"FRIENDS OF MINE" is a labour of love. Over the years I have had the honour and privilege to work on many new Canadian musicals, both in workshop and production. Time after time I have been fortunate enough to experience the magic of singing truly wonderful songs only to be left with the disappointing knowledge that these magnificent gifts would not be celebrated beyond the initial production. A few years ago I started doing a lot more nightclub work, and one of the songs I threw into the mix, ( I ALWAYS insist on doing Canadian material - that's part of my charm...), was Patrick Rose's "Forever and a Day" - an absolutely stunning ballad that always gets an amazing response - and except for my little efforts, nobody's heard it in twenty years. Time after time we the actors would lament the demise of another song, another show. What could we do? How do other songs become standards? How could this work be celebrated? How could this work be shared? Then I realized what I could do. I, a Canadian, would do something very un-Canadian - to celebrate something very Canadian. I would record my own album of songs from the Canadian musical canon that I have had the good fortune of being involved with. I was going to honk the Canadian horn.

I am sharing my passion.

The composers include Neil Bartram, Jim Betts, John Gray, Mavor Moore, Leslie Arden, Allen Cole, Marek Norman & Richard Ouzounian, David Warrack, Joey Miller & James Saar, Jim Crocini & John Bertram, Steve Thomas & Norm Foster, and, of course, the guy who unwittingly started the whole idea, Patrick Rose.

One of the great joys of this project has been going over to the various composer's houses and listening to them play through their "stuff" - magical afternoons I will never forget. I literally had my coat on and was leaving Allen Cole's with a pile of sheet music under my arm when he said: "Maybe I should play you this one. It's kinda crazy..." and , of course, that's the one we're doing. The two songs of my Dad's that we're doing haven't been heard for almost fifty years - in the States, they'd be part of the Jazz Lexicon by now and that's how we're treating them - as Jazz standards. The reprise if Neil Bartram's song that opens and closes the CD has since been cut from the show, but he has graciously allowed us to keep it - "Consider them to be the 'Lost In Boston' lyrics...", said Neil. A lot are from shows I've done in the past, and several are from very recent shows I hope to do. The selection is eclectic, fun, and a real cross-section of people who are all writing today and are all, really, friends of mine. And with the exception of the song from John Gray's "Billy Bishop", (which had it's own small release original cast recording), none of the songs have ever been recorded before.

My co-producer Mark Camilleri has done some fabulous arrangements - we have everything from Big Band to solo piano and back again. Some wonderful guest musicians have come through Mark's doors - Paul Sportelli, John Alcorn and Guido Basso to name just a few.