APRIL WINE’s MYLES GOODWYN Dead At 75

Myles Goodwyn, singer, guitarist, writer, producer and leader of the multi-platinum-selling rock band APRIL WINE, died earlier today (Sunday, December 3) at the age of 75. No cause of death has been revealed. The family asks for privacy.

Goodwyn shaped and directed APRIL WINE from its earliest beginnings.

APRIL WINE has sold over 10 million recordings worldwide.

Goodwyn‘s voice is as distinctive and immediately recognizable as his songwriting skills are prolific.

Myles and the other members of APRIL WINE were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 2010.

Goodwyn received the prestigious East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and the SOCAN National Achievement Award in 2002. In 2016 he released his memoir named “Just Between You And Me”, which became an instant best seller on the Globe And Mail‘s Non-Fiction List. His second book, “Elvis And Tiger” (fiction),was published in 2018 and was also very well received.

Back in 2016, Goodwyn told the Montreal Gazette that he wrote his autobiography first and foremost for his three grown-up children.

“I wrote the book for my children because I was either in the recording studio or on the road (when they were growing up),” he said. “So I wasn’t the kind of dad who left in the morning and came back at the end of the day. I missed all that normal stuff by being so involved in my livelihood. I wanted them to know their dad. I wanted them to know what happened, what I’d been through, where I’d been. So this book gives them the opportunity to know all those things.

“The other reason I wrote it is because I wanted the fans to know what went on with APRIL WINE, because I never said anything. I kept it to myself. … I liked the high road. And I heard so many things about why [drummer Jerry] Mercer left or why [Jimmy, David and Ritchie] Henman left. Or, ‘Why did you guys not break sooner?’ I heard all kinds of stories, so I said it’s time for the truth. It’s time to set the record straight.”

The “Myles Goodwyn And Friends Of The Blues” recording released in 2018 earned international acclaim and a Juno nomination for “Blues Recording Of The Year” in 2019. The recording won the ECMA award for “Blues Recording Of The Year” in 2019. His follow-up blues recording that year, “Myles Goodwyn And Friends Of The Blues 2”, won in the same category in 2020.

In 2008, Goodwyn nearly died after years of alcohol abuse and was hospitalized after he collapsed on his way to a Quebec airport due to internal bleeding.

Myles left APRIL WINE for live performances earlier this year, and continued to perform live with his acoustic trio which included him, Jim Henman and Bruce Dixon until recently.

Goodwyn told CBC earlier this year that he wasn’t ready to truly retire.

“I still don’t want to give all that up,” he said. “I can’t imagine the day when I don’t do these things.”

Press photo courtesy of That Eric Alper