Attended mostly by industry peers and family (tickets were available to the public), each songwriter was celebrated in a half-hour segment that included a congratulatory video from esteemed peers, a performance or two of their songs by an emerging or established younger artist, and the induction by a specially chosen individual.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nGINO VANNELLI<\/strong><\/p>\n At the top of the two-and-a-half hour show, a career retrospective video was shown about each of the inductees, then Montrealers Clerel and R\u00caVE kicked off the night with a duet of Vannelli\u2019s 1981 ballad \u201cLiving Inside Myself,\u201d backed by the house band, led by Lou Pomanti, the CSHF\u2019s musical director for the past decade. It signalled the first inductee of the five.<\/p>\n Tara Slone \u2014 formerly of Juno-nominated rock band Joydrop and now a hockey and entertainment reporter \u2014 then came out to emcee the evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Juno and American Music Awards winner Alfie Zappacosta then sang Vannelli\u2019s first chart hit, 1974\u2019s \u201cPeople Gotta Move\u201d and the tribute video included words of praise from the likes of Michael Bubl\u00e9, Herb Albert and Burton Cummings.<\/p>\n Frank Davies, the Canadian music publishing veteran who founded the CSHF, then did the honours of inducting him.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his acceptance speech, the 73-year-old Vannelli talked about how he worked at songwriting, \u201csearching for the\u00a0elusive formula, the\u00a0unpatented, captivating melody\u00a0and lyric we all instinctively\u00a0sense is special, but are at a loss\u00a0to find any better description to them\u00a0than a good song.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also offered advice to young songwriters. \u201cFirstly, become a sort\u00a0of musicologist.\u00a0Study the best. Investigate the best.\u00a0The ones who started it all.\u00a0Try to learn what made the best the best\u00a0of what they did,\u201d before rattling off a long list from Beethoven to Rodgers and Hammerstein \u201cto\u00a0the great Canadian songbook\u00a0with the likes of Leonard, Joni, Gordon\u00a0and many more.\u201d<\/p>\n IAN THOMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n Next up was Ian Thomas\u2019 induction, whose songs have been covered by everyone from America to Bette Midler. Winnipeg\u2019s Noah Dirksen and Toronto\u2019s Sam Drysdale then sang 1973\u2019s classic \u201cPainted Ladies\u201d before the tribute video played with congratulatory messages that included his brother, comedian and actor Dave Thomas. Then, another Canadian songwriting legend Murray McLauchlan came out to induct him. The pair have had a side group, Lunch At Allen\u2019s, with fellow songwriters Cindy Church and Marc Jordan, for the past 25 years, which is coming to an end.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a writer of songs, Ian is the polar opposite of the classic country trope, three chords and the truth. He might be better described as 25 chords and where the hell is he going with this? Truthfully though, Ian is an amazing writer and his pedigree is ample proof. The people who have covered his work are a virtual who\u2019s who of stars,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut I have to say, some of his best work and some of my favourite songs are the ones he has created as part of \u2026 Lunch at Allen\u2019s\u2026We\u2019ve made some great music together and I have marveled at his incredible talent.\u201d<\/p>\n When Thomas, 75, came up to accept the award, he praised the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for selecting such a varied group of Canadian songwriters and lamented the days when AM radio played everything from Dave Brubeck to the Stones to Johnny Cash. \u201cIt was completely inspiring,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have loved where song composition takes me. It\u2019s a basic extension of human sentience. Stamped into our DNA is a desire to express ourselves\u2026What a journey this has been. I wrote my first song at 15 and I was lost in it. I looked up and three or four hours had passed. Where I had been was this abyss of possibility. And the song wasn\u2019t so hot, but the experience of writing it was.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been writing songs now for 60 years.\u00a0 And from that sense of well-being comes the notion I could do anything. And so I kept it solid. And it just kept opening doors for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, a cool surprise, after playing an old video of Thomas, Emmett and Pomanti, the three performed \u201cRight Before Your Eyes,\u201d aka \u201cRudolph Valentino,\u201d together \u2014 some 40 years later.