Streetheart

Biography

Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba and Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1975, vocalist Ken Shields, keyboard player Daryl Gutheil and bassist Ken Sinnaeve formed the band Wascana. After being renamed Witness, the group became Streetheart when guitarist Paul Dean and drummer Matt Frenette joined in 1977. The band released Meanwhile Back in Paris the following year and Under Heaven over Hell in 1979, but Frenette and Dean dropped out soon after to found Loverboy. Streetheart played together until...

Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba and Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1975, vocalist Ken Shields, keyboard player Daryl Gutheil and bassist Ken Sinnaeve formed the band Wascana. After being renamed Witness, the group became Streetheart when guitarist Paul Dean and drummer Matt Frenette joined in 1977. The band released Meanwhile Back in Paris the following year and Under Heaven over Hell in 1979, but Frenette and Dean dropped out soon after to found Loverboy. Streetheart played together until 1984, releasing Quicksand Shoes (1980), Drugstore Dancer (1980), Action: Best of Streetheart (1981), the self-titled Streetheart (1982), Dancing with Danger (1983), and the double live album Live After Dark (1983). Record sales earned them six gold albums and four platinum albums; the single "Under My Thumb" achieved gold single status.

Arguably Streetheart's most popular single, "Under My Thumb" (1979), was a remake of a song by the Rolling Stones, who were an early Streetheart influence. At the peak of their career, Streetheart toured with several Canadian rock bands including Chilliwack, Rush, Toronto, Harlequin, Max Webster (see Kim Mitchell), Aldo Nova, April Wine, Headpins and with American bands including Sammy Hagar, Styx, Kansas, Blue Öyster Cult, and with Australia's AC/DC.

Streetheart received two Ampex Golden Reel awards, a Music Express Magazine Award, and a Chimo Award (Canadian Country Music Award) and were voted the most popular Canadian act in the Peoples' Choice Awards. In 2003, Streetheart was inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

JULY 21, 2017
Kenny Shields, who led the Winnipeg rock group Streetheart for four decades, died Friday morning after undergoing cardiac surgery.

Streetheart bandmate Jeff Neill announced the news early Friday with a post on his Facebook account.
"It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce that our dear friend and bandmate Kenny Shields has passed away quietly and peacefully early this morning at the St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg," Neill wrote, adding that Shields' wife Elena, daughter Julia and sister Sharlene were by his side.

"I loved him as a friend and as a special performer," says Howard Mandshein, a friend and fan of Shields who works at CITI-FM in Winnipeg. "Kenny was a performer. Kenny owned the stage. He could give lessons on how to work the stage. Just flawless."
winnipegfreepress.com With files from The Canadian Press Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.