Al Connelly

Al Connelly

Connelly in 2013
Background information
Birth name Alan Connelly
Born (1960-10-02) October 2, 1960
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres
Occupation(s) Guitarist, Vocalist, Songwriter
Years active 1986-present
Associated acts Glass Tiger, Al Connelly/ AJaCon, Crab Bucket Orchestra (Reggae/World)
Website soundcloud.com/alconnelly

Alan "Al" Connelly (born October 2, 1960) is the founding guitarist with the Canadian rock band, Glass Tiger. He and his band were honoured with five Canadian Music Industry Juno Awards, multiple Canadian SOCAN Classic Awards and were nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy Award.[1] Al has released solo recordings as well.

Biography

Al Connelly was born in Montreal, Canada to Edward Connelly and Dorothy Dempsey. It was from the Newmarket area, Al, at the age of 18, was asked to play with (future) GT band mates singer Alan Frew and bassist Wayne Parker in their late seventies rock band Onyx. The band, after 2 years of Canadian road life, disintegrated and Al formed a punk band called 'The Lowlifes' which recorded some of Al's and singer Roland Merkle's songs. It wasn't long before a new band, Tokyo, had emerged in the Toronto music scene with Alan Frew and Wayne Parker joining forces with keyboardist Sam Reid and drummer Michael Hanson to eventually become Glass Tiger. Al was then asked to join the new outfit in 1983. Their Toronto area popularity and songwriting capabilities eventually led them to a recording contract in 1985 with EMI/Capitol records worldwide. They were released on the world famous Blue Note Records (Bruce Lundvall) under EMI Group in America.

The band's Canadian label, Capitol Records, under the helm of, then, A&R reps Dean Cameron and Tim Trombley put them in touch with Jim Vallance (songwriter) and Canadian singer Bryan Adams (co-writer) to produce their 1st multi-platinum Album, The Thin Red Line. While on a writing trip to Vancouver,Canada, Al Connelly joined band mates Sam Reid & Alan Frew and contributed to the songs "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" and "Someday" which helped to break the band internationally when propelled to the top of the American Billboard charts in 1986.

Glass Tiger received 3 Canadian Juno Awards that year:Album of the Year, The Thin Red Line, Single of the Year, Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), and Most Promising Group of the Year. To add the that producer, Jim Vallance, received a Juno for the prestigious Composer of the Year.

On top of there rising musical success,Glass Tiger also managed to be nominated for Best New Artist 1987,at the Grammy Awards among Simply Red, Timbuk3, NuShooz, and ultimately Bruce Hornsby and the Range receiving the Award.

Tours in America with Journey '''Raised on Radio Tour''' (with Steve Perry on vocals) and Tina Turner '''Break Every Rule Tour''' through Europe quickly secured an internationally positive response to the band's music. Michael Hanson left the group in 1988 after the release of their 2nd Album ' Diamond Sun', (also Produced by Jim Vallance). Hanson was replaced by drummer Jimmy Scotland, then Tom Cochrane & Red Ryder drummer, Randall Coryell, eventually to be replaced by Toronto drummer Chris McNeill, still with the band since 1997.


The band's music is still strong and heard on the airwaves today and in 2009 were honored to be able to play to the Canadian Armed Forces stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and at Camp Mirage. They went into dangerous area's 'beyond the wire' at Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) to bring acoustic versions of their songs to well deserved front line soldiers.

Glass Tiger continues to have great demand by fans and performs live concerts all over the world. One of the many tours across Canada was with 'Roxette' , whom they had toured Europe with in 1992. This brought out a few new songs on the then released Greatest Hits Album 'Then Now Next' with one new song introduced by Al Connelly entitled 'Stand Up'.

Al continues to write and produce with many musicians and performers today Arts & Culture to Charity work off all types and many musical genres; World Beat, Reggae , R&B, Blues, Rock and Pop. His writing has kept a unique and intriguing distinction along with his singing voice. He submitted and performed the song 'I Am That Strong' to live audiences during the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto,Canada. The Arts & Culture York Region picked it up and had Al perform it for there 2015 Gala theme song.

Connelly has acquired Studio Engineering Tech Diplomas both through Seneca College electrical Engineering and Humber College in Toronto. In addition to songwriting, Connelly also has spent many years being involved with Behavioral, Autistic and developmentally challenged youth.

Juno Awards

American Grammy Nomination

SOCAN Awards

Classic Awards for songs:

  1. 1986 - Gold Single Award for 50,000 sales of the 45 RPM single in Canada
  2. 1988 ASCAP Pop Award - Among the Most Performed Songs of the 1987 Survey Year
  3. No 7 - Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart / January 1987 (21 weeks on the chart)
  4. No 11 - The Record (Canada) / November 24, 1986 (20 weeks on the chart)

Gold & Platinum Records

-Nearly every Glass Tiger record went Gold or Platinum

Solo Album

Discography:Glass Tiger Albums

References

  1. ↑ http://www.grammy.com www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1986/top100.htm

External links

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