to Rome and played there for a while before breaking up in 1967. Three members, John Moran, Chick Taylor and John Casey went to Canada and settled in Toronto, recording for the Quality label.

Career

Recordings

In 1970, the Canadian group had the single, "Lookin’ Round" bw "Scarecrow" released on

Quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

1959X. For the week ending 4 July, the single peaked at #3 in the Top 50 MAPL Canadian chart. It also peaked at #28 on 11 July in the

RPM 100 ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''RP ...

singles chart. They followed up with the similarly-titled single, "Comin’ Round" bw "Workin’ Man" on Quality 1980X. The group was pictured with CKFH's John Donabie in 20 June issue of ''

RPM Weekly ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

''. At that time their single was at #73 in the RPM 100 chart. The single which was produced by Barry Keane had the label behind it in an interesting promotion. In a promotion that was described as an attention-getter, Canadian radio personalities were sent an engraved tin cup and pencils with ''"give to the poor souls"'' on the cup. Don O'Neil the program director of

CHEX Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally known as Shredded Ralston, first produced in 1936 and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, then later renamed Chex in 1950. T ...

contacted Lee Farley of Quality Records to let him know that it worked. This exercise paid off for the group in the charts. For the week ending 31 October, the single peaked at #14 on the Top 30 MAPL Canadian chart. It also entered the RPM 100 Singles chart at #76. In 1971, "Land of the Few" bw "No More" was released on Quality 1998X. On the week ending 5 June, it was at #71 in the RPM 100 Singles chart.

Venues

Along with

Rotary Connection Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966. In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album '' Rotary Connection'', the band backed Muddy Waters on his 1968 psychedelic blues album ...

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

and Chimo!, they were booked to appear at the Midsummer Night's Rock Fest which ran from Fri 26 Jun 1970 - Sun 5 Jul 1970 in Michigan. Later that year they were booked to appear at the Rock Hill Rock-In festival that ran from 5 September to 6 September that year. Other groups that were booked to appear there were

Sound Spectrum In the physical sciences, the term ''spectrum'' was introduced first into optics by Isaac Newton in the 17th century, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersed through a prism. Soon the term referred to a plot o ...

from London, Ontario,

Mud Flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

from Toronto,

Madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

from Hamilton and April from Orangeville. In 1971, Poor Souls along with Leigh Ashford,

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

and

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

were the acts to play an 4 April benefit concert for group Srynx who lost most of their equipment in a fire.

Break up

The group broke up after John Moran's wife died in an automobile accident.

Later years

By 1973, John Moran was signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. He had recorded an album, ''Come Join Me'' and had released a single of the same name which was in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

mode.''RPM Weekly'', Volume 20 No. 13 10 November 1973
Page 6 Columbia Reception for Moran-Egerton's 17 Oct.
/ref>

Discography

Members

;UK * John Moran (aka Johnny Hudson) - guitar, vocals * Doug Martin - bass, vocals * Chick Taylor - guitar, keyboards * John Casey - drums, vocals ;Canada *John Moran - guitar, vocals * Mike McDonald - guitar * Martin Soldat - keyboards * John Slorach - bass * Tommy Frew drums * Ron Ray - drums (replaced Tommy Frew)

External links

Discogs: Poor Souls (Scotland)

Discogs: Poor Souls (Canada)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poor Souls, The Canadian pop music groups Quality Records artists