<\/p>\n ANDY KIM<\/strong><\/p>\n It was Andy Kim\u2019s turn next. Juno winners Kirk Diamond and Kairo McLean performed a unique reggae version of his smash \u201cSugar, Sugar,\u201d the song popularized by the Archies and also covered by Tina Turner, Gladys Knight, and Bob Marley. His tribute video included praise from Brian McKnight, Tony Orlando, Nile Rodgers and Sam Roberts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Barenaked Ladies\u2019 Ed Robertson then appeared on stage to induct him, recalling a story from 1995 when the pop group was paired with the legend at Kumbaya Festival in Toronto to sing his 1974 hit \u201cRock Me Gently\u201d and was extremely earnest, to say the least, imitating his vocals and moves during their first rehearsal (\u201cI was frightened; I was excited, and I was deeply in love\u201d). The two went on to work together, with Robertson co-writing and producing his 2004 top 10 comeback single, \u201cI Forgot To Mention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many songwriters in this room. You know that writing something that sounds simple is not an easy thing,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cYou take basic ingredients, and you make something catchy, memorable, transcendent. I am so proud to be asked to do this induction because I love you. I love your songs. I love what you\u2019ve brought to the Canadian songbook, to the world songbook. There\u2019s not too many people that have written things that everybody on the planet knows.\u201d<\/p>\n To help celebrate Kim further, Robertson said, he brought out Broken Social Scene founder Kevin Drew, who co-wrote and co-produced Kim\u2019s 2015 album, It\u2019s Decided. Drew and Robertson then performed his No. 1 single \u201cRock Me Gently,\u201d with Robertson jokingly imitating his moves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kim, who often gets emotional, then gave his speech, talking about the lyric he had asked the CSHF to inscribe on the award: \u201cshady hollow dreamer\u201d \u2013 the title of a song on his 1973 self-titled album \u2014 reciting the opening lyrics. Then thanking Robertson and Kim for their \u201clove and inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMichelangelo said I saw the angel in the marble and carved them \u2018til I set it free,\u201d he said, telling briefly how he boarded a bus for New York City with $40 on \u201ca quest to find songwriters and producers that filled my transistor radio and my heart with the magic of a world only dreams are made of, and here I am, old and honoured to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll I ever wanted to do was write songs, make records and travel the world, live a life that\u2019s bigger than my reality. A guitar and a song, that\u2019s all I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a brief break to play two videos, one on the National Music Centre (NMC), Canada\u2019s version of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, mentioning that the inductees received their Hall of Fame plaques at a pre-show reception that will be on display forever at the NMC; the other spotlighting Palestinian-Canadian artist Nemahsis, winner of the Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year award, which \u201ccelebrates emerging artists and songwriters we hope to see standing on this very stage in the years to come,\u201d Slone said.<\/p>\n JANE SIBERRY<\/strong><\/p>\n Now it was time for the night\u2019s only female inductee to get her flowers. Her tribute video included props from Peter Gabriel, Corey Hart, Carole Pope, Steven Page and Lorraine Segato, then a beautiful performance of 1984\u2019s \u201cMimi On The Beach\u201d by the Toronto singer Housewife (Brighid Fry), then Chantal Kreviazuk performed 1991\u2019s \u201cCalling All Angels\u201d on the grand piano, revealing it was a \u201cdaunting task\u201d to tackle the song.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cComing up next is an artist who is an inspiration to millions of us, yet she was inspired by Jane Siberry,\u201d Slone said. \u201cHer version of \u2018Calling All Angels\u2019 was an instant classic\u2026 Please welcome National Treasure, k.d. lang.\u201d<\/p>\n The country music innovator called Siberry \u201ca bastion of equanimity and compassion and spiritualism and humanitarianism,\u201d\u00a0 lang said.<\/p>\n \u201cJane\u2019s music has changed the way that I approach songwriting. But more importantly, as an interpretive singer of other people\u2019s music, Jane is my favourite songwriter and her song\u2019s \u2018incredibly difficult and challenging.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Siberry\u2019s speech was as creative and unpredictable as her songs. \u201cI wanted to say, when I came to this incarnation, they said I had three choices. You can either be a president, or you can be an Olympic ladies luge, or you can be a songwriter. And I said, \u2018OK you choose, surprise me.