“I quit school around grade 11. I remember my high school principal saying to my Dad, ‘I don’t think he should be around those low lifes in bars and such.’ Well I’ve played for the Queen twice – once on her visit to Halifax and again at the opening of Roy Thomson Hall. I shook her hand twice. I have done very well, but it wasn’t good luck. It was being prepared when the opportunity came around. I used to practice for three to four hours a day when I was 12 years old. I remember my great guitar teacher, Tony Braden, saying to my Dad when he had to decide to let me leave school. ‘The brass ring only comes around once. You have to grab it!’”

Bobby Edwards picked up a guitar when he was five years old and found his whole life’s work. His father played the violin, and they spent every Sunday afternoon playing together. His father saw that his son had talent and applied one rule – get him the best guitar teacher no matter how far a drive it was. Bobby surpassed several guitar teachers, and by the time he was 12 he was a student of Tony Bradan – the guru of Canadian guitar teachers. At 13 he joined Trump Davidson’s orchestra – one of the leading society bands in Toronto, playing venues like The Granite Club and The Boulevard Club. At 15 he was recruited to the CBC playing in the live studio band for a show called “Music Hop” which aired 5 days a week from different cities in Canada. Here he played with Canadian jazz legends like Guido Basso, Peter Appleyard and Rob McConnell. Within the year, he added “Front Page Challenge” and “The Friendly Giant” to the list of live shows he was playing for. He did jingles and studio work with jazz guitar legend Ed Bickert in between shows. Bobby never finished high school, but by 18 had established himself in Toronto as a first-call studio musician.

With CFTO TV he played on shows starring Ray Stevens, Kenny Rogers and Bobby Vinton. Bobby turned to writing, arranging and composing in the 1980’s working on films like Nothing Personal (1980) starring Donald Sutherland and Suzanne Somers, and Head On (1982) starring Sally Kellerman and John Huston. Bobby was musical director and conductor of the Juno Awards for five years during the 1980’s and also conducted for the Actra Awards. Bobby was then asked to go to Las Vegas where he conducted a fundraiser starring Wayne Newton at the Hilton casino for two years working with stars like Bill Cosby, Gladys Knight and Tom Jones. By the mid 80’s Bobby was working on eight different shows a week, including “The Tommy Hunter Show.”

By the late ‘80’s everything began to change. “In snuck the synthesizers,” laments Bobby. “It wasn’t even a matter of if you can’t beat them, join them. You couldn’t even join them. All the big studios were closing, variety television was dying and all the live studio musicians started gravitating toward live theatre.” Bobby worked on blockbuster productions like Les Mis, Jolson and Chicago.

“One of the life-altering events for me was the call in 1996 to be the lead guitarist of The Patsy Cline Show – a tribute to one of the greatest singers of all time. The show included some of the best musicians from Nashville starring Gail Bliss playing the role of Patsy Cline. I’ve done that show every year for the past 12 years – now as guitarist and musical director. It’s one of the loves of my life.”

Then Bobby decided to pass on to others what had been given to him. He turned to teaching. “I started teaching seriously around 1990. That is the focus of my life now. I have about 60 students between the ages of 5 and 70. One of the things that makes me different is that I teach people how to play the guitar, not just bits and pieces of Rock songs. I teach them to read music. Most teachers seem to do TAB (tablature) which is pictures of the neck of the guitar with no letter name. It’s just geography – put your fingers here. You can’t share it with anyone else – like a pianist. Ninety percent of guitar teachers teach TAB either because that’s all they know or it’s easy entertainment. They come to me because they want to learn to read music. That’s why I love teaching. I know I’m doing something of value for the kids and the guitar itself. I have 100% repeat. The only ones I lose are those who go to university. That’s a real heart-breaker because you become close over so many years.”

“Tony Bradan left me something. He never really taught me. He guided me. He inspired me. Everybody has a different personality. You want to max them out. The secret is not to show them how you play the guitar, but to get them to play the guitar to their maximum ability. It’s not a sausage factory. It’s a study in personalities just as much as it a study in music.”

The biggest setback for Bolton School of Music came with the retirement of its best piano teacher (and Bobby’s wife), Maggie Sutherland, who developed fibromyalgia last year and had to give up teaching. “Not a week goes by that somebody doesn’t come in asking for Maggie.” A classically trained concert pianist, she is a master teacher graduating from the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory. “Everybody has felt the loss. There is a spirit missing in the school without her here; however, we now have two brilliant piano teachers doing great work.”

Besides leading one of the most prestigious music schools in Caledon, Bobby continues to work in live theatre all over North America. Future projects include conducting Memories of the King – a tribute to Elvis Presley at the Rose Theatre in Brampton and a Liberace tribute show out of Las Vegas.

When I ask Bobby how he finds young people today, he smiles. “The ones I see. They’re really a showcase. It’s the parents. They always encourage their kids to be doing something. I have not had one bad apple in here.”

Bobby knows from his own experience that there are many ways to get an education. “I know four guys who are coming out of university and they don’t know what they’re going to do. That just blows my mind. An academic education is not the be all and end all of success; however, I sure don’t suggest quitting school in these times. When I went into the studio as a young kid, I had the sense to be quiet and listen. The older guys liked me and accepted me, I learned a lot from them."

Bobby fondly remembers his time on The Friendly Giant. “We did that show live every morning. We would rehearse in the washroom because it was the only quiet place. I played strings for Rusty. It was a 15 minute show, and when it was on, kids were calm. Every time we got a new producer, they wanted to up it to half an hour. Bob Homme (the friendly giant) always said no. He understood that 15 minutes was the attention span of the average pre-school kid watching. He was a good guy. I remember as a teenager going up to Bob Homme’s cottage one summer and grinding the propeller of the motorboat on the stony bottom in shallow water. He was still friendly!”

When I ask Bobby what he thinks about the music scene today, he laments the loss of the great love songs. “My father – he had his love songs. I have my love songs. So much of today’s music is angry. It doesn’t have the same heart tug. I don’t think a lot of today’s songs will be around in forty years. I think all the Beatles music will be around. Elton John, Lionel Ritchie, Sting – they’ll all be around.

“Do you miss it all?” I ask Bobby. He laughs. “What do you mean? I’m still doing it! I have two live shows and an album coming out in 2009.” But teaching is still the centre of Bobby’s life. “I’ve had one of the most beautiful lives that could have been given to a guitarist, and now I feel like I’m giving it back through teaching.”

Michael Reist is a local educator, writer and speaker. www.michaelreist.ca


Possible Side Bar:

Bobby Edwards on today’s musical stars:

Madonna: “One of the greatest entertainers of our time. They’ll be making movies about her.”

k.d. lang: “She’s a Peggy Lee.”

Tony Bennet and Paul Anka: “The last of the vintage singers.”

Michael Buble: “He’s just got to ripen.”

Andre Bocelli: “He will be like Pavarotti.”

Michael Jackson: “Thriller was a show-stopper. He took music to another level. He is one of the greats.”

“And don’t forget Elvis. He changed the world!”