For Wednesday, Thursday Sept. 29 will be a day to remember — because that’s when the award-winning group will receive a Lifetime Achievement Hall-Of-Fame Award at the 2022 Oshawa Music Awards.
A chance meeting in Oshawa in July 1967 between Paul Andrew Smith and Randy Begg planted the seed that became Wednesday. Randy and Paul spent that summer hanging out, playing impromptu concerts at local Oshawa parks and drop-in centres until meeting up with Mike O’Neil and John Dufek. The Cellophane Spoon soon formed, and were managed by John Hall until 1971 when the task was taken over by Bill Diel, a former keyboardist with Ronnie Hawkins and Fats Domino. In 1970, the band name was changed to Wednesday with the release of their first single Hang On Girl, which was recorded in Toronto, produced by John Driscoll and released on Ampex Records.
In 1972, the band recorded the Wayne Cochran song Last Kiss at Toronto’s Manta Sound Studios, engineered by Lee DeCarlo (John Lennon, Aerosmith). The single was soon picked up by local radio stations and went to No.2, giving way to an avalanche of Canadian radio support. The song reached the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Canadian chart and stayed there for six weeks, earning them an RPM Maple Leaf Award (the precursor of the Juno), a gold record in 1973, and several Juno nominations.
A debut album was cut in 1974 at Manta Sound and furnished Wednesday with a second hit, Teen Angel (1974), which reached No.15 on Canadian charts. In 1976 Wednesday released their second album Loving You Baby, which hit No. 17. The album went on to produce four more charted hits, including Doin’ The Best That I Can.
The 2022 Oshawa Music Awards will take place Thursday, Sept. 29, and are proudly presented by Durham Region Economic Development and Tourism, 360insights, Spark Centre, Trent University Durham GTA and Durham College. Tickets are available HERE. For more information, see the OMAs website.
Check out more music from Wednesday above and below.