\u2019 Anyway, so then I said, \u2018How am I supposed to be a songwriter then? Tell me how you do it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWell, they said, \u2018First of all, you have no limits\u2026And have fun with it and do whatever you like.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, so my experience as a songwriter, too, is like, how do you write songs? Well, it\u2019s an amazing feeling. It\u2019s sort of like this force comes over you and you feel almost like how a pregnant woman might feel, like, \u2018Whoa, big, have to pee\u2019 and it\u2019s amazing, this beauty and this golden love, and you haven\u2019t even thought of the words or the music yet. That\u2019s what songwriting is like, I find.\u201d<\/p>\n TRIUMPH\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Last but not least, capping the night was the induction of Rik Emmett, Gil Moore and Mike Levine, a.k.a. Triumph, which Slone rightly explained, \u201cwhen someone puts on Triumph, someone else will always yell, \u2018Turn it up!\u2019\u201d The tribute video for them included salutes from Alex Lifeson, Dee Snider, Todd Kerns, Sebastian Bach, Lawrence Gowan, and Kiefer Sutherland. Then powerhouse singer JJ Wilde and rock guitarist\/singer Charlie Edwards ripped up the stage for a version of 1981\u2019s \u201cMagic Power,\u201d before Tom Cochrane came on to induct the rock legends, also known for such radio staples as \u201cLay It On The Line,\u201d \u201cHold On\u201d and \u201cSomebody\u2019s Out There.\u201d<\/p>\n Cochrane mentioned the band\u2019s stage show \u2014 \u201csmoke bombs, massive lightshows, cutting-edge live sound, flame-throwers coming out of kick drums\u201d \u2014 and then their well-crafted songs and musicianship. \u201cTriumph songs came at you like a train on the radio, positive, uplifting, inspiring, rocking, for the kids, for everybody else. There was the fuel that drove the Triumph machine and without them, without the songs, none of the other stuff would have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n The trio then took turns at the mic to say their thank yous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s three of us; there\u2019s one of everybody else, the other songwriters,\u201d Levine said of the band versus the solo inductees. \u201cSo, we are going to split it up. So. we\u2019d be like a song, so I\u2019m doing the intro. Gil\u2019s doing the first and Rik\u2019s going to do the chorus. So, on behalf of the band, thank you to the Hall of Fame. I\u2019m so thankful for this fantastic award and congratulations to all the other inductees. It\u2019s been a journey and I don\u2019t think I could have taken this journey without Gil and Rik, my partners in crime.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore mentioned the band\u2019s new manager and the latest incarnation of Triumph, \u201cour six-piece power trio,\u201d and thanked media giant Rogers \u201cfor aligning our music with sports in Canada which is a great thing for young people.\u201d He added that \u201cHold On\u201d was also sung by over 200,000 students across Canada for the Coalition for Music Education in Canada\u2019s Music Monday, which will happen again next May. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Before joining current Triumph member Phil X to perform the twin guitar attack of \u201cLay It On The Line\u201d as the grand finale to the awards, Emmett got his chance to say a few words, summing up Triumph\u2019s career, which could be applied to what the other inductees have accomplished.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTriumph was about three-and-a-half years in before we eventually arrived at writing some songs that defined what the band was really all about, songs that radio embraced, songs that work on concert stages, becoming a part of the soundtrack of people\u2019s lives. In the end, it\u2019s always the songs that end up telling the story.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-2025-10-20T183818.630-1800x917.webp.webp\")
Gino Vannelli. (Courtesy: Lu Chau)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-2025-10-20T184201.658-1800x917.webp.webp\")
Ian Thomas (Courtesy: Lu Chau)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-2025-10-20T182816.721-1800x917.webp.webp\")
Andy Kim. (Courtesy: Lu Chau)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-2025-10-20T183528.654-1800x917.webp.webp\")
Jane Siberry. (Courtesy: Lu Chau)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-2025-10-20T184524.685-1800x917.webp.webp\")
Rik Emmett, Mike Levine, Gil Moore, a.k.a Triumph, and Tom Cochrane. (Courtesy: Lu Chau)<\/p>\n