Blue Rodeo Biography

Blue Rodeo Biography

Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band, which was formed in the year 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have been signed with Warner Music Group since their debut album Outskirts in March 1987. Including Outskirts, they have 11 full-length releases along with multiple solo albums, side projects, and collaborations. The band consists of original members Jim Cuddy (guitar/vocals), Greg Keelor (guitar/vocals) and Bazil Donovan (bass), plus newer additions Glenn Milchem (drums), multi-instrumentalist Bob Egan, and Bob Packwood (keyboardist). Packwood was the replacement for James Gray who left the band in 2005 after their release of Are You Ready. Drummers Cleave Anderson and Mark French, keyboardist Bob Wiseman, and multi-instrumentalist Kim Deschamps are also former band members. Cuddy and Keelor met in high school and became great friends. After University, when all their other friends were starting to get jobs, they decided to form a band and started to play music more often. They put together a few different bands without much luck. Cuddy and Keelor moved to New York for some adventure and to help their music. There they met Bob Wiseman. When they came back to Toronto in the summer of '84 they thought about putting another band together. They had already thought of the name for the band before they met Cleave and asked him to join the band. Cleave brought along his friend, Donovan, and with this Blue Rodeo was born. Blue Rodeo is one of the most successful and well known contemporary Canadian bands, having released 11 full-length studio albums, 3 live recordings, 1 greatest hits package and 5 video/DVDs. Their studio albums have sold over 3 million copies. Cuddy, Keelor, Donovan and Egan have all released solo albums, and Glenn Milchem performs his own solo music under the pseudonym "the swallows". Blue Rodeo members have collaborated extensively with other notable Canadian artists, including Sarah McLachlan, The Tragically Hip, Burton Cummings, Great Big Sea, Jann Arden, The Sadies, Skydiggers, Crash Vegas, the Cowboy Junkies, Sarah Harmer, and Kathleen Edwards. They have won many Canadian music awards, including 7 Juno Awards and 7 SOCAN awards.