Terry Wilkins is an Australian-born Canadian musician, composer and producer.

Career

A native of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, Wilkins early performances saw him playing guitar in a folk group at University in 1965 (following his graduation from Parramatta Marist High in 1964). Within a couple of years he had dropped out of academia and was drawn towards

Taylor Square Taylor Square is a public square in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Taylor Square is located beside a major road junction, at the intersection of Bourke, Forbes, Oxford and Flinders Streets. Taylor Square is also on the border of the suburbs ...

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...

, where in the late 1960s various jug bands, blues, psychedelic, folk, country and other styled ensembles co-existed there for a few years. Wilkins discovered the bass guitar at this time playing with The Starving Wild Dogs, featuring New Zealander Red McKelvie on guitar, Daryl McKenzie on drums and Wally Mudd singing and playing harmonica. By 1969, they had evolved into The Quill which was more focused on playing original material. They supported country rock band

the Flying Circus The Flying Circus were a short-lived Toronto-based group fronted by singer/songwriter, Bruce Cockburn. The band, which was active between late 1967 and early 1968, also featured Neil Merryweather and future Mapleoak members, Marty Fisher and Go ...

in September 1969, at a time when that band had just lost their bass player. Wilkins was invited to join Flying Circus and gave them songwriting anilities and vocal harmonies. Red McKelvie was also recruited to the Flying Circus soon after, recording such albums as ''Prepared In Peace''. In 1970, they won the Battle of the Sounds which had become an established launch pad for Australian bands, such as

the Masters Apprentices The Masters Apprentices (or The Masters to fans) are an Australian rock band fronted by Jim Keays on lead vocals, which originally formed as The Mustangs in 1964 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne, Victoria, in February 1967 ...

, to travel overseas. The Flying Circus tried to break into the American scene, based in San Francisco, but gigs were hard to find. A connection with the Toronto band, McKenna Mendelson Mainline (who they had met in Australia), steered the Flying Circus further north. Wilkins remained in Toronto since 1971, and has since worked with many Canadian and international artists from

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

to Big Sugar as well as

Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade Records, a record label from the stores *Rough Trade Books, a publishing house from the label *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''Am ...

and David Wilcox. He has also backed many visiting artists such as

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. Active as a session mus ...

, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson,

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song " Midnight at the Oasis" and h ...

, John Hammond,

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Hel ...

and

Son Seals Frank "Son" Seals (August 14, 1942 – December 20, 2004) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. In 2009, Seals was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Career Seals was born in Osceola, Arkansas, where his father, Jim "Son" Sea ...

. His musical range is wide and varied with an emphasis on roots music especially blues and swing with some adventure in Caribbean styles.''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', 9 April 1994, page 43, Vol. 106, No. 15, "Also on hand are two members of the Band, Richard Bell (keyboards) and Rick Danko (vocals), ex-Sharks guitarist David Baxter, and bassist Terry Wilkins. The album was produced by Colin Linden and John Whynot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Terry Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian rock bass guitarists Lighthouse (band) members Rough Trade (band) members People educated at Parramatta Marist High School Big Sugar (band) members