Category Archives: Burlington

The 5 Rising Sons

5 Rising Sons Photo Burlington Central H.S. circa 1965
The 5 Rising Sons at Burlington Central H.S. circa 1965

Five Rising Sons Columbia PS Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore

The 5 Rising Sons came from Burlington, Ontario. Members were:

Ron Canning lead guitar
Mike Kotur guitar
Pete Davidson organ and vocals
Dave Best on bass
Robin McMillan on drums.

5 Rising Sons Columbia 45 She Just Likes MeBruce Ley later joined the group on organ and bass.

“Annie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” is the catchy pop A-side. I like the flip even more, the fine downer ballad “She Just Likes Me” was written by John Sharpe. It’s the ultimate teen complaint – I love her but … she just likes me! This was released in 1966.

They have a second on Columbia (“Land of 1,000 Dances” / “Don’t Look Away”) that I haven’t heard and another as the Willapus Wallapus on Yorkville, the interesting psychedelic pop number “To Jone”.

They played the Toronto Sound Show at Maple Leaf Gardens sponsored by CHUM in ’66 and toured with Terry Black in ’67.

 The 5 Rising Sons at Canada’s largest Ford dealership on Bay Street, 1965
The 5 Rising Sons at Canada’s largest Ford dealership on Bay Street, 1965

5 Rising Sons Photo

Robin McMillan of the Rising Sons
Robin McMillan of the Rising Sons
Drummer Robin McMillan sent photos and wrote to me about the band:

We all went to different schools in Burlington and played the Hamilton and Burlington areas for approx. one year. My dad was the sales manager of Elgin Ford on Bay Street in Toronto and he had a three day extravaganza at the dealership in Toronto for the new Mustang, hot rods, dragsters and lots of other fast cars from Ford. He hired us to play all the music in the afternoons for the Friday, Saturday and special Sunday shows as well and bought a lot of commercial time on CHUM, CFRB and all the major newspapers and included us in all the ads.

 5 Rising Sons at CHUM's Toronto Sound Show, 1966
5 Rising Sons at CHUM’s Toronto Sound Show, 1966
Before you knew it there were over 30,000 people at the shows and of course to see the cars and we didn’t look back. We got bookings from all over.

With all the hype we were invited to make a couple of records which helped up quickly up the ladder from a local Burlington group to huge jobs in Toronto … the Hawks Nest, Club 888 and many others, and one of the thirteen bands CHUM picked to play at Maple Leaf Gardens.

“Annie” was in the top ten in Winnipeg, the Maritimes and CFOX in Montreal as well as CKOC, CKPC and tons more stations in Canada and played although not charted on CHUM.

Bruce joined the group the day after the Toronto Sound Show in Sept 1966. Peter on organ left to go to college in London but still kept in touch with us.

We recorded under the name of Willapuss Wallapuss just for the fun of it. Yorkville’s idea because we were a very young group and they thought it was cute I guess but it got play. “To Jone” written by Bruce Lee, who actually has done quite well writing songs for kids TV shows. Actually her name is Joan but spelled Jone don’t ask me why.

Another 45 by the Five Rising Sons on Amy (“Talk to Me Baby” / “Try to Be a Man”) is a different band, being a Shel Talmy production. The US Columbia 45 of “Candy Man” / “The Devil’s Got My Woman” by the Rising Sons is no relation to this band.

Robin McMillan and Ron Canning of the 5 Rising Sons with Mick Jagger
Robin McMillan and Ron Canning of the 5 Rising Sons with Mick Jagger

Update: Robin McMillan writes in to say that on Friday, August 21, 2015 the 5 Rising Sons will have a reunion for one night only. For more information check out the Facebook page for the group.

Sources: Thank you to Ivan Amirault for the sleeve scan, promo sheet and photos of the band on the van and at the Toronto Sound Show, and also for correcting the mistakes in another source, The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Special thanks to Robin McMillan for the photos and info about the group, and the Willapus Wallapus 45 scan and transfer.

The 5 Rising Sons at Elgin Ford on Bay Street, 1965
The 5 Rising Sons at Elgin Ford on Bay Street, 1965 in foreground with glasses: Brenda Gordon from Burlington who became the successful singer Brenda Russell


5 Rising Sons article
Part of a 3 page article written in a Canada-wide Ford Magazine
CHUM Toronto Sound Show, Billboard, Octobe 15, 1967
CHUM Toronto Sound Show, Billboard, Octobe 15, 1967
 RPM, June 6, 1966
RPM, June 6, 1966