FM
History
The Cameo Blues Band is a Toronto-based blues band, originally formed in 1978. It is particularly notable for its association with several of Canada's leading blues singers, including Richard "Hock" Walsh, Tony Flaim and Chuck Jackson, all of whom were also associated with the Downchild Blues Band.
The band is named after the Cameo Lounge of Toronto's Hotel Isabella, as it then was, in the 1970s and 1980s. The Cameo Lounge featured primarily local blues artists and, as of 1978, had a regular house band, initially led by Richard "Hock" Walsh, during one of several periods when Walsh was either fired or quit as the lead singer of the Downchild Blues Band. Walsh was soon joined by former Crowbar keyboard player "Rabbit" Ray Harrison who, along with guitarist John Bride, became the core of the group during its over three decade history. Other initial band members included Billy Bryans, later of the Parachute Club, on drums, and Omar Tunnock, later of the funk and blues band Fathead, on bass.
