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Carole Pope
Carole Ann Pope (born 6 August 1950) is a British-born Canadian rock singer-songwriter, whose provocative blend of hard-edged new wave rock with explicit homoerotic and BDSM-themed lyrics made her one of the first openly lesbian entertainers to achieve mainstream fame.
Pope was born on 6 August 1950 in the rural outskirts of Manchester in England. She was the oldest of four children born to Jack Pope, a salesperson, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and a circus stilt walker, and to Celia, a music hall performer. Pope grew up with two sisters, Diane and Elaine, and a brother, Howard. At the age of five, Pope emigrated with her parents to Montreal. After a couple of years there, the family moved to the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. She studied at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute.
Pope met her longtime musical partner Kevan Staples at a band audition in Scarborough. In 1968, they began performing together as a duo in Yorkville, which was Toronto's live music and arts district at the time. In 1970, they adopted the name O, changing it to The Bullwhip Brothers the following year. Clive A. Smith was also a member of O; Smith would later go on to co-found Canadian animation studio Nelvana and play such iconic on-screen characters as Mr. Pencil.
In 1975, Pope and Staples recruited several backup musicians and formed the band Rough Trade. Pope often performed in black leather pants and bondage attire. The band's first album, Rough Trade Live, was produced by Jack Richardson.
Whilst with Rough Trade, Pope sang backup vocals on Murray McLauchlan's album Into a Mystery, in 1980, and would go on to win the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1981 and subsequently the Juno Award for Best Female Vocalist in 1982 and 1983.
Rough Trade released their first studio album, Avoid Freud, and also made an appearance in the Canadian horror film, Deadline, in 1980. They would win a Genie Award and four gold and two platinum records as the decade progressed. She and Kevan Staples co-wrote the 1983 single "Transformation" along with the track "Design for Living", for singer/songwriter Nona Hendryx's second studio album, Nona. Pope also appeared as a guest vocalist on the Payola$ single "Never Said I Loved You," which was a top 10 hit in 1983. She would team up again with Payola$ founder Paul Hyde to sing the duet "My Brilliant Career" on his album Living Off the Radar in 2000. She also sang the role of Primavera Nicholson in the COC production of R. Murray Schafer's Patria I in November 1987.
Although Rough Trade did not record or perform extensively after its final Deep Six in '86 tour, they did not officially break up until 1988. Since breaking up, the band has had numerous reunions, and in 2022, Rough Trade - The Musical, a musical based on the band's music (and the life of Pope's late brother, Howard), debuted at Joe's Pub, in Manhattan.
After Rough Trade disbanded, Pope released her debut solo single in 1988, which was a cover of The Flirtations' 1968 soul hit, Nothing but a Heartache. The B-side was her self-penned song, I'm Not Blind. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue opportunities in soundtrack work and acting, and produced the soundtrack for The Silencer, a thriller movie directed by Amy Goldstein, which was released in 1992.
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Carole Pope
Carole Ann Pope (born 6 August 1950) is a British-born Canadian rock singer-songwriter, whose provocative blend of hard-edged new wave rock with explicit homoerotic and BDSM-themed lyrics made her one of the first openly lesbian entertainers to achieve mainstream fame.
Pope was born on 6 August 1950 in the rural outskirts of Manchester in England. She was the oldest of four children born to Jack Pope, a salesperson, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and a circus stilt walker, and to Celia, a music hall performer. Pope grew up with two sisters, Diane and Elaine, and a brother, Howard. At the age of five, Pope emigrated with her parents to Montreal. After a couple of years there, the family moved to the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. She studied at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute.
Pope met her longtime musical partner Kevan Staples at a band audition in Scarborough. In 1968, they began performing together as a duo in Yorkville, which was Toronto's live music and arts district at the time. In 1970, they adopted the name O, changing it to The Bullwhip Brothers the following year. Clive A. Smith was also a member of O; Smith would later go on to co-found Canadian animation studio Nelvana and play such iconic on-screen characters as Mr. Pencil.
In 1975, Pope and Staples recruited several backup musicians and formed the band Rough Trade. Pope often performed in black leather pants and bondage attire. The band's first album, Rough Trade Live, was produced by Jack Richardson.
Whilst with Rough Trade, Pope sang backup vocals on Murray McLauchlan's album Into a Mystery, in 1980, and would go on to win the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1981 and subsequently the Juno Award for Best Female Vocalist in 1982 and 1983.
Rough Trade released their first studio album, Avoid Freud, and also made an appearance in the Canadian horror film, Deadline, in 1980. They would win a Genie Award and four gold and two platinum records as the decade progressed. She and Kevan Staples co-wrote the 1983 single "Transformation" along with the track "Design for Living", for singer/songwriter Nona Hendryx's second studio album, Nona. Pope also appeared as a guest vocalist on the Payola$ single "Never Said I Loved You," which was a top 10 hit in 1983. She would team up again with Payola$ founder Paul Hyde to sing the duet "My Brilliant Career" on his album Living Off the Radar in 2000. She also sang the role of Primavera Nicholson in the COC production of R. Murray Schafer's Patria I in November 1987.
Although Rough Trade did not record or perform extensively after its final Deep Six in '86 tour, they did not officially break up until 1988. Since breaking up, the band has had numerous reunions, and in 2022, Rough Trade - The Musical, a musical based on the band's music (and the life of Pope's late brother, Howard), debuted at Joe's Pub, in Manhattan.
After Rough Trade disbanded, Pope released her debut solo single in 1988, which was a cover of The Flirtations' 1968 soul hit, Nothing but a Heartache. The B-side was her self-penned song, I'm Not Blind. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue opportunities in soundtrack work and acting, and produced the soundtrack for The Silencer, a thriller movie directed by Amy Goldstein, which was released in 1992.