Myles Goodwyn, frontman of the longstanding Canadian rock band April Wine, died Sunday (December 3rd) at age 75. According to his publicist, the singer-guitarist was “suffering from a lot of health issues,” although no specific cause of death was mentioned.
Goodwyn formed April Wine in Nova Scotia in 1969, and remained their frontman until earlier this year, when he stepped away from live performances with the band citing his struggles with diabetes and other health problems. However, Goodwyn did continue to perform with his acoustic trio up until very recently.
Other than a hiatus from 1986 to 1992, April Wine released a steady stream of albums. They scored mainstream hits with songs like “Just Between You and Me” and “Enough Is Enough.” The band’s 1981 LP, The Nature of the Beast, went platinum in the United States.
Overall, Goodwyn released 16 albums with April Wine, with the most recent being 2006’s Roughly Speaking. He also released a pair of solo LPs: a 1988 self-titled effort and 2018’s Myles Goodwyn and Friends of the Blues.
Following Goodwyn’s departure from the band’s live lineup, April Wine have continued to tour with new singer Marc Parent. They have a couple of Canadian dates coming up this winter, as well as an appearance on the Monsters of Rock cruise in March.
In May of this year, Goodwyn was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, while the entire band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
Our condolences go out to Myles Goodwyn’s family, friends, and bandmates during this difficult time. Revisit a couple of April Wine’s hit songs below.