Trooper

Trooper is a Juno Award winning Canadian ^Canada rock ^{rock music} band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire ^{Ra McGuire} and guitarist Brian Smith ^{Brian Smith (Canadian musician)} in 1965. The group is best known for its Canadian hits: "Raise a Little Hell", "Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)", "The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car", "General Hand Grenade", and "Janine".

 
Winter's Green, Applejack, and the 1970s

1967 saw McGuire and Smith playing in a band named 'Winter's Green', which recorded two songs, "Are You a Monkey" and "Jump in the River Blues", on the Rumble Records Label. "Are You a Monkey" later appeared on a rock collection: 1983's The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3". "Raise A Little Hell". This album also contained the hits "Round, Round We Go" and "The Moment That It Takes", both of which were sung by keyboardist Frank Ludwig.

Trooper's fifth studio album, Flying Colors ^{Flying Colors (album)} , was released in 1979, and contained the hits "Three Dressed Up as a Nine", and the band's highest-charting single to date, "Janine", which pushed the album to attain Double-Platinum status.

The band's 1979 album, Hot Shots ^{Hot Shots (album)} , broke all records for Canadian sales of a Canadian album, reaching Quadruple-Platinum status. Hot Shots was a greatest hits album containing remixes of all of the most popular songs from Trooper's first five studio albums. "The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car" (originally released on Two for the Show ^{Two for the Show Trooper (album)} in 1976), became a hit single upon the release of Hot Shots.


1980s


In March of 1980, Trooper was honoured with a Juno Award ^{Juno Awards of 1980} for "Group of the Year ^{Juno Award for Group of the Year} ". Two of their albums (Hot Shots ^{Hot Shots (album)} and Flying Colors ^{Flying Colors (album)} , both released in 1979) were also nominated that year for "Album of the Year ^{Juno Award for Album of the Year} ".

Also in 1980, Trooper severed their artist/producer relationship with Randy Bachman and Frank Ludwig was replaced by Rob Deans, who performed on the next two albums: Trooper's self-produced seventh album Untitled ^{Untitled Trooper(album)} , released in October 1980, and Money Talks ^{Money Talks Trooper (album)} which was released in 1982 and produced by Heart ^{Heart (band)} producer Mike Flicker and released on the RCA Label..

In 1986, Trooper was without a permanent keyboardist, and Frank Ludwig re-joined the band as a temporary replacement on their summer tour.

The Last of the Gypsies ^{The Last of the Gypsies Trooper (album)} was released in 1989 on the band's self-owned Great Pacific Records label and distributed by Warner Music Canada. This was Trooper's first studio album in six years, and was certified Canadian Gold. It contained the hits "Boy With the Beat", and "The Best Way (to Hold A Man)".


1990s


Ten ^{Ten Trooper (album)} , released in 1991, contained the regional hit "American Dream", and was the group's tenth studio album and Trooper's last album to date.

In 1996, Gogo ^{Gogo (Canadian musician)} became Trooper's keyboardist.
In 1998, Trooper guest starred on This Hour Has 22 Minutes' New Year's Special ^{This Hour Has 22 Minutes: News Year '98} . Their songs were also played in numerous episodes of 22 Minutes throughout the 8th season (2000-01).


2000s

In 2001, "Shot Spots", a Punk ^{Punk rock} tribute to Trooper, was released on Visionary Records. It contained 30 Trooper songs performed by 30 Canadian punk bands (D.O.A. ^{D.O.A. (band)} , SNFU, Dirty Bird, Dayglo Abortions and others) and an introduction by Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. As detailed in a four-page 2004 photo essay by Todd Korol in Macleans Magazine and a two-page 2005 Globe and Mail story by Peter Cheney, Trooper is still very active and popular as a touring band, performing as many as 100 shows a year across Canada.

In April 2006, Trooper singer and songwriter, Ra McGuire released his first book, published by Insomniac Press, Here For a Good Time – On the Road With Trooper, Canada's Legendary Rock Band.


2010 Onwards

2010 will see Trooper celebrating their 35th Anniversary - starting with their performance at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Victory Ceremony on February 21st, which was broadcast across Canada and the world on networks such as CTV ^{CTV Television Network} and MuchMusic. and carrying on with other major parties across the country all year long.
Trooper`s first official compilation album is being speculated for release on July 1st, 2010, celebrating the band`s 35th anniversary.
Studio Albums




Compilation Albums


At least one unauthorised compilation album has been released featuring Trooper`s hits. Trooper`s first official compilation album is being speculated for release on July 1st, 2010, celebrating the band`s 35th anniversary.




Singles

Chart positions compiled based on the highest position between the RPM 100 Singles ^{RPM Magazine} , The CBC and The Record ^{The Record (magazine)} charts, which all measured hit singles in Canada.
Current members

* Ra McGuire (vocals ^Singing )
* Brian Smith ^{Brian Smith (Canadian musician)} (Guitar)
* Gogo ^{Gogo (Canadian musician)} (keyboards ^{Keyboard instrument} )
* Scott Brown ^{Scott_Brown_(bassist)} (Bass ^{Bass guitar} )
* Clayton Hill ^{Clayton_Hill_(drummer)} (drums ^{Drum kit} )


Past members

* Tommy Stewart (Drums)
* Harry Kalensky (Bass)* Ronnie Baran (Drums)* John Dryden (Bass)* Richard Sera (Keyboards)* Aaron Anderson (Drums)* Blaine Smith (Keyboards)* Tony Ferraro (Drums)* Timothy B. Hewitt (Bass)* Lance Chalmers (Drums)
* Frankie Baker (Drums)