Murray McLauchlan

For those of a similar name, see Murray McLachlan (disambiguation).
Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan performing at Winterlude 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.
Background information
Birth name Murray Edward McLauchlan
Born (1948-06-30) June 30, 1948
Origin Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Genres Country, Folk, Rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Years active 1972–present
Labels True North
Capitol

Murray Edward McLauchlan, CM (born June 30, 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.

Biography

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he immigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old. At 17, he began playing at coffeehouses in Toronto's Yorkville area and later attended Central Tech as an art student before deciding to become a full-time musician. He is best known in Canada for his Canadian smash hits "Farmer's Song" and "Down by the Henry Moore", which was about a sculpture in front of Toronto's city hall, where students met in the '60s and early 1970s. McLauchlan has had success in the pop, adult contemporary, country, and folk-music fields, with such songs as "Child's Song," the Juno Award-winning "Farmer's Song" (1973), "Hurricane of Change" (also 1973), "Do You Dream of Being Somebody" (1975), and "Whispering Rain" (1979).

In 1987, McLauchlan appeared on the children's television show, Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show singing his Juno-Award-Winning Farmer's Song. He appeared in Season 4 of The Elephant Show on the "Urban Cowboy" episode.

McLauchlan hosted the highly rated CBC Radio program Swinging On a Star from 1989 to 1994.[1]

McLauchlan has held a commercial pilot license (CPL) with Instrument flight rating (IFR) and endorsements for multi-engine aircraft and seaplanes for decades. During a performance in the 1980s, McLauchlan commented to audiences, half-jokingly, of "giving this music thing a little more time" [2] before giving it up and returning to flying for a living.

In the late 1990s, McLauchlan was flying commercial airplanes as a "bush pilot" in Northern Canada. In 1986 he starred in a television special called Floating over Canada, in which he piloted a Cessna 185 float plane across Canada.[1] This special was broadcast on U.S. public television on PBS, as well as in Canada on CBC.

In 2004 McLauchlan helped form a group known as "Lunch At Allen's" featuring McLauchlan, Marc Jordan, Cindy Church and Ian Thomas. Formed as a result of meeting in Toronto for lunch at Allen's restaurant after McLauchlan's heart bypass surgery. Three CDs have been released as a result of this collaboration: Lunch at Allens (2004), Catch the Moon (2007) and More Lunch at Allens (2010).

During the summer of 2016, he was performing with singers Marc Jordan, Cindy Church and Ian Thomas in the group Lunch At Allen's, in a number of towns and small cities in Ontario, Canada.[3]

Awards

McLauchlan has won 10 Juno Awards throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and been nominated for a total of 23 Juno awards.

In 1993, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

In 1998, Penguin (Viking Books) released his autobiography The Ballad of Murray McLauchlan: Getting Out of Here Alive.

In 2001, McLauchlan was the recipient of the National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards held in Toronto.[4]

McLauchlan will be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in September 2016.[5]

Family

He is married to Denise Donlon and they have a son, Duncan (b. March 1992).

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions CRIA Label
CAN Country CAN
1971 Song from the Street 38 True North
1972 Murray McLauchlan 38
1973 Day to Day Dust 13
1974 Sweeping the Spotlight Away 34
1975 Only the Silence Remains 39
1976 Boulevard 14 Gold
1977 Hard Rock Town 33
1978 Greatest Hits 57 Gold
Live at the Orpheum (promo only) Columbia
1979 Whispering Rain 14 42 Gold True North
1980 Into a Mystery 18 61
1981 Storm Warning 45
1982 Windows
1983 Timberline 22
1984 Heroes
1985 Midnight Break 94
1988 Swinging on a Star 24 Capitol
1991 The Modern Age
1996 Gulliver's Taxi True North
2004 Lunch at Allens Capitol/EMI
2006 The Songbook: New Arrivals
2007 Catch the Moon: Lunch at Allens
Songs from the Street: Best of Murray McLauchlan True North
2010 More Lunch at Allens Linus
2011 Human Writes True North

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
CAN Country CAN CAN AC
1972 "Jesus Please Don't Save Me" 44 Song from the Street
1973 "Lose We" 13 Murray McLauchlan
"Farmer's Song" 8 6 3
"Hurricane of Change" 9 Day to Day Dust
1974 "Linda, Won't You Take Me In" 28 15 12
"Shoeshine Workin' Song" 15 59 13 Sweeping the Spotlight Away
1975 "Do You Dream of Being Somebody" 16 9
"Maybe Tonight" 10
"Down by the Henry Moore" 1 12 1
"Little Dreamer" 15 Single only
1976 "On the Boulevard" 25 45 4 Boulevard
1977 "Love Comes and Goes" 77 Hard Rock Town
1978 "Straight Outa Midnight" 88
1979 "Whispering Rain" 27 24 15 Whispering Rain
"You Can't Win" 89
"Somebody's Long Lonely Tonight" 41
1980 "Don't Put Your Faith in Men" 24 Into a Mystery
"Try Walkin' Away" 53 11
1981 "If the Wind Could Blow My Troubles Away" 45 26 Storm Warning
1983 "Never Did Like That Train" 18 20 Timberline
1984 "Red River Flood" 18
"On the Subject of Loneliness" 26
"Everything Reminds Me of Loving You" 37
"Sayonara Maverick" 60 Heroes
"Railroad Man" 19
1985 "Song for Captain Keast" 32
"I'm Best at Loving You" 13 Midnight Break
"When You Become a Memory" 16
1986 "Me and Joey/Golden Fields" 34
1989 "Love with a Capital "L"" 12 Swinging on a Star
"Please Don't Call It Runnin' Away" 35
1990 "Swinging on a Star" 23
1991 "The Modern Age" 75 63 21 The Modern Age
"So I Lost Your Love" 26
1996 "Secrets in Your Heart" 38 Gulliver's Taxi
1997 "No Change in Me" 48

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Murray McLauchlan - The Canadian Encyclopedia
  2. Festival of Friends concert at Gage Park, Hamilton, Ontario
  3. Doolan, Susan (June 10, 2016). "Lunch At Allen's brings talented musicians back to Barrie". Barrie Examiner. Barrie Examiner. Retrieved June 13, 2016. Their approach to a concert is like a band, not as a singer-songwriter event. They all play on each others’ songs and sing and harmonize together.
  4. https://www.socan.ca/about/awards/2001-socan-awards
  5. "The CCMA Announces 2016 Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees". Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.

Further reading

  • Adria, Marco, "The Importance of Being Murray," Music of Our Times: Eight Canadian Singer-Songwriters (Toronto, Lorimer, 1990), pp. 103–20.
  • Murrary McLauchlan, Getting Out Of Here Alive-The Ballad Of Murray McLauchlan (Viking 1998) ISBN 0-670-87659-3
  • Murray McLauchlan Biography at Maple Music

External links

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