CREDIT: JACK RICHARDSON HALL OF FAME (CANOE)
The legendary and former Music Industry Arts (MIA) professor Jack Richardson was a man of many honours and accomplishments. The upcoming Share the Land concert commemorating Richardson is set for Feb. 7.

The late Jack Richardson is a producer, musician, businessman and teacher who graced Canada with his presence from 1929 to 2011. He is widely regarded as the creator of The Canadian Music Industry and has worked with artists such as Bob Seger, Alice Cooper and The Guess Who. Richardson also had a major impact on Fanshawe through his involvement in the Music Industry Arts (MIA) program. Friends and family of Richardson shared memories of who he was, what he did and the legacy he left behind.

In the early days of Richardson's career, he performed in various orchestras, including the Bobby Gimby Orchestra, giving him a firm knowledge in many areas of music that he took with him to the production field. Because of this background “rock was pretty much a sound that Jack could put under his fingertips really effectively,” said MIA professor Steve Malison, who worked alongside Richardson in his time as a professor at Fanshawe.

In 1960, Richardson began work for the McCann-Erickson Advertising Agency where he played a huge role in many major Canadian advertising campaigns for Coca-Cola. It was through his work here that he was able to launch the career of legendary band The Guess Who. Following this, they continued to work with Jack for the better part of their career.

Richardson went on to work with many major acts in the industry, forming Nimbus 9 Productions and building Nimbus 9 Recording Studios in Toronto. It was considered to be one of the best recording studios in the world, hosting clients such as Ringo Star and Pink Floyd.

A key to Richardson's success was that he held the development of a good song as a major priority in his work. Jack Richardson's son, Garth Richardson, an acclaimed producer and engineer in his own right, recalled the story of when he first decided to follow in his father's footsteps. “[Jack] said ‘Okay, we have to sit down and have a talk'… and I was ready to write for three hours on every secret that he had… [Jack] goes ‘Okay, write this down…Good songs sell. Bad songs don't,' then he left the room,” said Garth. In this same manner, Jack's very good friend and former MIA professor Terry McManus recalls that “he had his standards and… that bar was pretty high.”

Richardson created quite a name for himself during this time and crossed paths with many industry greats. He was extremely modest however and very unassuming when it came to these matters. “That's the kind of guy he was…a very soft-spoken man and that's… maybe why he was able to push the industry his way”, McManus remembers, telling that he didn't find out until around seven years into their friendship that Jack had once attended recording sessions at Elvis's house. In another story Garth recalled how his family didn't know until after Jack had passed on that he had been invited by Jack Douglas, John Lennon and Yoko Ono to go over the legendary record Imagine and offer his thoughts on it.

Due to his strong sense of Canadian Pride, Jack had a huge hand in shaping the Canadian music industry, developing laws and organizations that allowed Canadian talent to gain international recognition and putting Canada on the map.

Throughout his entire career Garth recalls that Jack was a teacher, influencing such greats as Bob Ezrin, David Foster and Jimmy Iovine. This passion led him to help develop the MIA program at Fanshawe as chair of the Industry Advisory Board in the late 1970s. “He already had a ten year start on developing a Canadian Music Industry,” Mallison said, “So he looked at the educational field.” McManus shared similar sentiments.

“Jack once again was the big dog…What his vision was, was something that they tried to incorporate,” McManus said.

In the early 1980s, Richardson began work as a professor at MIA, fostering the next generation of industry professionals. “The Jack Richardson time was a special time for sure,” said McManus, who tells how the same standards he had in the industry, applied when students showed him work of their own. “[Jack] would say in his wonderful way…‘Not bad, not bad at all' and when he said that you should be floating,” said McManus. Mallison remembers that Jack cared for all his students and knew them all by name, recalling that “He really got into the heads of students and wanted to know what they were all about and their projects reflected that.”

Over the course of his career, Richardson garnered 47 Billboard charted singles and albums and received 38 gold and platinum awards. Among many honours he's received, the Juno Producer Award was named after him, as well as the London Music Awards. Richardson also received the prestigious Order of Canada in 2003.

In 2009, Garth Richarson and Bob Ezrin founded the Nimbus School of Recording Arts to honour Jack's legacy and his belief that all students should have the opportunity to be taught by industry professionals. Every year students of Fanshawe's MIA Program host an annual Share the Land charity concert in honour of Jack's life and impact.

When asked about his legacy McManus said that “If there's any imagery…that works for any of this it's that wherever Jack was things coalesced around him…The Canadian Music Industry did that, The Guess Who did that [and] MIA did that. That's just the kind of guy he was.” His impact on the Music Industry was tremendous, however it seems the greatest impact he had was on his family and friends. Mallison said that, “he just loved his wife and kids…He was really proud of all of them.” McManus shared that “he was a better friend than he was producer,” closing his interview by saying that despite the changes Jack made to Canada, “not everyone will [always] know exactly who he is and what he did. But they'll know that he was.”

For more information on Jack Richardson, visit jrlma.ca/jack-richardson/. More info on the Share the Land charity concert is available at Facebook.com/ShareTheLandFanshawe. Those interested in reading about Garth Richardson and The Nimbus School of Recording Arts can go to NimbusRecording.com.