I heard about Jack Richardson's passing from Burton Cummings last Saturday afternoon. No I don't know Cummings but he was playing at the John Labatt Centre that night and my friend Nick had an extra ducat. I go on Cummings website to check out the opening act and there was his heartfelt tribute to Richardson.
You know Jack Richardson. Yes you do. We all do. His name goes in one ear and out the other but the music he’s brought to fruition is stuck in your brain. Stuck in your consciousness too. The Guess Who hits, Alice Cooper’s heyday, Bob Seger’s Night Moves. More too but that’s plenty. Jack Richardson is a legend.
Burton Cummings knows that. So does Billy Joel producer Phil Ramone. Ditto for the legendary Bob Ezrin who produced Pink Floyd’s The Wall among others. And Seger and plenty of others.
In fact he’s such a deal that they’ve made a documentary about his life, set to premiere January 31st on The NewPL and then MUCHMOREMUSIC afterwards. Richardson is alive, well and still teaching the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College but the special on his life has him a bit wary. “Well its kinda weird to see fifty years of your life go by in forty seven minutes!" he says with a deep laugh. To be certain when documentary producer Bruce Carter approached Richardson a few years ago about examining his career on celluloid Richardson was taken aback. “I said "Why?"
To hear Jack Richardson tell it his career was just that of a guy struggling to make it. The documentary tells the tale very well: from an ad jingle producer to teen pop by the mid-Sixties. And then he stumbled across that Winnipeg pop band. And the hits started coming. “The success is what really makes the story interesting I guess" Richardson mutters matter-of-factly. “There's no question that we had some rather stellar success with the Guess Who and a couple of other acts that we took under our wings.
Acts that ranged from Alice Cooper to Bob Seger to the young Michael Bolotin (Bolton to the perm crowd). Richardson was such an in-demand producer that the documentary points out that his wife once placed a hand-scrawled full-page ad in Billboard asking Richardson to 'please come home!’
In order to make his life a bit saner, Richardson built Canada’s first world-class recording studio. Located in the heart of Yorkville Nimbus 9 was a raging success and hosted international acts of all stripes that either wanted the Richardson touch or who just wanted to record in Canada.
But Revenue Canada then reneged on a tax ruling for the studio and basically ran Richardson out of business. “We were prepared to accept their ruling but then they just got to be so obnoxious about it all that I just said 'to hell with it, I’ll get out’. I just had enough of it and it was beginning to affect my health so we just took off.”
Took off to London as it turned out. It was the early 80s and after almost 20 years building a career as a producer Jack Richardson saw the crayon scribbling on the wall. “I had reached a point in time where you don’t find 18 or 20 year old rock groups searching high and low for a 50 something producer. There's always that age gap.
There were some family issues to consider as well and Richardson decided to make London their home base. Fanshawe College hired him to develop their Music Industry Arts program and the lifestyle change fit Richardson like a velvet glove. Finally he would be able to drive home each day to be with his wife. “You have to remember that for years I would be out of town for nine ten months of the year. Its not a particularly pleasant way to raise a family," he says ruefully. And I’ve always been one who likes to give back. The business has been good to me. I thought that I had something to offer to the kids that were coming up.”
Jack Richardson is a humble decent man to talk to. It’s easy to understand the accolades that fall from the mouths of his admirers during the documentary and the effort they put into backing the video. Bruce Carter enlisted the help of Richardson’s son, producer Ggggarth Richardson and Bob Ezrin. Like some sort of parallel universe music biz remake of 'Its A Wonderful Life’ the money started pouring in: Alice Cooper, Ezrin, promoter Donald K Donald, producer Bruce Allen, the list is endless. “Some gave $500, others a lot more." Carter adds. “It all adds up!"
The day after the documentary airs Jack Richardson will likely celebrate - by going back to work. He’s down to something like three days a week now but retirement is as odd a concept to him as not being in a studio. “I have a hard time imagining it myself," he muses.
“Its more of an avocation than it is a job and you just sort of never really get it out of your blood. He pauses and laughs another of his deep chuckles. “Its one of those things that they’ll probably be nailing the lid down when we’re doing the last session!"
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