Blue Rodeo biography

Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto. Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, who have been friends since high school, having both attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute. The pair worked on forming a band after both attended Queen’s University at Kingston. They had a few failed attempts and a few adventures before finally coming together with Cleave Anderson, Bazil Donovan, and Bob Wiseman to form Blue Rodeo. Their debut album Outskirts was produced by Terry Brown, who is perhaps best known for his work with Canadian hard rock legends Rush, was released in March 1987. They have been signed with Warner Music Canada since their debut, but have jumped around a bit in the USA and other markets, mostly on Warner Brothers, Rounder and recently re-signed with Warner Brothers International for the world.
The band consists of original members Cuddy (guitar/vocals), Keelor (guitar/vocals) and Donovan (bass) plus newer additions Glenn Milchem (drums), and Bob Egan (multi-instrumentalist). Former members include Anderson (drummer), Wiseman (keyboardist), Kim Deschamps (multi-instrumentalist), Mark French (drummer), and Jamie Gray (keyboardist) and Bob Packwood (keyboards).
Blue Rodeo is one of the most successful and well known contemporary Canadian bands, having released 11 studio albums, one live album, a greatest hits collection and a DVD which have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. In addition, both Cuddy and Keelor have released solo albums. Blue Rodeo members have collaborated extensively with other notable Canadian artists, including Jann Arden, Cowboy Junkies, Burton Cummings, Kathleen Edwards, Great Big Sea, Sarah McLachlan, The Sadies, Ron Sexsmith, Skydiggers, and The Tragically Hip. Blue Rodeo have won many Canadian music awards, including seven Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammy) and principal songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor have been honoured with seven SOCAN awards.
The band released (November 2008) Blue Road a special 20th Anniversary Live ‘bootleg’ DVD which features an insightful documentary by Chris Mills and an acoustic CD of their 2008 February 29th Toronto Massey Hall concert. The DVD disc features some acoustic covers, including Neil Young’s “Are You Ready For The Country”, Randy Travis’s “Diggin’ Up Bones” and Ian & Sylvia Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds.” In addition, there’s a new bonus studio track on the audio CD by Cuddy and Keelor called “Losing You”, which is also performed Live on the DVD.
It was formally announced on June 16th, 2009, that Blue Rodeo will be inducted onto Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto in September, 2009.
On November 10th, 2009, Blue Rodeo released its twelfth studio album, The Things We Left Behind, which is a double CD featuring 16 original compositions by Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy. The release was produced by the band with engineering and mixing assistance from Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, Jim Cuddy, Kevin Kane, Sarah McLachlan, The Sadies), and the first single to crack the airwaves is “Arizona Dust”.
For photo galleries and other information on Blue Rodeo you can visit their official website, www.BlueRodeo.com.|

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