THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 2003, acclaimed songwriter and April Wine frontman Myles Goodwyn received the ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact on the music industry of Atlantic Canada. Exactly 20 years later, he’ll return to the East Coast Music Awards to accept his latest distinction: The newest Inductee to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Considered by many as one of Canada’s greatest rock n’ roll songwriters, Goodwyn has penned a catalogue of songs spanning more than five decades.
On May 4, the CSHF will present him with the award at the ECMAs in Halifax. Later this year, his name will be included in the permanent exhibit at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Museum in the National Music Centre in Calgary, as the organization commemorates 25 years of celebrating Canada’s greatest songs and songwriters.
“To be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame has been a wish of mine for many years,” Goodwyn says. “It is possibly the most significant award I’ve ever received. What has mattered most to me, for all my years in the business, was to be taken seriously as a songwriter.”
Goodwyn founded April Wine in 1969 with long-time friend Jim Henman, and Henman’s cousins David and Ritchie Henman in Nova Scotia. Less than a year later, the group moved to Montreal to sign a record deal with Aquarius Records. Their first album was released in 1971 and included their first hit single Fast Train, written by Goodwyn. It was followed by classics like Roller, I Wouldn’t Want to Lose Your Love, Roller and I Like to Rock. Their album The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy became the first Canadian album to sell over 100,000 copies.
Goodwyn’s songs ranged in styles from edgy rock to romantic ballads, from country to blues — and his subject matter was just as wide-ranging, encompassing piano classics such as Comin’ Right Down On Top of Me, Like A Lover, Like A Song and I Wouldn’t Want To Lose Your Love, and the environmental song Lady Run, Lady Hide.
More recently, he has tackled topical political topics with songs like Some Of These Children (bringing awareness to unmarked residential school graves), and 2022’s For Ukraine, written in support of the citizens of war-torn Ukraine, garnering him the SIFA Award for Best Social Impact Music/Art 2022.
As a hardworking master of his craft Goodwyn has said, “I worked diligently and tenaciously on becoming a good, consistent songwriter. To me it is the most important part of what I do. Always has been.”
April Wine disbanded in 1984, after releasing 22 studio and two live albums. They reunited in 1993 and resumed touring, once again selling out shows continent-wide. In March 2009, April Wine were inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and received the Juno Lifetime Achievement Award. Goodwyn and April Wine were also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and have garnered two Félix Awards as well as several SOCAN Classic Awards.
Goodwyn gave his final live performance with April Wine on March 2, 2023, as the only remaining original member of the iconic rock group. He will continue writing and producing for April Wine as they continue to tour with his artistic involvement; and his third blues recording will be released in the summer of 2023.
The 35th Annual East Coast Music Awards will be broadcast across the country on selected community television stations, and can be viewed online at ECMA.com. Announced performers include Jimmy Rankin, Nick Earle, Christine Campbell and Colin MacDonald. Goodwyn’s friend and Right Myself collaborator Lennie Gallant will induct him into the CSHF.”
