Toronto, Canada (Top40 Charts/ Prism Records) - RHONDA SILVER performs at the piano every week, WEDNESDAYS at 8 PM and THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS at 8:30 PM at LA CASTILE, 2179 DUNDAS ST. E., in MISSISSAUGA. Admission and parking are free but seating is limited. Reservations are recommended. Call 905 625 1137. www.lacastile.com.
Recently, RHONDA SILVER has been satisfying crowds with favorites from her repertoire and songs from her new album, Twelve Pieces of Silver, as the exclusive entertainer at one of the GTA's finest restaurants and traditional-style piano bars, La Castile.
Her new album 'Twelve Pieces of Silver', is an alchemist's dream of veritable Canadian jazz and blues giants. DOUG RILEY plays piano and organ, JEFF HEALEY and REG SCHWAGER, guitars, DON THOMPSON and GLENN OLIVE, bass, and TERRY CLARKE and JORN ANDERSON play drums with PHIL DWYER, GUIDO BASSO, STEVE McDADE and RUSS LITTLE on horns. Recorded at METALWORKS STUDIO, mastered by NICK BLAGONA the exceptional cast lends a rare substance and style to the dozen Rhonda Silver/BILL BASSAKYROS compositions.
Silver started singing at 6, in talent shows across Southern Ontario and by age 9, she was a regular feature on radio and television shows. She signed her first contract with Barry Records in Nashville and before she'd become a teenager she'd recorded her own material and worked with The Anita Kerr Singers and Boots Randolph, among others.
At 15, she secured a spot in a group CBC formed to cover songs of the day and back guests on the daily after school Music Hop, hosted by Alex Trebek. The Girlfriends were a hit, recording for MGM Records in New York when a similarly-named group saw them change to The Willows and score big with 'My Kinda Guy'.
When The Willows opened several Canadian shows for The Beach Boys, an enamored Mike Love's introduction of Rhonda to group leader Dennis Wilson backstage at Maple Leaf Gardens generated the remark that she would be 'our Rhonda'. Later, when her high school buddies heard 'Help Me, Rhonda' on the radio, they were certain she was THE Rhonda! 'The Lady did not protest too much!' says Silver with a mischievous smile. Just before turning 18, the group sang their first national commercial for a popular teen beauty treatment, starting a long-term relationship between Rhonda and advertisers of every kind of product in North America.
She met Doug Riley on the set of a TV show and he taught her to play the piano, recruiting her for a group he was putting together for yet another show. Rhonda became a charter member of Dr. Music. With Dianne Brooks, Steve Kennedy, Trudy Desmond, Terry Black, and Brenda Russell, among others, and for two years they performed regularly on TV with artists like Jerry Reed, Mama Cass, Lulu, Steve Martin, Mel Torme, Dusty Springfield and BB King. She also met and became close friends with Alan Thicke, who would help her out later in Hollywood, and Gilda Radner, who was in Toronto playing in the original Godspell, and Riley hired her to sing on the soundtrack of Ivan Reitman's first film, Foxy Lady. When Dr. Music disbanded, Rhonda held court at Toronto's Mr. Tony's Nightclub before heading to Miami for an audition that stretched into a year-long stint at world renowned Joe Rico's jazz club in Coral Gables. Then it was off to Vancouver for more TV and commercials and more piano and song at the infamous Cave.
In the early '80s, she followed a dream to California where late night TV was a natural as were regular gigs at the Bonaventure Hotel and the Century Plaza. In 1985, she was lured back to Canada to headline a revue at the Deerhurst Inn and Resort and establish a presence in their piano bar. Before long, she and Mike Degazio, backed by the management of Deerhurst, signed a contract with A&M Records as Silver & Degazio and enjoyed success in Canadian country radio. During this time, she helped an aspiring singer named Eileen Twain secure work in the show where they sang side by side for two years.
In 1991 she, Marc Connors and Claude Morrison wrote and recorded a song with lifelong friend and early Aids victim Allan Greenspoon called 'The Human Family'. The song was never heard and the video never seen until now, years later where it is available on Rhonda's website. The Human Family, which included Dan Hill, Shania Twain, Alfie Zappacosta, Salome Bey, Veronique Belleveau, Molly Johnson and Deborah Cox, will finally have its chance to contribute to the cause.
She continued to appear in many clubs including The Fifth Quarter and Tootsie's in Nashville and the Guild Inn in Toronto. Of late, she's been drawing capacity crowds at La Castile. Rhonda, familiar to millions of Canadians for more than a decade as the original 'keep them guessing' girl for Oil of Olay, leaves no room nor reason for guessing with 'Twelve Pieces of Silver', available on Prism Records, distributed by Fontana North and Universal Music Canada.
