Tchukon was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and R&B band, active from 1978 to 1990.Rhythm and blues
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

. Best known for winning

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

's 1985 music competition ''

Rock Wars ''Rock Wars'' is a Canadian television variety series, which aired in 1985 on CBC Television."CBC opens fire with Rock Wars". ''The Globe and Mail'', February 1, 1985. A national "battle of the bands" competition, the series featured unsigned musi ...

'' and being named Best Vocal Group in the 1986 edition of ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

'', the band ultimately released just one

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

-nominated album before dissolving.

Background

The band consisted of singer and keyboardist Warren "Slim" Williams, singer and guitarist Kat Dyson, bassist Harold Fisher, saxophonist Ingrid Stitt and drummer Eric Roberts,"Montreal's Tchukon big winners on Star Search; Soul-funk group pockets $100,000 U.S.". ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', February 15, 1986. and was formed in 1978 after Williams, Dyson and Roberts all moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

from their original home in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. In Montreal, they added Fisher, also an American immigrant, and Stitt, the band's only Canadian-born member."Some funky fusion from Tchukon". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', February 4, 1982. The band took its name from a

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

word for the point at which the physical world and the cosmic world merge. In their early years, the band regularly performed both in Montreal and on tour, recorded the single "Plastic People" b/w "Love's Gonna Get You","Tchukon defies description". ''

'', February 7, 1985. and recorded and performed as a backing band for acts such as

Louise Portal Louise Portal (born May 12, 1950) is a Canadian actress, film director, singer and writer. She won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film ''The Decline of the American Empire'', and was a nominee for Best Actress f ...

Michel Pagliaro Michel Armand Guy Pagliaro (born 9 November 1948) is a Canadian rock singer, songwriter and guitarist from Montreal, Quebec. Although he writes and records predominantly in French, Pagliaro has reached international success mainly with material ...

, Boule Noire,

Freddie James Freddie James (born 1937) is a former American football coach. He played college football under Billy Nicks at Prairie View A&M University in the late 1950s, before working in a steel plant for a couple of years, then as a physical therapist i ...

and

Véronique Béliveau Véronique Béliveau (born January 24, 1955), originally Nicole Monique, is a Canadian actress and pop/rock singer who was nominated for a 1987 Juno Award for Female Vocalist of the Year. Her first full-length album was ''Prends-moi comme je s ...

. Dyson was also simultaneously a performer with the

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir is a choir from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that sings primarily traditional and contemporary Gospel music. The choir's repertoire also includes Gregorian chant, Bach chorales, oratorios, traditional Zulu musi ...

''Rock Wars'' and ''Star Search''

In 1985, they competed on ''Rock Wars'', winning the competition over finalists

Eye Eye Eye Eye was a Canadian rock band in the 1980s. at canoe.ca's Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia. Background The band had its roots in The Oh Nos, a Toronto band whose members included vocalist Bill Wood and guitarist Andy Ryan. After that band brok ...

, HB Concept and Peter Mann and the Lonely.Keith Sharp, ''Music Express: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Canada's Music Magazine''.

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Hum ...

, 2014. . p. 143. Their prize included and a half-hour CBC Television special, which they then submitted as their demo for the 1986 ''Star Search''. They were named Best Vocal Group in the latter competition, winning a prize of . They were the first Canadian-based act ever to win a ''Star Search'' category. Their ''Star Search'' win sparked interest from record labels, and the band ultimately signed with Aquarius Records. The band garnered a

Félix Award The Félix Award ( is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec. The award The firs ...

nomination as Anglophone Artist of the Year at the 1986 awards. During this era, the band was managed for several years by athlete and broadcaster

Sylvia Sweeney Sylvia Sweeney, C.M., (born October 3, 1956) is a Canadian executive television producer and Olympian. In 2017, Sweeney was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada "for her long-standing commitment to and creative leadership at the nexus of ...

Album

They used their prize money from ''Rock Wars'' and ''Star Search'' to begin the process of writing and recording their first album. The resulting album, '' Here and Now'', recorded at

Le Studio Le Studio (later renamed Studio Morin Heights) was a residential recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains near the town of Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada. Built in 1972 by recording engineer and producer André Perry, along with his wife Ya� ...

Morin-Heights Morin-Heights () is a town in the Laurentian Mountains region of Quebec, Canada. It is west of Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Saint-Sauveur and north of Lachute; municipally, it is within the Les Pays-d'en-Haut Regional County Municipality, Regional Co ...

, was released in June 1987, and garnered a

nomination for Best R&B/Soul Album at the

Juno Awards of 1987 The Juno Awards of 1987, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 2 November 1987 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Howie Mandel was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast o ...

Breakup

The band had begun recording songs for its second album"Club gigs a chance to relax for singer Kat Dyson". ''

'', January 31, 1991. when the project was put on a brief hiatus so that several members, including Dyson, could perform in Donald K. Tarlton's production of ''Dream of a Lifetime'', a musical about the life of

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

. This, and the various other projects in which the band members were involved, significantly impacted the band's creative momentum; while they never officially announced a breakup, the second album was never completed or released. Williams went on to produce an album for

Louise Robey Louise Anne Beris Fiona Robey is a French Canadian actress, songwriter, singer, children's book writer/illustrator, and property developer. During much of her career, she used only her last name Robey as a stage name. She is best known for her ...

, recorded the solo album ''Pony'' and took an acting role in

André Forcier André Forcier (born Marc-André Forcier on July 19, 1947) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His work has been linked to Latin American magic realism by its use of fantasy but is firmly rooted in Quebec's reality. His unromanticized, ...

's film ''

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(Une histoire inventée)''."Musician finds Quebec `incredibly warm'". ''

'', March 18, 1990. In 1993, he won a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

for his work composing the score for Sweeney's television documentary film ''In the Key of Oscar''. Dyson went on to success as a session musician, joining

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

's band

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before going on to perform and tour with

Donny Donnie or Donny is a familiar form (hypocorism) of the masculine given name Donald, Donal, Don, or Donovan. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Donny Baldwin, American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship and Starsh ...

and

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Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

, George Clinton,

Phoebe Snow Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simo ...

and

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. The ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'' described Thornton by saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound fra ...

."The triumphant Montreal return of Kat Dyson, for funk legend Tchukon’s reunion concert"
''

'', February 8, 2013. Stitt went on to become a music teacher at

Burnaby North Secondary Burnaby North Secondary School is a secondary school in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It encompasses two buildings at 751 Hammarskjold Drive in Burnaby. Nearly 1,800 students from grades 8 to 12 attend the school. A statue of a Viking head ...

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, British Columbia. The band reunited for a one-off concert performance in Montreal in 2013.

References

{{reflist, 2 Canadian funk musical groups Canadian contemporary R&B musical groups Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups from Montreal Musical groups disestablished in 1990 1978 establishments in Quebec 1990 disestablishments in Quebec Black Canadian culture in Montreal