Streetheart frontman Shields dies

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This article was published 20/07/2017 (2483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kenny Shields, who led the Winnipeg rock group Streetheart for four decades, died Friday morning after undergoing cardiac surgery.

Streetheart bandmate Jeff Neill announced the news early Friday with a post on his Facebook account. 

“It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce that our dear friend and bandmate Kenny Shields has passed away quietly and peacefully early this morning at the St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg,” Neill wrote, adding that Shields’ wife Elena, daughter Julia and sister Sharlene were by his side. 

“I loved him as a friend and as a special performer,” says Howard Mandshein, a friend and fan of Shields who works at CITI-FM in Winnipeg. “Kenny was a performer. Kenny owned the stage. He could give lessons on how to work the stage. Just flawless.”

Shields and Streetheart performed June 29 on the opening night of Dauphin’s Countryfest, which was part of Streetheart’s planned 40th anniversary tour. He fell ill during a Canada Day show in Sherwood Park, Alta., and on July 5 Streetheart announced it would have to cancel the rest of its summer concert dates. 

His final outdoor concert was initially going to be at the Winnipeg Classic RockFest at Shaw Park on Aug. 29 along with Honeymoon Suite, Harlequin, the Pumps and Orphan. Plans were in the works for Streetheart to call it a career on New Year’s Eve at Club Regent Event Centre, says Mandshein, but when Shields’ health worsened earlier this week, a press release said the Shaw Park concert would be dedicated to the singer.

“When we got the news that Kenny Shields was too ill to perform we could have gotten another band, but we really wanted to make this happen for Kenny,” Winnipeg Goldeyes owner Sam Katz, the promoter of Winnipeg Classic RockFest, says in a release.

“Kenny was so looking forward to performing for his fans in Winnipeg where Streetheart first began, so this special tribute will be a way to still make it happen and provide an opportunity for Winnipeg to honour and thank Kenny for all the great music memories he’s given to us all over the last 40 years, he deserves this.”

Juno Award-winner, Western Canadian Music Hall of Famer

Streetheart released its first album, Meanwhile Back in Paris, in 1978, which included the hit Action. Mandshein says it’s “one for the ages.”

“Meanwhile Back in Paris was the best debut record I’d ever heard,” Mandshein says. “Action sounds as good today as it did back in the day. They were such a good unit.”

The group’s second album, Under Heaven Over Hell, included their hits Hollywood and their version of Van Morrison’s Here Comes the Night. Another cover, the Rolling Stones’ Under My Thumb, reached gold status in 1979.

“Kenny was a performer. Kenny owned the stage. He could give lessons on how to work the stage. Just flawless.”–Howard Mandshein

Shields was born and raised in the small farming community of Nokomis, Sask., where his knack for playing music started taking shape around the time he enrolled in an amateur talent show at six years old. He moved to Saskatoon to attend university where he joined local band Witness Incorporated.

Shields began travelling Canada with the band, touring with legendary acts like Roy Orbison and Cream; but his career was sidetracked in 1970 following an automobile accident that left him critically injured.

After the dissolution of his first band, Shields moved to Winnipeg in 1975 to return his focus to music. He teamed up with another group from his home province, and in the years that followed, they would shuffle band members to eventually become Streetheart.

The band would record six studio albums and a double-disc live album, garnering six gold albums, four platinum albums, a gold single among its achievements.

Streetheart also brought home a Juno Award for most promising group of the year in 1980.

The band was inducted into the Western Canadian Music Association Hall of Fame in 2003.

”I never really ever aspired to be in anything like this,” Shields said during the ceremony. “I never would have planned it.”

 

With files from The Canadian Press