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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 · The twangy grandeur of Zal Yanovsky’s big guitar riff on the Lovin’ Spoonful’s You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice made it a Top 10 hit in the winter of 1965-’66. The track also caught the ear of Brian Wilson, inspiring him to write the Beach Boys classic, God Only Knows.
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...
In May 1966, Zal Yanovsky and Steve Boone of the American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful were arrested in San Francisco, California, for possessing one ounce (28 g) of marijuana. The Spoonful were at the height of their success, and Yanovsky, a Canadian, worried that a conviction would lead to his deportation and a breakup of the band.
- 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)Aug 17, 2011 · In the clutches of the Man, jacked up on herb, threatened with deportation to a third-world hellhole (Canada), Yanovsky narked on his dealer. The incident has been widely reported but carelessly...
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In 1964, Canadian-born Zalman Yanovsky was a member of the short-lived N.Y.-based Mugwumps with singer-songwriter Jim Hendricks, and Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot, who later became half of The Mamas and The Papas. Yanovsky and Sebastian met during recording sessions for The Mugwumps.
