Saint John singer-songwriter Ken Tobias remembered for immense talent and big heart

Saint John, N.B., born Ken Tobias, a singer and songwriter most known for hits like “Stay Awhile” and “Dream No.2”, passed away at the Saint John Regional Hospital on October 2 after a two month battle with brain cancer. Tobias was 79 years old.

During a career that spanned decades, Tobias saw a number of his songs crack the Canadian Billboard Charts. He took home a number of awards including PRO Canada’s 1988 Crystal Award and multiple SOCAN Classic awards for 100,000 plays of a song on the radio.

Later in life Tobias became a successful painter, with many of his works hanging in galleries around the country.

His career took him across the globe but Tobias eventually returned to Saint John to care for his aging mother, in the same home where he honed his musical skills alongside his family.

'Ken is a Dreamer'

Tobias’ brother and long-time manager Tony Tobias recalls the magic of hearing train whistles and radio stations from the U.S. when his family moved into their home on Saint John’s eastside in the 1950’s.

Their unique location on the Bay of Fundy drew Ken into music at a young age.

“In our family room, in our basement is where Ken started making his music,” said Tony. “Eventually Ken and a couple of others started a little folk group just to play around called ‘the Ramblers.’”

The small group began by playing at local high schools and quickly became popular in the Port City and across the Maritimes. The group would perform at various festivals and events, where Tobias would continue to hone his craft.

One of the earliest “big breaks” came for Tobias when he joined the TV series Singalong Jubilee when it was filmed in Halifax during the 1960’s. Eventually he was performing duets alongside another well known maritime singer, Anne Murray.

“It's interesting because Ken has a higher vocal range than Anne actually,” said Tony. “And so Anne would sing the lower range and Ken would sing the higher range.”

While many will remember Tobias for his singing and musical talents, Tony says it was his ability to write that made him stand out.

“People talk about in songwriting now, oh that person is a topliner,” said Tony, referring to a popular songwriting technique. “Ken has always been a topliner. He knows how to write hooks, he knows how to write melodies, and he often launches a song with an opening that you go, what? Because it's the beginning of a story.”

That talent would lead Tobias to Hollywood in the early 1970’s where his first record “You’re Not Even Going to the Fair” was produced by the Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley.

One of Tobias’ most well-known works “Stay Awhile” became a worldwide hit thanks to the rendition recorded by the Montreal-based soft rock band, The Bells. It sold over four million copies and reached number seven on the Billboard Magazine charts.

During the success of that song Tony started to really understand the music business.

“I hear that there's some things called royalties,” Tony said. “So I pick up the phone and I call BMI Canada, where Ken had signed and I talked to one of the people there and said ‘do you think, we could get a little bit of advance? We need some money.’

“They said how much are you thinking about? I said Stay Awhile is happening on the radio so I said you think you could spare 300 bucks? They said we will see what we can do. A week later, we get an envelope from BMI Canada and it's addressed to Ken… we opened it up for $3,000 and I went there's more to this game than meets the eye. So I dove right into learning music publishing.”

Tobias would soon after record his first album “Tobias/Dream No.2” produced by Michael Lloyd for MGM/Verve at MGM Studios in Los Angeles. Dream No.2 became a hit in Canada during the 1970’s.

Tobias’ musical talents and songwriting skills would be featured in various TV shows and movies including in The Bionic Woman, and A Silver Saddle.

His career brought him face to face (or microphone to microphone) with various stars in the industry, many of whom would have a great appreciation for Tobias’ talents.

“We talked about adventures from this little house (in Saint John), listening to that train and then going to Hollywood, and then we end up in London, England,” Tony said. “Who's recording in the next studio to us is George Martin and Paul McCartney doing the soundtrack to Live and Let Die, and Paul would pop over and make a nod to Ken, say, ‘is that you?’”

Tobias sold hundreds of paintings when he started a second successful career as a visual artist. Today his work adorns the walls or art galleries across the country.

Ken Tobias is pictured admiring a number of his paintings at an art gallery.

Outside of his artistic highlights, Tony talked about who his brother was away from the microphone.

“I remember in Montreal where this young girl was playing music but she was borrowing guitars,” said Tobias. “And he gave her his guitar. There are all these stories around where he did things for people.

“It started here in the wonderful Maritimes and it came full circle to where this is where he ended up. He was still doing his craft, doing his work, right up to the end.”

For fans who will miss Tobias most for his music, Tony says there are over 30 new unreleased songs recorded by his brother before his passing, that he plans to release over time.

“He was a great musician, a great songwriter, a great craftsman,” Tony said. “But as a human being, he was a great guy.”

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