Georgie Fab

Fab was born in St. Josephs Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, to mother Nora Elizabeth (née Thorne) of Sydney, Nova Scotia, and father Kenneth Robert Johnston of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He is the brother of the now deceased sister Beverly Ann. Robert was educated at St. Bridget's and St. Margret Mary's Elementary Schools, and Barton and Hillpark Secondary Schools (where he met his wife, Irene Brown), Hamilton, Ontario. Robert completed his education at Mohawk College.

At age 6, Fab began taking piano lessons, but it wasn't until age 14, when he picked up the guitar, that he first began performing in his band "The Canadian Museum" at local high schools and YMCA dances. He spent several years playing in a handful of bands before he became a founding member of "Buxton Kastle", his first major group. Signed to RCA Records in 1970 with bandmates Jerry Doucette, Jack Pedler, and David Kastle, the group scored a major hit with the single "Kagie", hitting #2 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart RPM in 1971.

When Doucette left the group later in 1971, Georgie switched from Hammond CV Organ to guitar. The band then changed labels from RCA to Reprise Records, and then Warner Bros where they again hit the charts with the single "Red Red The Rocking Horse", "Shorty McKenna", "Lovin Games", and "Love is Life". It was during this period that Georgie was thrust into the spotlight, appearing on Canadian TV shows such as "Canadian Bandstand", "Musical Friends", and "Like Young", a national musical TV show out of Montreal.

Soon following the break up of Buxton Kastle, Georgie began his relationship with Skip Prokop, founding member of the Juno award-winning rock orchestra Lighthouse. As well as contributing material to the Lighthouse project, he and Skip co-wrote the #1 Hit "It Just Occurred To Me" for A&M Records artist Peter Pringle. The song remained at #1 for the weeks of 2 and 9 May 1981, and earned the boys a BMI award for one of the top ten most played records of the year, and garnered a Gold Record for Pringle. This in turn led to Georgie being approached by Atlantic Records Chairman of the Board, in order to collaborate with Juno Award winner, Kim Mitchell, to write material for his first LP, Akimbo Alogo. The record went platinum and the co-writing efforts produced the Top 40 hit, "Feel It Burn", the "Go For Soda" B-side entitled "Caroline" with Pye Dubois, and the #1 song, "All We Are." Georgie wrote the uncredited lyric hook, "...you make me feel such a long way away..."

Besides being a musician, Georgie is also a record producer and co-founder of the record company "Race Records" ([1]), as well as the recording studio "A cellar full of noise"[2]

• It just occurred to me (Peter Pringle) (1981) # 1 Canadian Charts
• Feel it burn (Kim Mitchell) (1983)
• Caroline (Kim Mitchell) (1983)
• All we are (Kim Mitchell) (1983) (unaccredited lyrics)
• Fifty to life (Lighthouse) (1996)
• Treat your baby right (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• A Friend like you (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• Guilty (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• 7th Ave Blues (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• Jail House Blues (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• Jail House Blues (Dan Clancy) (1999)
• Birthday Suit (Sonny Del-Rio) (1999)
• I don't want to break your heart (2001) Dan Clancy
• Tender Touch (Dan Clancy) (2001)
• It feels just like heaven (Skip Prokop) (2002) Skip Prokop's Valecrest
• Jamie (Skip Prokop) (2002) Skip Prokop's Valecrest
• Mr McKay (Skip Prokop) (2002) Skip Prokop's Valecrest
• Two Hound Blues (King Biscuit Boy) (2004) King Biscuit Boy and Sonny Del-Rio
• A Taste of Heaven (Glenn Higgins) (2005)
• Strollin (Glenn Higgins) (2005)
• Getting Laid and Drinking Wine (2007) Sonny Del-Rio
• Terrible Times (Sonny Del-Rio) (2007)
• Welcome to Saxland (Sonny Del-Rio) (2008)
• Who is right Who is wrong (2009) Jason Simpson
• Turn the Radio On (Skip Prokop) (2011)

Citations

• http://www.racerecords.ca/artist12.html
• http://www.thespec.com/news/article/94448--a-musical-thank-you-to-canadian-heroes
• http://www.thespec.com/whatson/article/41748--christmas-cd-sales-aid-local-food-banks
• http://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/Sonny-Del-Rio-2.html