Steel River - Weighin Heavy (1970)
Steel River was a Canadian rock group formed in Toronto which performed primarily during the 1970s. They are best known for a Canadian Top 10 single "Ten Pound Note" released in 1970.
Starting in 1965 as a part-time Toronto R&B club band called The Toronto Shotgun, Steel River became full-time musicians in 1969. Greg Hambleton signed them to the Tuesday Record label, where their first single release was the Jay Telfer (A Passing Fancy) song "Ten Pound Note". The single hit Top-10 in Canada. It finished in Canada at #79 for the year. The band members were singer John Dudgeon, keyboardist Bob Forrester, bassist Rob Cockell, guitarist Tony Dunning and drummers Ray Angrove and Dennis Watson.
In 1971 the band released a follow-up LP on Evolution Records. A single, "Southbound Train", through Quality Records by including a toy train in the promotional package.
They continued touring internationally until they disbanded in 1974. That year they went on a 14 state tour in the United States.
Four out of five of the original members reunited briefly in 1980, and released a single, "Armoured Car".
Vocalist John Dudgeon went on to release a solo single record in 1983 called "Put My Arms Around You" which received extensive airplay on CKFM (99.9) and other stations in Canada and U.S. In 2004, he joined Mojo Grande, a funk/blues band from Markham, Ontario.
In 2013 and 2014, two of Steel River's albums, "A Better Road" and a re-mixed "Weighin' Heavy", were re-issued on producer Greg Hambleton's revived Axe Records label.
