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Born: Lawrence Wayne Evoy

Larry Evoy was originally catapulted to fame as a member of Edward Bear (named after the real name of literature's Winnie The Pooh) who formed in 1967, initially as a five piece (including two drummers), but after an internal shuffle Evoy took on vocal duties alongside drumming with Danny Marks and Paul Weldon to be a stand alone trio. They struggled through the Yorkville scene in Toronto until finally landing some high profile gigs opening for Paul Butterfield and Led Zeppelin at Toronto's Rockpile. This was enough to attract the likes of Capitol Records in 1969 who were beginning to sign more rock oriented acts in Canada like Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck and Pepper Tree.

Their debut album, 'Bearings', was released without much fanfare, or a single, but after radio responded to the song "You, Me & Mexico", it was released in February 1970 and became a hit in Canada, reaching No.3 on the international charts and No.68 in the U.S. Alas, they embarked on a disastrous tour of Canada (ending up stranded in Vancouver for a week with only one poorly attended gig at the University of British Columbia).

Roger Ellis was brought in on guitar following the completion of their follow-up LP, 'Eclipse', in 1970 which failed to find a substantial audience with the single "You Can't Deny It" showing poorly on the charts.

However, the band was hitting its stride with their third album in 1972, 'Edward Bear', with back-to-back charting singles: "Fly Across The Sea" and "Masquerade" but the new commercial sound wasn't the direction that Weldon had come to expect from the band's earlier outtings and he left before their biggest selling single, "Last Song", was released in 1972. The song went to No.1 in Canada, No.3 in the U.S. and Top 5 in Australia; it sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. The American arm of Capitol re-issued "You, Me & Mexico" as the follow-up and it re-entered the U.S. charts. The group won the Outstanding Performance By A Group Juno Award in 1972.

Album four, 1973's 'Close Your Eyes' - loosely based on Evoy's embrace of Scientology - featured new addition Bobby Kendall and was augmented with the help of fellow Capitol Records act The New Potatoes. The title track hit No.3 in Canada and Top 30 in the U.S.  With another line-up change in 1974, Edward Bear finally split that year.

Larry Evoy emerged as a solo artist in 1976 on Attic Records leading the charge with the 7" single "Perfect Strangers" which peaked in the Top30 on the RPM singles chart in December 1976.

A year later Attic released the album 'Here I Go Again' and the title track performed better with a peak chart position of #18 on the RPM singles chart in March of 1978. After the failure of the album to produce any significant sales, Evoy moved to Voyage Records for the single "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" which failed to chart.

Evoy is currently retired and breeding show horses.

In 1990 the original line-up were rehearsing under speculation they would re-unite for a record, but what ended up being released was a 'best of' compilation with several new songs. However, in 2009 at the behest of rock journalist Richie Yorke, the original three members reunited at a small gathering in Toronto.

with notes from Danny Marks, Jimi Bertucci and Andy Summerlin.



Singles
1976 Perfect Strangers/Can't Get You Out Of My Mind (Attic) AT-135
1977 Here I Go Again/When I Don't Love You (Attic) AT-171
1980 I'm Gonna Make You Mine/You And I (Voyage) 1002

with EDWARD BEAR
1970 You, Me & Mexico/Sinking Ship (Capitol) 72603
1970 You Can't Deny It/Toe Jam (Capitol) 72622
1971 Spirit Song (short version)/Spirit Song (long version) (Capitol) 72638
1972 Fly Across The Sea/Four Months Out Of Africa (Capitol) 72653
1972 Masquerade/Pirate King (Capitol) 72662
1972 Last Song/Best Friend (Capitol) 72677
1973 Close Your Eyes/Cache County (Capitol) 72692
1973 Walking On Back/I Love Her (Capitol) 72709
1973 Coming Home Christmas/Does Your Mother Know (Capitol) 72715
1974 Same Old Feeling/Fool (CapitolUS) 72722
1974 Freedom For The Stallion/Why Won't You Marry Me? (Capitol) 72734
1975 On And On/Someone Who Loves You (Capitol) 72756
1984 God Bless Us Now

Albums
1977 Larry Evoy (Attic) LAT-1049

with EDWARD BEAR
1969 Bearings (Capitol) SKAO-6328
1970 Eclipse (Capitol) SKAO-6349
1972 Edward Bear (Capitol) ST-6387
1973 Close Your Eyes (Capitol) SKAO-6395
1984 The Best Of The Bear (1969-1984) (Capitol) SN-66154
1991 Collection (EMI Music Canada) C2-26585

Video


Compilation Tracks
1977 "Here I Go Again" on 'Music Magic' (K-Tel) TC-246