Person

Doug and the Slugs

1977-

Doug and the Slugs are a Canadian pop music group formed in 1977 in Vancouver by Toronto-born Doug Bennett, who had been a graphic designer in his home town before moving to British Columbia in the mid-1970s. Bennett served as the band's chief songwriter, frontman, and lead singer. After some turnover amongst Slugs in the early months, the lineup stabilized by 1978, and for the entirety of their recording career (1978–1992), Doug and the Slugs consisted of lead vocalist Doug Bennett, guitarists Richard Baker and John Burton, keyboardist Simon Kendall, bassist Steve Bosley, and drummer John "Wally" Watson. Doug and the Slugs also put on an annual outdoor dance festival known as "Slugfest." The band founded their own record label, Ritdong Records, and worked out a distribution deal with RCA Records for their recordings. The band enjoyed a number of Canadian top 40 hits in the 1980s, most notably "Too Bad" (1980), "Who Knows How To Make Love Stay" (1982), "Making It Work" (1983), and "Tomcat Prowl" (1988). The song "Too Bad" served as the theme song for the 1999-2001 ABC sitcom The Norm Show, starring Norm Macdonald. Most of the Slugs left the band after 1992, although Kendall stayed until 1994, but namesake Doug Bennett continued touring with different musicians under the same name until his death from liver cirrhosis in 2004. After a gap of several years, the original Slugs (Baker, Bosley, Burton, Kendall, and Watson) reunited in 2009 and invited singer Ted Okos to be their new frontman. The group still performs live dates as Doug & The Slugs.

Vancouver

Pop band

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Catalogued February 2022.

1) Archival material
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_and_the_Slugs
3) https://dougandtheslugs.ca/
4) https://www.discogs.com/artist/950471-Doug-And-The-Slugs