My Biog

·        1947           It was a very good year…at least, for me…I was born.   I arrived at 10:47 am on October 28^th at the Grace Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario…a Scorpio.  I weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz.   (At least, that’s how we calculated weight back then---I haven’t a clue what that is in today’s math).   My dad was a cop.   He met my mom while she was working as a waitress at a restaurant on his beat.   She gave him lots of free coffee.  He gave her a ring. 

·        1954           We moved to Old Chelsea, Quebec.  I was seven.  Down the road, just up the hill, lived the Adamson Family.  My first girlfriend, Lynn, lived there.  She was Six.  We used to wander through the woods and pick trilliums together.   I found out years later that picking them was illegal.   I guess it had something to do with them being the provincial flower or something.   But, what the heck do you know at age seven?   Not a lot.   I didn’t know much about love either.  Lynn and I didn’t last.

·        1960                Our family was back in Ottawa and I attended St. Brigid’s Elementary School.   A couple of days a week, I served as an altar boy at the big church up the street.  I don’t think God and I really connected though.  In grade 7, Sister Superior gave me the strap (10 smacks) on both hands over the school’s public address system.   I’m not sure what I did but it sure as hell tied her habit in a knot.   

·        1961           My final year at St. Brigid’s.    I won the Ottawa School Board Public Speaking Competition.   I was 14.  Sister Superior immediately announced I was the second coming of Jesus.   She proclaimed to all that I would be in radio one day (it’s amazing what the strap can do for a young man on his way up).   That same year, I started playing guitar.  My first axe was a Stella, that I bought for thirteen bucks from a guy with the same name…Wayne…somebody.

·        1963           High School and I got off to a pretty rocky start.  While my body attended classes, my mind was off somewhere thinking about songs and stuff.   I left Ottawa’s prestigious Lisgar Collegiate after flunking grade 9 twice.   Actually, I had to leave.   I simply couldn’t fathom a third year of grade 9 in Miss Butterworth’s home room class.    She was convinced I lacked oxygen at birth.

·        As a 16-yr old, worked a variety of jobs---construction, ranch hand. Camera & jewelry salesman, car wash driver, chicken cook and other high-profile, big-money ventures.

·        At age 19, went back and finished High School with a vengence (4 years of high school in an 18-month program)

·        Entered Algonquin College, age 20, determined to become a Chartered Accountant

·        Left Algonquin after 3 months, determined not to become a Chartered Accountant

·        Age 20, began his radio career at CJET, Smith Falls Ontario, first as the all-night operator, then as afternoon drive-home host.

·        Two years later, entered the world of Television as the news anchor of CKWS, Kingston, Ontario.

·        At age 23, decided he missed playing music on the radio and returned to CJET as on-air morning man and Program Director.

·       One year later, realized he didn’t want to spin music, he wanted to play it.  So, in 1970, he hit the road in his father’s borrowed, 1964, white Cadillac, as the front man for The Honey West Show.

·       In 1972, Wayne’s first and only son, (as far as he knows), was born while on the road, somewhere between Whitby and London, Ontario.   Four months before Josh was born, Wayne and his traveling girlfriend married.  At the time it was the right thing to do.  Besides, it had all the makings of a good country song.

·       In 1973, Wayne, Lynda and Josh moved to Quebec’s Gatineau Hills.  It was time to get off the road, settle down and write songs.   Besides, the Cadillac was shot.

And the rest is history ...