Souled Out 

Nancy has had extensive background in radio voice over, television, and the stage. In her past, Nancy has performed in numerous musicals throughout the years and  on the boards of TUTS, Arts Club Theatre, and Playhouse theatre.

In years gone by when not performing in a musical Nancy sang and performed in bands. Nancy is a singer songwriter. Her musical contribution of original material can be heard out of the mouths of babes (her students) and her much loved musical group, Calamity Jane.

Nancy's passion for music, singing, and performing continues with her love of R&B and Souled Out.
 

First exposure to music was sax lessons as a young kid in the northern BC town of Fort St John where I grew up. Played baritone sax and then flute in the high school concert and jazz band (talk about both ends of the scale), then picked up a guitar somewhere around age 14 inspired by the likes of Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Jim Croce etc., leading to performing and writing in the singer/songwriter genre which is something I still do today.

 I moved down to Vancouver in the late 70’s to pursue a musical career, doing solo work around various pubs and at the same time studying voice and singing with the BC Boys Choir, where I was the tenor soloist. Soon after met Geoff Gibbons and formed Silverlode, and after completing a 6-month stint in Australia, came back to Vancouver to record our first EP which contained the song Sky High that was played on radio stations across Canada and received critical acclaim.    

We followed that up with a full-length album that won Best Independent Release at the West Coast Music Awards in 1983 among nominees such as the Payolas. This led to all kinds of great gigs, lots of touring, radio, and TV stuff like the Jimmy Ferguson Show and the Fame Game on CBC, regular appearances on CKVU’s The Vancouver Show, and a spot on the couch on The Alan Thicke Show. We also were invited to play some opening  sets for the likes of The Little River Band and Leo Sayer at the Orpheum, David Crosby, the McGarigle Sisters, Levon Helm and Rick Danko at the Commodore, Emmylou Harris at Expo Theatre – oh the memories!!!  It was great while it lasted. 

After that all died down I decided to start a day-job business, give the nightlife up and raise a family. It wasn’t too long, however, until I started to get the craving to play music again and so I found myself jamming with friends, which turned into a band, which turned into some gigs, which turned into some more gigs, etc. etc. I guess if music is in your blood you can’t step away for long and it has to be part of your life somehow. I even found myself joining a choir again to experience that big vocal harmony sound that you can’t get anywhere else.

 On a trip up north around 2005 I was jamming around a kitchen table after a party at about 4 in the morning with some friends, playing some old country covers and tossing in some stuff we had written here and there, and we had so much fun and liked the sound so much we decided we needed to make this a project – and so the country band Big Jim and the Twins were born. We wrote a bunch, and sang a bunch, and even managed to get on a McDonalds House tour of northern BC and Alberta with Gil Grand and Jake Mathews. After that successful tour we headed down to Nashville to record our first of 2 CD’s with Gil producing and some fine Nashville musicians backing us up, changing the name of the band to Deere John at this point, lest we offend any potential CD buyers who might think we didn’t have a guy named Jim and 2 bald guys representing twins in the band.  

 I have always had diverse musical tastes which led to my picking up many different instruments over the years and being involved in a wide variety of bands and projects ranging from folk to rock, pop, country, choral, whatever - I find redeeming qualities in it all. The one style that was under-represented in my porfolio was R&B, and so when I got a call from Derek asking if I would be interested in coming out to sing with the Souled Out band, I jumped at the chance!     

Chris has been brought his passion, energy and authenticity to stages for over forty years. He first made his mark in the late ’80s as a writer and performer with his band Court Jester, laying the foundation for a lifelong journey in music.

A founding member of the funk band Foundation, Chris continues to evolve as an artist and is currently reigniting his love of live performance with Souled Out, playing to enthusiastic crowds at venues across the Lower Mainland.

Beyond music, Chris is a seasoned and versatile actor with more than two decades of experience in Vancouver’s film and television industry. His impressive list of credits includes A Million Little Things, Under the Bridge, Animal Control, Valley of the Boom, Arrow, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, The Killing, Psych, Sucker Punch, The Good Wife, Bates Motel, and Ice.
 

Chris has also had the privilege of collaborating for 11 years as the backing guitarist and co-songwriter for Beverley Elliott, further showcasing his depth as a musician and creative partner.
 

Multi-instrumentalist Brenda Baird has been known to
wear many hats in any given week. You might find her
strumming a guitar and singing on the back of a wagon
at the Pumpkin Patch, hurrying home to inspire and
cultivate private students (or her garden!), glued to her computer whilst transcribing other people’s music or composing/arranging her own, or answering phones as a volunteer at
the Vancouver Crisis Centre. Holding a Bachelor of Music degree
(UBC), Brenda’ s musical endeavors have taken her to almost every
musical direction: from theatre, film, and television work, to big bands,
chamber music ensembles, concert reviewing, and 14 years with the
well-known all-women Vancouver jazz quartet, Mother of Pearl.
Brenda has toured with a variety of ensembles in Africa, France,
Japan and throughout North America.

tarted  playing drums at age 11 after 3 years of accordion. The early years of drumming included lessons, numerous basement and garage jam sessions in east and North Vancouver and a great mom who would  drive me and my drums everywhere.

Early  drummer influences  included Mick Fleetwood , Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, David Garibaldi and the great Buddy Rich. While at Van Tech high school I joined my bass playing  English teacher's band City Lights and that started a long run of gigs at legions, Cecil Green and UBC functions and various parties throughout Vancouver....not to mention a long and lasting friendship with my teacher Bill Davison who passed a few years back  and his guitarist  brother Joe who then took over my moms job and I still currently play with. (Thanks again Joe for all the rides.)   

After high school I started playing clubs throughout Vancouver and BC with various bands Slocan , Harbour, Fat Dad, John Mikl's, Bodyrock who then formed the band Thor and anything else Barry Samuels at Axis Entertainment booked us for. After putting the sticks down for a couple years of traveling around Europe and Sri Lanka I then had the opportunity to play with Coast.

This  band that would see once again a long and lasting friendship of great musicians coming and going and coming back again through many years. In this same period of time I also played with various singers James Knight, The Kirby Singers and a 3 year weekend house gig at Culpeppers Irish Bar with  Danny Burns and the Ballad Band.

After some time the band, Coast would transform with some new players in the mix into a  new group called  Dr D and the Soul Demons playing numerous convention and corporate gigs at all the major hotels in Vancouver for many years. I currently play with Souled Out and very fortunate to still play with a mix of some of my  long time buddies and some new ones now. My favourite buddy and long-time-retired-roadie is my wonderful wife, Bev who like most musician's wives have made countless sacrifices and given endless support so Ican play on the kit. We have two beautiful daughters, Miranda and Kendra who are big music lovers but  thankfully don't play the drums!...if you got this far thank you for reading. Steve-o.