Electric Black ManMr. Mercury, an insistent soul-rock and R&B singer from Toronto who had significant ups and occasional downs over a long, productive career in the music business, died on March 14 in Montreal after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 77.
The pair knew each other from Toronto. “Eric was my old friend from Yonge Street,” the Grammy-winningAt Cafe Au Go Go, Mr. Clayton-Thomas and Mr. Mercury reacquainted on the fly, taking part in an improvised jam. The unexpected showcase exposed Mr. Mercury to a few talent scouts on hand and led to his break into the music business in New York. “My life changed from that moment,” he later told Canadian music journalist Bill King.
Race may have been an impediment, particularly in the singer’s home country. “Being in Canada, whatever colour you were was rough,” Mr. Mercury said in an interview in 2006, referring to his decision to try his luck in the United States. “But being Black was rougher.” At a young age Mr. Mercury was a soloist in the junior choir, directed by his aunt. By 12 he was playing and touring with a marching-and-manoeuvring trumpet ensemble.
“We worked from noon to midnight,” Mr. Katz told The Globe. “When we left, Jimi would be sitting on a plastic chair right outside the door, with a coterie of kids and other people. We’d open the door and he would walk in. The room was full of Marshall amplifiers, from floor to ceiling. We’d sit outside the door and listen to Jimi play.”made noise of its own. Mr. Mercury and his band played coast to coast, from the Fillmore East in New York to the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
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