Merryweather

Merryweather was a late 1960s Canadian rock band that relocated to California in the autumn of 1968 and recorded for Capitol Records. The band was led by singer/bass player Neil Merryweather and most of the band subsequently formed Salt 'N' Pepper with Rick James (Not to be confused with the later 80's/90's band of the same name). Early years After leaving Bruce Cockburn’s group, The Flying Circus in March 1968, Neil Lillie (born in Winnipeg on December 27, 1945) reunited with keyboard player Ed Roth (born in Toronto on February 16, 1947) and singer Jimmy Livingstone (born in Toronto on February 28, 1938) to form a new band. They had worked together previously in The Just Us, The Tripp and Livingstone’s Tripp (which Roth and Livingston had renamed Livingstone’s Journey following Lillie's departure to join Rick James briefly in the final version of The Mynah Byrds in May 1967). Adding guitarist David Kindred and drummer Gary Hall, the new group, initially called New King Boiler, began rehearsing in Lillie’s grandmother’s basement in May 1968. Kindred was quickly replaced by ex-Fraser Loveman Group guitarist Dave Burt (born in Hamilton, Ontario on September 19, 1948). (Apparently, Gary Hall drank so much coffee that Lillie's grandmother called him ‘Coffee’, and the band started to call him ‘Coffi’.) Signs to Capitol Records Renamed Heather Merryweather after a song the band performed whose lyrics were written by a band friend, June Nelson, the group soon shortened it to simply 'Merryweather'. After recording a lone unreleased track "Heather Merryweather" in the autumn, the band drove down to Los Angeles but Livingstone dropped out before the band signed to Capitol Records in the spring of 1968.