About The Guess Who
The Guess Who is a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1965. The band found their greatest success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, under the leadership of singer/keyboardist Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman, with hit songs including "American Woman", "These Eyes", and "No Time".
During their most successful period, The Guess Who released eleven studio albums, all of which reached the charts in Canada and the United States. Their 1970 album American Woman reached no. 1 in Canada and no. 9 in the United States, while five other albums reached the top ten in Canada. The Guess Who charted fourteen Top 40 singles in the United States and more than thirty in Canada. In the early years before Canadian Content broadcast rules were enacted, unlike other Canadian acts who tended to downplay their nationality, the band made a name for itself by proudly celebrating that and became hailed for self-confidence.
The Guess Who officially broke up in 1975, although a separate band organized by former bassist Jim Kale toured and recorded under The Guess Who name until 2024, often performing without any original band members on stage. Bachman and Cummings had long been unhappy with the Kale-sanctioned version of the group, and launched lawsuits over the use of the Guess Who name and repertoire. A 2024 legal manoeuvre by Cummings prevented the group from playing any Guess Who songs that Cummings wrote or co-wrote -- this includes all six of the group's US top 10 hits. The group consequently cancelled all of its scheduled appearances from April 2024 forward. On September 4, 2024, it was announced that Bachman and Cummings had gained control of the Guess Who name in a settlement.
In 1958, Winnipeg singer/guitarist Chad Allan formed a local rock band called Al and the Silvertones. After several lineup changes, the band stabilized in 1962 under the name Chad Allan and the Reflections, which included Allan and keyboardist Bob Ashley, plus future Guess Who mainstays Randy Bachman on guitar, Jim Kale on bass, and Garry Peterson on drums.
Chad Allan and the Reflections released their first single, "Tribute To Buddy Holly", on Canadian-American Records in 1962. They then signed with Quality Records and released several singles in 1963–64, which gained some regional notice around Winnipeg but made little impact in the rest of Canada. One single was credited, perhaps mistakenly, to Bob Ashley and the Reflections.
In 1965, the group changed their name to Chad Allan and the Expressions after an American group called The Reflections released the hit single " Romeo and Juliet". Chad Allan and the Expressions released the garage rock album Shakin' All Over in January 1965. That album's single, "Shakin' All Over", earlier recorded by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, was the band's first major hit, reaching no. 1 in Canada, no. 22 in the United States, and no. 27 in Australia. Their Canadian label, Quality Records, disguised the single by crediting it to Guess Who?, as a publicity stunt to generate speculation that it was by a more famous British Invasion band working incognito.
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