Rich Aucoin wins two honours at 2021 East Coast Music Awards, including Song of the Year

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday June 14th, 2021

Rich Aucoin won two honours at the 2021 East Coast Music Awards: Song of the Year for “Walls” (co-written with Joel Waddell and Kevin Maher), and Electronic Recording of the Year, for his album, United States. Other double-award winners were Classified, Les Hay Babies, Maxim Cormier, and Rose Cousins.

Catherine MacLellan earned the Songwriter of the Year Award, while other honours went to Neon Dreams for Album of the Year (for The Happiness of Tomorrow), and Beòlach for Fans’ Choice Entertainer of the Year. Rita MacNeil was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The first batch of winners were announced June 9, during the virtual 2021 East Coast Music Awards Show, and the rest on June 13, during a virtual Music & Industry Awards Show, hosted by Heather Rankin, and streamed via the ECMA’s Youtube channel.

In between, SOCAN participated in a panel, “Royalties & Rights Management Explained,” and presented a Songwriters’ Circle (featuring Rose Cousins, Jah’Mila, Kim Harris, Dave Sampson, Heather Rankin, Breagh Isabel, Owen O’Sound Lee, and Joel Plaskett), all online, as part of the 2021 East Coast Music Festival & Conference surrounding the awards.

For a complete list of ECMA 2020 winners, click here.

SOCAN Satellite Sessions: Teon Gibbs and IAMTHELIVING

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday June 14th, 2021

In order to provide a platform for our members on the rise, we’re pleased to continue the SOCAN Satellite Sessions – an ongoing series of new, unseen member performances broadcast on @SOCANMusic Instagram (and later available across all our social media platforms). In celebration of Black Music Month, the first series of sessions will showcase Black music excellence; each week in June, we’ll present musical performances by some of Canada’s most talented up-and-coming Black songwriters.

The second SOCAN Satellite Session features Teon Gibbs and IAMTHELIVING, streaming  now on @SOCANMusic Instagram.

Bridging the gap between R&B, pop, hip-hop, and soul Teon Gibbs and IAMTHELIVING have come together in funky harmony to deliver a seven-track EP titled JNGL. Hailing from different areas of the world, the pair met in Vancouver and came together to deliver a sound that unites people and makes them want to dance.

Gibbs is a rapper/producer from Botswana, Africa. As a child, he moved between South Africa, Angola, and the U.K with his family, before eventually settling in Vancouver. A multi-faceted artist who often blurs lines between musical genres, he creates a sound all his own, with confidence and versatility. IAMTHELIVING is a soul singer from Southeast London, U.K., who grew up magnetized by the sounds of Michael Jackson, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. Following his music destiny to the West Coast, he now feels at home in Vancouver, both physically and with his art. IAMTHELIVING provides a buttery, soulful croon, over upbeat production, while Gibbs injects laid-back, West Coast wordplay that packs a punch into every track.

Tune in to @SOCANMusic Instagram to see their exclusive video performance!

Photo by courtesy of/courtoisie de Victor Davies. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Victor Davies, Lori Davies.

SOCAN mourns the loss of Lori Davies

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday June 14th, 2021

SOCAN was saddened to learn of the passing, on May 28, 2021, of Lori (Lorraine Elizabeth) Davies (née Benabo), the wife and business partner of longtime SOCAN Board member, composer Victor Davies.

After a distinguished career as a Registered Nurse – including a diploma in Intensive Care Nursing, a pioneering role in Canadian CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), and a position as Director for Emergency Cardiac Care and Professional Education for the Ontario Heart Foundation – Lori retired from the medical field to work alongside Victor in their jointly owned company, Lily Pad Productions.

Lori worked to administrate, organize, and promote Victor’s numerous and very popular works in concert music, and music for film, television, and theatre. Her role at Lily Pad Productions was many-faceted: she oversaw the production of major film scores and recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra and the City of Prague Symphony; raised funds for, and produced, theatre and recording projects; published, marketed, promoted, printed, and sold music in the pre-digital era, and later did so via online applications in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Europe, Israel, and China. She continued in this role until her passing.

Lori also served as Executive Director of the Guild of Canadian Film Composers from 2001 to 2004, at a time when the organization experienced substantial growth and innovation.

Victor shared a few of his many fond memories of Lori with us. “One time, while recording in Prague, some Dolby modules had to be shipped at the last minute from London,” he recalled. “Because of IRA incidents, all gear flown by air from the U.K. had to be held in custody for two days – except those flown by Aer Lingus, who we used. Lori got on the phone and got the modules shipped immediately from Abbey Road studios, to arrive the morning after her call, on an 8:00 a.m. flight. When they got to Prague at 9:00, Lori boldly strode right past the protesting security guards – who had machine guns – into the cage where they were being held, promptly picked them up, and drove them right to the studio.”

On another occasion, Victor was commissioned to write a Mennonite Piano Concerto. “It sat on the shelf for quite awhile,” he remembered, “when Lori reminded me of it, and said she thought it was a pretty good piece, and we should record it. So we did, with the London Symphony Orchestra.”

Because of her initial suggestion, the Mennonite Piano Concerto recording became a reality, and has since become the most requested Canadian classical work on CBC Radio 2 in Canada, and has been heard on BBC radio, and National Public Radio in the U.S. In 1996, it was No. 8 in sales on Classic FM, the most listened-to classical broadcaster in the U.K. In 2007, it was voted No. 50 in an Australian Broadcasting poll of listeners for 100 Top Concertos of All Time.

Lori Davies is survived by her devoted husband Victor, daughters Suzanne Davies, (and husband Martin Kneis), Heather Davies, (and partner Greg Rose), and granddaughters Chelsea and Caleigh Davies-Kneis.

Friends of Lori, and the Davies family, are invited to visit the Mount Pleasant Funeral Centre online. A celebration of Lori’s life will take place in Toronto and Winnipeg when allowed, with the lifting of COVID-19 protocols.