L-R:
David Deane, Chaz Perreault, Al Simmons,
Mick Lazar, John Kemp
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Al Simmons, legendary
children's performer, was born September
5, 1948 in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada. He got his first big break
while performing as lead singer with the
band, Out to Lunch.
In 1971, Simmons placed an ad in the
newspaper reading “vocalist looking for
band.” He was contacted by Bob
Peters, lead guitarist of the rock outfit
Just Us Three. Shortly after landing
the job, Simmons made his debut with “Just
Us Three and Me” at the Champs Plaza Hotel
on Osborne Street (later the Zoo — the
Osborne Village Inn), when Dianne
Heatherington and the Merry-Go-Round — the
most popular bar band in Winnipeg at the
time — pulled out at the last minute.
Given the vast experience Simmons gained
during the year he was winning one talent
contest after another, the gig was a
runaway success, right? Wrong.
“The crowd hated us, and when I say ‘us,’
I mean me, in particular,” he says,
pointing out while his bandmates had long
hair and dressed “like hippies,” his own
coif was still demonstrably short.
Also, because he didn’t possess any “cool
clothes,” he stepped on stage wearing the
same suit he donned during his days at
Manitoba Hydro.
“At one point I asked if anybody had any
requests. You know how your Free
Press colleague Doug Speirs writes,
‘insert bad word here’ instead of spelling
out cuss words? Well, that’s all it
was: a whole bunch of ‘insert bad word
heres’ being directed squarely back at me,
from members of the audience.”
Despite that inauspicious start, Simmons
continued as the band’s lead singer — they
eventually changed their name to Out to
Lunch — for close to a year. Soon,
he was introducing props to his
repertoire, brandishing an umbrella, for
example, whenever he broke into the line
“And I believe I’m going to rain,” while
covering Paul McCartney’s smash hit, Uncle
Albert / Admiral Halsey.
David Sanderson
Excerpt from AL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
As published in the Winnipeg Free Press
April 6, 2018
Al Simmons made several guest appearances
on Fred Penner’s Place and Sesame
Street. He won the Juno-award for
Best Children's Album in 1996 for the
album Celery Stalks, an ode to
vaudeville and was a 2012 recipient of the
Order of Manitoba.
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