The Partland Brothers are 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 ...

pop/rock band, best known for their 1986 hit single "Soul City"."The Partland Brothers struggle for recognition". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', June 2, 1987. Originally fronted by brothers Chris and G. P. Partland with supporting session musicians, more recently they have recorded and performed as a trio with their brother Robin Partland.

Biography

Originally from the small community of Colgan in Ontario's

Simcoe County Simcoe County is a county and census division located in the central region of Ontario, Canada. The county is located north of the Greater Toronto Area, and forms the north western edge of the Golden Horseshoe. The county seat is located in Mi ...

,"Heartland pop from the Partland Brothers". ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation, ''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. ...

'', February 15, 1996. they played in area bands before moving their act to

Toronto 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 ...

in 1979 and forming Oliver Heavyside. In 1982, they entered and won the “ Q107 Homegrown” contest, which attracted the attention of Capitol Records. Their first album as the Partland Brothers, ''Electric Honey'', was released in 1986. It was described by '' Cashbox'' as an "appealing exercise in pop/rock", and reached number 146 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The single "Soul City", a soaring anthem featuring the brothers' distinctive

close-harmony A Chord (music), chord is in close harmony (also called close position or close structure) if its notes are Voicing (music), arranged within a narrow range (music), range, usually with no more than an octave between the top and bottom notes. In ...

vocals which saw them compared to a more contemporary version of

The Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the L ...

, was a Top 40 hit in both Canada and the United States. This success earned them tours with

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals) and Clint W ...

and

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

in the United States, as well as headline gigs of their own at home in Canada and television appearances on ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'' and '' The Late Show with Arsenio Hall''. Their live band engaged seasoned live performers, including Tom Lewis (bass),

John Bride John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

(guitar), Richard Evans (keyboards), Greg Critchley (drums), and Mike Skinner (sax). Produced by Vini Poncia, the album was reissued in 1987 with the

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

-produced new song "One Chance", which is still played on many adult radio stations today. That same year, their song "Outside the City" was featured in the horror film '' Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II''. 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 ...

, they received a nomination for Most Promising New Group. Management struggles ensued, and it took until 1990 for them to record and release their second album, ''Between Worlds''."Partland Brothers rebound from bad deals". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', May 20, 1990. The album was supported with a smaller-scale Canadian tour. It was another three years and a label change before their next studio album, ''Part Land, Part Water'', was released on Kinetic Records. ''Part Land, Part Water'' was recorded at

Metalworks Studios Metalworks Studios is a music recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1978 by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock group, Triumph (band), Triumph. Since 1978, Metalworks Studios has expanded into a six studio facility ...

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

. Production was given over to

Ken Greer Kenneth William Greer (born 25 July 1954) is a Canadian guitarist and keyboardist. He is one of the founding members of the Canadian rock band Red Rider. Biography Greer is the youngest of seven children born into a musical family in Toronto ...

, who also played lead guitars, pedal steel, mandolin, bass, and all keyboards on the album. Occasional dates ensued, but the band chose to stay close to home rather than tackling an all-out tour. Following ''Part Land, Part Water'', the band were relatively inactive for a number of years until 2002, when they performed at a

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American rock and roll singer, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

tribute show at

Massey Hall Massey Hall is a performing arts auditorium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Although original ...

. Afterward they returned to touring as an opening act for Hawkins, and performed at various benefit concerts before relaunching their own tour of Southern Ontario. In 2009, they released ''This Is Who I Am'', their first album of new material since ''Part Land, Part Water''. The album included "That's My Home", a charity single the band recorded as a benefit for the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

Military Families Fund. They followed up in 2010 with ''Every Now...and Again'', a compilation of songs from throughout their career."Partland Brothers salute Christmas at LAC"
'' Mississauga.com'', December 6, 2013. In recent years, Chris Partland has played a number of shows in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

as a solo artist."Singer Chris Partland helps promote talent through Burlington open mic nights". ''

Burlington Post The ''Burlington Post'' is the local newspaper of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The paper covers local news and issues, as well as sports, entertainment, the arts, business, and classified sections. The ''Post'' is distributed once a week, on Th ...

'', September 12, 2016. In 2016 he attributed the band's lack of activity to one of his brothers recently having lost two fingers in an accident, but stated that the band still planned to return to performing in the future.

Members

*G.P. Partland - (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s) *Chris Partland - (

s) *Robin Partland - (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Electric Honey'' (1986) *''Between Worlds'' (1990) *''Part Land, Part Water'' (1993) *''This Is Who I Am'' (2009)

Compilation albums

*''Every Now... And Again'' (2010)

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Partland Brothers, The Canadian pop rock music groups Brother duos Canadian musical duos Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups from Ontario