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Zalman Yanovsky (December 19, 1944 – December 13, 2002) was a Canadian folk-rock musician and restaurateur. Born in Toronto, he was the son of political cartoonist Avrom Yanovsky and teacher Nechama Yanovsky (née Gemeril), who died in 1958.
Jul 11, 2023 · Between 1965 and ’66, the Lovin’ Spoonful landed no fewer than seven tracks in the Top 10. The first of these, Do You Believe in Magic, exemplifies what was always the most prominent influence within Yanovsky’s eclectic rootsy style – Chet Atkins-inspired country picking.
- Early Life
- Early Career
- The Lovin’ Spoonful
- Breakup of The Band
- Career After The Lovin’ Spoonful
- Noted Restauranteur
- Honours
Zal Yanovsky was the child of Eastern European immigrants. His Ukrainian father, Avrom Yanovsky, was a political cartoonist for the Communist Party of Canada’s Canadian Tribune newspaper. Zal’s mother, Nechama Yanovsky (née Gemeril), was Polish and worked as a teacher. She was also regarded as one of Toronto’s foremost experts in Yiddish. (See Jewi...
After meeting Denny Doherty, Yanovsky was invited to join the folk trio he played in, The Halifax Three. They changed their name to The Halifax Three Plus One. The group released a pair of albums with Epic Records and toured as part of the “Original Hootenanny USA” with The Journeyman before breaking up in late 1963. Yanovsky then had a brief stint...
When The Mugwumps broke up in 1965, Elliot and Doherty formed The Mamas and the Papas. Yanovsky stayed in New York City and hooked up with a trio of Greenwich Village musicians: singer, songwriter and harmonica player John Sebastian; bassist Steve Boone and drummer Joe Butler. The folk-rock and bluesband the Lovin’ Spoonful (named after a line in t...
In 1966, Yanovsky and bassist Steve Boone were arrested in San Francisco for marijuana possession. As part of a deal to avoid prosecution and deportation, Yanovsky named his supplier. This resulted in a lot of negative press and a fierce backlash from the counterculture, who now saw Yanovsky as a snitch. At the same time, Yanovsky grew increasingly...
In 1968, Yanovsky released a solo record of psychedelic folk-rock, Alive and Well in Argentina, which went nowhere. In 1969, Yanovsky co-produced Tim Buckley’s Happy Sad. For a brief period in 1970, he joined Kris Kristofferson’s band as lead guitarist for a European tour that included a performance at the famed counterculture Isle of Wight Festiva...
Hounded by the counterculture and disenchanted with the music business, Yanovsky returned to Canada and eventually switched careers. In 1979, with his second wife, Rose Richardson, Yanovsky opened a restaurant in a restored 19th-century limestone livery stable in Kingston, Ontario, called Chez Piggy. In 1991, Yanovksy and Richardson published The C...
Inductee, Canadian Music Hall of Fame(1996)Inductee (The Lovin’ Spoonful), Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2000)Inductee (The Lovin’ Spoonful), Vocal Group Hall of Fame (2006)Jul 7, 2022 · But much of the musical magic onstage and in the studio was actually provided by Zalman “Zal” Yanovsky, a Canadian Jew of Russian-Polish extraction who also happened to be the Spoonful’s...
Dec 12, 2020 · Zal Yanovsky may be the unlikeliest candidate for success ever to emerge from Toronto’s music scene. Before he joined Denny Doherty in the Halifax Three and headed south to serious Sixties fame in the Lovin’ Spoonful, Yanovsky was broke and scuffling around Yorkville and the Annex, learning to play guitar and stealing milk off front porches ...
Zalman ‘Zal’ Yanovsky was a founder-member of The Lovin’ Spoonful, one of the best-loved, most fondly-recalled of North American pop bands of the mid-1960s. As their lead guitarist, he added deft musical colourations to their sound, being able to effortlessly jump styles.
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ZAL YANOVSKY (1944 - 2002) Alive and well in Argentina at last. The mirth, the music, the magic of Zalman Yanovsky. Zal Yanovsky, guitarist for the Lovin' Spoonful [Summer in The City] died of a heart attack Dec 13, 2002. He was 57.
