Kevan Staples, who was the co-founder of legendary 1970s alt rock band Rough Trade from Toronto, died on Sunday at the age of 74.
His death was announced in a social media post by band co-founder Carole Pope. ‘He was a bright light that will burn forever,’ she wrote on Instagram.
The cause of death was not shared.
Staples co-wrote the band’s hits High School Confidential, as well the songs Birds of a Feather and All Touch.
In 1983 they opened for David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight tour.
Some of their best-known tunes touched on lesbians and bondage with song named like Lie Back, Let Me Do Everything and Dyke by Default.
‘We had a strong gay following, we had a strong arts community following,’ Staples told CBC decades later. ‘There was an audience for what we were doing, and that was apparent.’
Kevan Staples, who was the co-founder of legendary 1970s alt rock band Rough Trade from Toronto, died on Sunday at the age of 74. Seen in 2023
His death was announced in a social media post by band co-founder Carole Pope. ‘He was a bright light that will burn forever,’ she wrote on Instagram. Seen together in 2023
Rough Trade got their start when performing at small clubs in Toronto.
Their first album was the self-released Rough Trade Live!
They then came out with five more studio albums when working with Bernie Finklestein’s Canadian label True North in the 1980s.
Their popularity grew with their tunes Weapons, Shaking the Foundations and Crimes of Passion doing well on the radio.
They played to some of their biggest audiences ever opening for David Bowie on Canadian dates of his 1983 Serious Moonlight tour.
In 1986 they split up over exhaustion from being typecast as a band that writes about sex.
‘Besides writing about sexuality, we were also writing about politics and people didn’t pick up as much on that here,’ Pope told the Canadian Press in 1994.
The cause of death was not shared. Staples co-wrote the band’s hits High School Confidential, as well the songs Birds of a Feather and All Touch
Some of their best-known tunes touched on lesbians and bondage with song named like Lie Back, Let Me Do Everything and Dyke by Default. ‘We had a strong gay following, we had a strong arts community following,’ Staples told CBC decades later
In 2001 they got back together for a few shows.
Staples then went to work in Hollywood as he scored movies and television shows working on the 1978 Canadian film One Night Stand.
In the 1980s Staples was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2023.
‘Their music challenged conventions and left a lasting impact on Canada’s cultural landscape,’ says a post on the Canada Walk of Fame’s Instagram page.
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