Yet another of Canada's blues icons has left us.  Tony Flaim, former vocalist for the Downchild Blues Band, died peacefully in his sleep on March 10, 2000.

Tony joined Downchild in 1975, taking over from the departing Hock Walsh.  He stayed with them for eight years, in the process lending his powerful pipes to five albums.  Though there were always "comings and goings" within the band (estimates put the total membership through the years at over 120!), the mid-eighties proved a particularly turbulent period.  Tony left in '82 to front "Tony Flaim & The Dukes," who soon became a fixture at Toronto's venerable Jarvis House.  He also worked with the Cameo Blues Band and put some time in as the original lead singer of Fathead before drifting back into the Downchild fold in '86.  He lasted two years this time - long enough to cut the band's

"comeback" disc, 'Been So Long', which featured a duet between Tony and Chuck Jackson - who'd become his replacement when, again, he moved on.

Though he hadn't been performing regularly in recent years, Tony's surprise appearance with the Big Daddy G band during the Hock Walsh Tribute in January proved one of the highlights of the evening.  He was in fabulous form; friends who'd known him for years said he'd never sounded better. 

Dave Glover (Big Daddy G) immediately recruited Tony to sing a few tunes on his next recording; unfortunately, those sessions never got beyond the pre-production stage, and some of the masters were subsequently scratched.  Dave's hoping at least one track will be salvageable, and if so it'll be included when the disc is released later this year.  One hopes so . . . Tony's voice had lost none of it's power, and he still brought an unbridled, infectious enthusiasm to everything he sang.

Indeed, everyone who knew "TF" remembers his energy; he lived life to the fullest, and brought the same exuberance to his music.  Yet he was so much more than just a "shouter"; blessed with impeccable phrasing, he had an instinctive knack for working a lyric, wringing out every nuance, even at full, room-shaking volume.