Neil Merryweather

Neil Merryweather (born Robert Neilson Lillie, December 27, 1945 – March 28, 2021) was a Canadian rock singer, bass player and songwriter.

He recorded and performed with musicians such as Steve Miller, Dave Mason, Lita Ford, Billy Joel and Rick James and released catalogue of albums.

Merryweather was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and began his career in Toronto during the early 1960s, performing under the name Bobby Neilson.

During 1964, he joined forces with Gary Muir & The Reflections, a local group comprising Muir (vocals), Ed Roth (organ), Bill Ross (guitar), Brian Hughes (bass) and Bob Ablack (drums).

Neilson's arrival prompted the group to briefly change their name to The Ookpiks (after a native-designed stuffed toy owl that was being promoted by the Canadian government).

Because another group was already using that name, they briefly switched to The Sikusis (after a different stuffed toy).

After the Canadian government demanded payment for their name, the band settled on The Just Us in early 1965.

In 1965, the group recorded its lone single, "I Don't Love You" c/w "I Can Tell", for the local Quality Records label (some copies list the group as The Ookpiks, some The Sikusis, and some The Just Us).

Afterwards, Ross and new drummer Al Morrison left to take part in the formation of The Bossmen around singer David Clayton-Thomas.

Neilson, who now went by the name Neil Lillie, befriended ex-Mynah Birds singer Jimmy Livingston in Long & McQuade's music store where he worked in the backroom as an amp and guitar repairman and asked him to join a new line up of The Just Us.

Lillie recruited former C.J. Feeney & The Spellbinders members Stan Endersby on guitar and Wayne Davis on bass.

In early 1966, The Just Us recorded an album's worth of material at Arc Sound in Toronto with the tapes being subsequently stolen by their manager.

The band remained regularly play at Toronto clubs like the Hawk's Nest, The In Crowd and the Gogue Inn as well as local high schools.

In June 1966, Davis left to play with Bobby Kris & The Imperials and Lillie learned to play bass in two weeks to fill the spot.

Around this time, an American duo with the same name appeared on the charts and the group was forced to adopt a new name, The Group Therapy, for its show at the Varsity Arena on June 22, supporting The Byrds.

When another local group surfaced with an earlier claim to The Group Therapy name, Merryweather came up with the new name, The Tripp, in September 1966.

The new group appeared on the first episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s TV program, The Sunday Show.

They opened for the top band in Toronto, the Mandala, and stole the show and afterwards were approached by Mandala guitarist and friend Domenic Troiano and his manager Riff Markowitz.

Riff became the Tripp's manager.

One of the Tripp's shows during this period was a performance at Maple Leaf Gardens on September 24, 1966.

The Tripp began to perform at venues like Boris’ Red Gas Room, the Devil's Den, the Flick and the Syndicate Club.

Pianist Richard Bell from Ritchie Knight & The Mid-Knights briefly augmented the group in early 1967 but soon moved on to Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks (and a few years later, Janis Joplin’s backing group Full Tilt Boogie, and the last edition of The Band).

Soon afterwards, Lillie left the group to take up an offer from singer Ricky James Matthews (later funk star Rick James) in a new version of The Mynah Birds.

The band went to Motown studios in Detroit during August 1967 and recorded "It's My Time", a song written by James and Neil Young during the group's previous incarnation.

The project was shelved when the band fell apart.

James and Lillie returned to Toronto to find new musicians.

Upon their return, Lillie recruited Marty Fisher (keyboards) and Gordie MacBain (drums) formerly of Bobbie Kris & The Imperials.

While in search of a guitarist, Merryweather ran into the drummer from The Staccatos (later to become The Five Man Electrical Band) who told him about guitarist Bruce Cockburn of The Children.

Merryweather recruited Cockburn.

Rick was picked up by the police for a breaking and entering charge involving a Yorkville Village clothes store and was being held in jail when it was discovered that he was also a draft dodger from the US Navy.

Merryweather named the band The Flying Circus.

Signed to Harvey Glatt's management, the group recorded a number of unreleased tracks in Toronto, including Cockburn's "Flying Circus", "She Wants To Know", "I'm Leaving You Out", "Mother", "The Elephant Song" as well as Neil's "Last Hoorah" and Fisher and MacBain's "Where Is All The Love".

At the same sessions, the band also recorded songs by Cockburn's former Children cohort, Bill Hawkins, such as "Merry Go Round", "It's a Dirty Shame", and "Little Bit Stoned".

During late 1967, the band played at Le Hibou in Ottawa and the Riverboat in Toronto and opened for Wilson Pickett at the Capitol Theatre in Ottawa and Massey Hall in Toronto.

They also opened for two nights for Roy Orbison at the Capitol Theater in Ottawa.

Motown offered them a contract, but Cockburn rejected the deal, refusing to give up song publishing royalties.

Merryweather left The Flying Circus in March 1968, and reunited with former Tripp members Ed Roth and Jimmy Livingston to form a new band.

Adding ex-Fraser Loveman Group guitarist Dave Burt and drummer Gary Hall, the new group, initially dubbed 'New King Boiler' named after the iron furnace in his grandmother's basement where they rehearsed.

Gary Hall was soon being called "Coffee" by Neil's grandmother (the name stuck, though he chose to spell it "Coffi").

The band got three demos together with the help of an engineer friend at Arc recording studio.