Toronto Canada: Bob McPherson - One of the unique things about a band like AC was the individualism that each member had. Bob was a maticulious musician. His style was often compared to the likes of Keith Emmeron, Rick Wakeman and some of the other more progressive keyboard players. Bob was born in Curacao in the Dutch West Indies, a small island between Aruba & Bonaire in the Caribbean. His father was a pilot for KLM and moved them around to Holland, Montreal, Ottawa and finally Toronto. He grew up in a family that loved music and sports and his parents actively participated in his early passion to play professional hockey, which thanks to a serious ankle injury was not meant to be. His love of all things musical were mostly honed by his mother who loved the Hammond B3 and weaned him on the sounds of Earl Grant and Jimmy Smith (who, Iater had the most profound privilege of doing sound for, with his jazz quartet that included the late great Buddy Rich & Stan Getz). His father once suggested to Bob that he might want to learn how to make a living playing music after he was fired from a menial job at the Ontario Science Centre because he would continually be found playing the Hammond L100's that were there at the time. Toronto's music scene in the late sixties and early seventies was exploding with so many great bands and musicians incorporating a blend of Funk and R&B, they were creating a "Toronto Sound", and Bob wanted to be a part of it. He quickly found himself pouring all his energies into playing the B3 like the guys he had heard around town. He searched out musicians in the Scarborough area where he lived and began to form bands. Together with Brian Cotterill they silenced the critics in the neighborhood when they won the battle of bands at their high school with their group "The Haymarket Riot". He received a lot of calls because back then everybody wanted a guy who actually owned a Hammond, but this one guy asked him where he lived and when Bob told him he said he would be there in an hour. They barely hung up the phone when an old ugly green Thames English Ford like van, full of band gear and the word "Manna" painted on the side pulled in to his driveway. Jimi and Ron had walked into his life as though it was meant to be. They began charting out their future as though it had already been written. Soon after Brian joined and "Just Us" was born, and the rest is history.

The Killing Road (cont'd) I could feel the growth the more I bonded with my tool and my direction was leading me to more progressive paths of music. One of my early, negative encounters occurred while I was watching this band rehearse. The bass player had this awesome Fender Jazz Bass that he made rock hard. The leader of the band (let's say his name was DCT) noticed me at the top of the stairs. He picked me up by my jacket and proceeded to throw me down the stairs screaming "I don't want you f***in' hanging around here"... to think this guy would eventually be a big recording artist. Go figure. This definitely gave me a different outlook, one that I would not inherit.
I soon landed a gig a with three brothers that had heard of me from another musician. We practiced intensely for an upcoming show, this would be my first professional performance. Everyone in the neighborhood was looking forward to it, because we were opening for James Brown and The Famous Flames. Despite the clashing genres and extreme differences between the styles of our music, the local promoter who booked the gig was a friend of ours and showcased our heavy talent on the same bill as the Godfather of Soul. The audience was relatively receptive, after all, we were ahead of our time, although further from what they expected than was comprehensible.
We ate up the attention as if we were already famous, loving the fact that someone asked us to autograph their ticket stub. To think I could be possessed by such a musical carousel, the surreal spin was frightening. Life as it was, was no longer. I know this has touches of poetic streams, but the fact remains that I could think about nothing else, aside from music. High School was put on the back burner and my struggles to convince my parents to rescue me from the institutional demands for my time were finally realized when they signed me out of the ninth grade.
I would soon be in a band that played totally original music, and gained exposure as the house band at the El Patio, an underground club that attracted an eccentric crowd. Our popularity was on the rise and our live appearances were becoming more frequent and further away from home. We were often booked in smokey, beer-drinking rooms and no one stopped to ask how old I was, they just knew I was in the band. One of these dark, musty, imitation-leather filled spaces would be my nucleus de la vita.(read more)

Get TIME remastered for TIME

 GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS Wherever Abraham's Children appeared they attracted a large female audience. Some considered The Children as one of the first boy bands to come out of Canada , others thought they were a heavily marketed bubble-gum band. Maybe they were both. Here are some photos of the band in different concert settings. On your right is live in Charlottown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. They would perform 4 shows on the Island. The last show allowed them to stay at the old Lucy Montgomery's home author of "Ann of Green Gables". On the left is a pic of the fab 4 on the set of Canadian Bandstand, a popular teen show. Abraham's Children appeared on Bandstand more times than any other band. AC is probably one of the hardest working bands out there today. Their tours would sometimes last 4 to 6 months at a time. They have travelled and performed all over the world and still get great response every place they perform. The release of 30 has an incredible collection of songs including interviews and yes all the hits. Hear some of the songs >>>>>>>listen to some songs

Abraham's Children perform at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Canada. They would attract the biggest crowd ever. An estimated 50 thousands fans would show their appreciation. The stage was rushed with hundreds of teens before the security personal could get them off the stage. "The band signed almost 3000 autographs as fans lined up for hours" said manager Jack Morrow. This was the kick off to their highly acclaimed Lock Up Your Daughters Tour. They would perform in 55 cities across Canada and the US. It was non-stop. The band complained that they saw so many airports, that at times, they would forget what city they were in. To catch an AC live show was an unforgettable musical event

SCHMOOZARAMA......GET THE SCOOP AS WE DROP A FEW NAMES...COME ON NOW.

COVER STORY ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN A NEW CHAPTER - "Mrs. Norton once referred to children as Fragile beginnings of mighty end." Avenue of America's Gary Salter is now preparing his Abraham's Children for a mighty beginning rather than "mighty end." Their release on the G.A.S. label, "Goodbye Farewell", was slow to start but with the combined efforts of manager Jack Morrow and A&R man Paul Gross, they have now had the single listed on almost seventy stations across Canada - a rarity, so early on release. Morrow's telephone hype included calls to John ( read more )