Rock and roll and R&B on Yonge Street, 1961-1965

With a growing youth audience in the early 1960s, rock and roll bands like Little Caesar and the Consuls and Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights made serious inroads as homegrown Canadian rockers. Ronnie Hawkins’ 1961-1964 version of the Hawks were influential and went on to become The Band. Robbie Lane and the Disciples became Hawkins’ next band and would be a reliable television presence on the teen-oriented programmes that emerged after 1963. David Clayton-Thomas and the Shays brought raw blues to the Yonge Street strip and Clayton-Thomas would find success stateside with Blood, Sweat and Tears. The pioneering transgender soul singer Jackie Shane electrified Toronto nightclubs.