Born: Sherri Huffman.
Sherry Kean was originally known as Sherri Huffman, vocalist for The Sharks who were a steady fixture on the Toronto Queen Street bar circuit in the late 1970's/early '80s. Though an appearance on a Chameleon Records compilation called 'No Pedestrians' gave the act a solid profile, the band's more popular live configuration consisted of the rhythm section of Basil Donovan (bass) and Cleave Anderson (drums) and David Baxter (guitar). Baxter was an engineer at McClear Place where they recorded an album for Edge Records that was never released.
Kean and Baxter would continue on together as co-writers (and Baxter producing) with a vision to launch Kean as a solo artist. Donovan and Anderson teamed up with former Hi-Fi's members Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor to form Blue Rodeo.
Kean soon signed a deal with Capitol-EMI. Recording for her debut LP began in the Spring of 1983 with producer Mike Thorne at Media Sound, NYC. Her backing band in the studio was J.T. Lewis (drums), Fernando Sanders (bass), with Pat Irwin and David Baxter (guitars, keyboards).
Five of these songs were released as an EP in the summer of 1983 under the title 'Mixed Emotions' and recording continued during December back in Toronto at Manta Sound in hopes of building an even stronger debut LP release. Kean's Toronto studio band consisted of Terry Martel (drums), Ian De Souza (bass), Scott Davey (guitar), David Baxter (guitars, keyboards), Mike Thorne and Tommy Mandel (keyboards).
In early 1984 "I Want You Back" was lifted as a single from the 'Mixed Emotions' EP and launched Kean as a serious radio contender. The B-side to the 12" single, called "Universe Of Two", was an extended mix done at ESP Studios in Buttonville by Dee Long and John Jones.
Finally, the debut LP, 'People Talk', was released in mid-1984. It contained three songs from the 'Mixed Emotions' EP (including 'I Want You Back'), two other tracks from that release were abandoned in favour of "Be Mine" and "Stop This Sorrow" from the 1983 New York sessions, while the album was fleshed out with five new songs from the December 1983 Toronto sessions -- including the title track.
Kean won a 1984 Juno Award for Female Vocalist Of The Year; she was also nominated for Female Vocal Of The Year at the 1985 U-Knows.
However, her time with Capitol was short lived and Kean found herself recording her sophomore album for A & M Records. The LP was self-produced with the assistance of David Baxter and Bob Doidge both of whom contributed musically to the recording along with Ian De Souza (bass), Kevin Breit (guitar), Garth Breit (drums), Mike Heffernan (keyboards), Ben Mink (violin), Bill Dillon (violin, guitar), the late Roman Zak (accordion) and Tom Cochrane singing back-ups on "I Believe In You" and dueting with Kean on "Baby Talk".
with notes from David Baxter and Michael Ustick.
Singles
1983 Mixed Emotions/Stop This Sorrow (Capitol-EMI) 72923
1984 I Want You Back/Sever The Ties (Capitol-EMI) 72937
1984 I Want You Back/Universe Of Two (Extended Version) [12"] (Capitol-EMI) V-75051
1984 Would You Miss Me?/You’re So Minor (Capitol-EMI) 72941
1984 Get Away From That Girl/Universe Of Two (Capitol-EMI) 72948
1987 Why You Wanna Break My Heart?/Chain Reaction (A & M) AM-739
1987 Diamonds & Pearls/State Of The Heart (A & M) AM-748
Albums
1983 Mixed Emotions (Capitol-EMI) MLP-15010
1984 People Talk (Capitol-EMI) ST-12328
1987 Maverick Heart (A&M) SP-9140
Video
1984 I Want You Back
Compilation Tracks
with THE SHARKS
1981 "Get Off The Radio" on 'No Pedestrians' (Chameleon)
1999 "I Want You Back" on 'Pure Canadian: Retro 80's Volume 6' (EMI)
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