ROCK ‘N’ ROLL continued from page 11


sisters, kids in Ottawa were searching for their own identity in the late 50s. It was clear in the school halls, the church basements and around the dinner table that the times-were-a- changing, and that the “generation gap” was widening. Teens looked to TV, movies and music for their new heroes, and they found them in James Dean, Marlon Brando, and, especially, Elvis. Hugh Scott was one of the boys


who wanted to “be” Elvis. Hughie spent countless hours in front of the mirror, lip-syncing to the songs of Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Bill Haley, and then the stars of Sun records − especially Elvis Presley. A few days after Presley played


ELVIS PRESLEY POSING WITH SOME OF HIS FANS, APRIL 3, 1957 City of Ottawa Archives/MG393/AN-49378-111/Andrews -Newton


Ottawa, the nervous Valley lad from Riceville appeared on CFRA Radio’s live “Campus Hop” radio show hosted by Gord Atkinson. He had been at the Elvis show and had


picked up a few pointers. Standing center-stage with an


acoustic guitar, he remembers the girls screaming “just like at Elvis!”, and stretching out their arms to touch him.


Hughie Scott was living the


dream. But nobody was living as big


as his Fisher Park High School schoolmate Paul Anka, who by 1957 was touring North America as part of the “Show of Stars 1957” tour, topping the bill over legends like Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Buddy Knox and the Drifters. Onstage in Ottawa Paul received


a gold record for selling a million copies of “Diana”. The top ticket price for that night of music was $3.50. Back home, no gold records for


Hugh Scott, but he was knocking audiences dead with his Elvis routine and Rockabilly songs with Smokey and the Drifters at the Chamberlain,


the British Hotel and the Aylmer Hotel. Maury Logan was another


local star who cashed in on Elvis-mania. Like Scott, Logan worked hard on his Elvis routine, and it became the cornerstone of his live act. It didn’t take long for other more established Ottawa acts to realize music had moved on. In the wake of Elvis,


local doo-wop and instrumental bands started changing their tunes. The Jive Rockets, the Talkabouts and the Fairmonts were the closest Ottawa had to Rock and Roll bands in the late 50s. The leader of the Jive Rockets, Vern Craig, would soon start up a band called the Staccatos, who, along with The Esquires, would rule the local clubs in the early and mid- 60s.


As for that glorious night in 1957 when “The King” came to Ottawa,


A YOUNG VERN CRAIG


most fans in attendance didn’t hear much through the pandemonium, but the message to Ottawa musicians was clear: Rock and Roll had arrived in Ottawa!


Next: The Esquires and the Staccatos put Ottawa on the musical map.


KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR


MOTORCYCLES


Society of Ottawa Area Riders (SOAR) www.ot tawasoar.com


12 BOUNDER MAGAZINE www.bounder.ca www.bounder.ca BOUNDER MAGAZINE 13


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