Noteworthy: Danny Marks – Musician/Broadcaster Brings The Blues

The son of Toronto-born Benjamin and Sylvia Marks, his Jewish family has Romanian and Polish roots. The Marks’ were among the founders in 1954 of Toronto’s Temple Sinai, the third Reform Jewish congregation in Canada. “While I’m not an observant Jew, I often struggle to understand the Jewish part (of my) character and wonder where my ancestors were from and how it might have affected my career as a musician and as a broadcaster.”

Marks, from 11 years of age, wanted to play guitar.  His parents first got him a ukulele, but eventually gave him a guitar with the warning that he was “going to learn real music on this, not that rock and roll.” He took lessons from Tony Bradan, Canada’s father of modern guitar. But Danny was “more interested in playing the songs of the day, many of which I play today. One of my albums, Guitarchaeology, in part, was dedicated to Tony Bradan,” he said.

As a teen, in the 1960s, radio was one of his best friends. “It was a time of inclusive vision,” reported fyimusicnews.com.  “Turn your radio on – The Ronettes, Dion, Bert Kaempfert, Otis Redding, Conway Twitty, all on the same charts!”

An interest in drama coincided with his musical aspirations. He attended the New Play Society, where he studied with Dora Mavor Moore. That skill plus his music knowledge stood him in good stead some 20 years later, when he became a fixture on CBC Radio.

Danny wanted a real electric guitar, “like the big boys played.” His first real instrument was a cherry red Gibson 1963 S.G. Junior. During his teen years he landed his first gig with the group The Whisky Sours. When the band split Danny, at 16, began to focus more on the blues. His sound changed when he started playing a Les Paul with singer Larry McEvoy, organist Craig Hemming and drummer Dave Brown.

Signed to Capital Records, Edward Bear became a North American favourite and topped the charts with their best-selling debut album called Bearings. Marks’ renditions of Everyday I Get the Blues and Hideaway influenced “(various) band members of Rush and Triumph. (They) were often our concert attendees,” he added. “We somehow bridged the gap between blues and pop, getting the hit singles but really stretching out in concert.”

“I was a rock star at 19, but a has-been at 22,” he told me. So Marks headed to Hollywood, California and started to play with fellow Canadian Neil Merryweather’s group Mama Lion. That didn’t last long. Returning to Canada, he auditioned for Rick James, who had a group with guitarist Danny Weiss called Jericho, “comprised of the cream of Toronto musicians, managed by Albert Grossman.”