John Witmer

Biography

Described as "one of Toronto's great blues singers from the late '60s to the mid-'80s", with "a raspy vocal style", John Witmer co-founded the seminal Canadian blues band, Whiskey Howl in 1969, when he was eighteen years old. The Toronto-based Whiskey Howl, along with the Downchild Blues Band, also formed in 1969, were two of the principal influences in the development of Canadian blues music.

One of Witmer's first professional engagements with Whiskey Howl was as one of the acts playing at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969. This was a one-day festival, featuring an historic appearance by John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band, and which resulted in the release of the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.

Despite the early success and promise of Whiskey Howl, the band broke up as of 1972, shortly after the release of their first album. Witmer continued to sing locally through the balance of the 1970s, rejoining Whiskey Howl for a reunion concert that resulted in the band's second album release, Live At The El Mocambo, in 1981.

Between 1982 and 1986, Witmer was the lead singer of the Downchild Blues Band, one of three singers who replaced Downchild co-founder Richard "Hock" Walsh, during various periods when Walsh either left the band or was fired as Downchild's lead singer. He recorded one album with Downchild, But I'm On The Guest List (1982), recorded live at Toronto's El Mocambo club, after Downchild had regrouped following the death of band member Jane Vasey.

Witmer relocated to Vancouver in the late 1980s, where he joined The BelAirs, a band that existed between 1985 to 1995, after which it became known as The Fabricators. The Fabricators were described by the West Coast Blues Review as "one of Vancouver's hottest R&B acts". The music with which Witmer was associated at the time was described as "the raw & powerful Delta and Chicago Blues, rhythmic New Orleans and Tex-Mex tunes, old rock and roll gems, the smooth urban sounds of Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as many original compositions." During this same period and for the last fifteen years of his life, Witmer was an employee of the British Columbia Institute of Technology, where he worked with Larry Smith, co-founder of The BelAirs and The Fabricators. The Fabricators, established in 1995 as a successor band to The BelAirs, broke up in 2002, and was Witmer's last band. He ceased performing after the band's breakup. Witmer died suddenly two years later, on July 3, 2004, at the age of 53. He was survived by his second wife, a daughter and two sons.

In the week following his death, a memorial service was held for John Witmer in Vancouver, attended by family, musical contemporaries and colleagues from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. In Toronto, on July 27, 2004, John Witmer was remembered by his Toronto family and colleagues in music through an additional memorial service.

Whiskey Howl

Downchild Blues Band

The BelAirs

The Fabricators

Contributions to others

Compilations