Guess Who Trivia

When I was growing up in Winnipeg in the 1960s The Guess Who was the most popular rock band in the City. In the late 1960s and early 1970s they went on to international success.

When I first heard the band, they called themselves Chad Allan & the Reflections. I first saw them perform in 1964 when my father took my brother and me to a father and son luncheon they played at. I remember that the bass player, Jim Kale, wasn’t there for some reason.

A Long Hard Road

The Guess Who started out in 1962. By the time they achieved international success in 1969, they had already released 19 singles and 4 1/2 albums. The half album was a special promotional album with The Guess Who on one side and a band called The Staccatos on the other.

I heard somewhere that while The Guess Who was not the first Canadian based rock band to release an album; they were the first to release a second album. I haven’t been able to confirm this. If so, they were likely the first Canadian based rock band to release a third album as well.

False Starts

Before they became successful, The Guess Who had some minor hits internationally and thought they had it made, only to find the fame slip away. In 1965 they released “Shakin’ All Over” which went to number 1 in Canada and number 22 in the United States. While this didn’t lead to any further success in the U.S., it did establish them as a nationally recognized band in Canada.

Several years later, in 1967, they had a minor hit in Britain with “His Girl”. This too turn out to lead to nothing.

The Name

The group originally use the name “Chad Allan & The Reflections” as a homage to the British group “The Shadows”, who were a major influence on their early sound. In 1964, another group called “The Reflections” had a hit with “Just Like Romeo & Juliet”, so the band had to change their name. They were just about to release “Shakin’ All Over”, which both they and their record label thought could be a big success.