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. The band was the first Canadian rock band to have widespread success in the United States and, unlike several other Canadian acts of the time, did not downplay or hide their Canadian identity.
The Guess Who officially broke up in 1975, with a major reunion tour in the early 2000s. A separate band organized by former bassist Jim Kale also toured and recorded under The Guess Who name for several decades, often performing without any original band members on stage. After a long legal dispute, Bachman and Cummings regained control of the Guess Who name in a 2024 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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