BiografieJohnnie Dee (lead vocals)

Derry Grehan (lead guitarist, backing vocals)

Ray Coburn (keyboards; left 1986, rejoined 1989)

Gary Lalonde (bass guitar)

Dave Betts (drums)

Rob Preuss (keyboards, backing vocals; replaced Coburn in 1986)

Peter Nunn (keyboards; replaced Coburn the second time)

Steve Webster (bass; replaced Lalonde 1991)

Tom Lewis (bass; replaced Webster 1992)

Tim Harrington (bass; replaced Lewis 1993)

Steve Skingley (bass, vocals; replaced Harrington 1996)

Jorn Anderson (drums; replaced Betts 1989)

Creighton Doane (drums; replaced Anderson 1992)

Troy Feener (drums; replaced Doane 1996)



Johnnie Dee and Derry Grehan, principal and founding members of Honeymoon Suite, met when introduced by manager Stephen Prendergast in 1982. Deciding to work together, they formed Honeymoon Suite (suitable indeed, given that Dee is from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Grehan is from St. Catherines - as close as one can get to the Honeymoon Capital of the World) with Grehan´s former Steve Blimkie And The Reason band-mate Dave Betts on drums, plus an anonymous keyboard player and bassist.



In 1983 they decided to enter the Homegrown Contest put on yearly by Toronto´s Q107-FM radio station, and Prendergast approached his friend and producer Tom Tremeuth to produce it for them. "New Girl Now" won the contest based on the buying public´s response and Bob Roper at WEA Canada was so impressed with the song, he signed them.



Personnel conflicts arose and the keyboardist was replaced with Ray Coburn, from the Toronto area. During the recording sessions for the first album they found themselves a permanent bassist in Gary Lalonde (ex-Toronto), although a session player named Brian Brackstone played bass on the album. The eponymous first album was released June 1984 after a failed attempt to release it on Valentine´s Day of that year.



Throughout 1983 and 1984 they toured Canada and the US consistently, headlining club gigs and opening for such acts as Billy Idol, April Wine, Laura Branigan, Jethro Tull, The Kinks, and Bryan Adams. In 1984 they were nominated for the ´Most Promising Group´ Juno Award but did not win.



Propelled by the success of more singles from the album, 1985 saw them embarking on headlining gigs throughout Ontario and the rest of Canada, and presenting an award at the 1985 Junos. By this time the first album had achieved platinum sales status.



Their second album was released on Valentine´s Day 1986. ´The Big Prize´ featured a rare appearance by Jethro Tull´s Ian Anderson, went platinum in Canada almost immediately and started selling steadily in the US. Tours in the States that year included opening stints for Heart, .38 Special, ZZ Top, Journey, Starship, and Saga; they also headlined a sold-out show at the Kingswood Music Theatre just north of Toronto. Ray Coburn quit afterwards and was replaced by Toronto whiz-kid keyboardist Rob Preuss (formerly of the Spoons). 1986 also saw the band win a gold award for ´Best Live Act´ at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, the ´Group Of The Year´ Juno and headline more dates in Canada and some northern States.



For album number three, the band went to Los Angeles in the winter of 1987 to record with Ted Templeman (Little Feat, The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen), and while there Dee was hit by a car at L.A.X. airport, breaking his leg in several places, and requiring surgery for a ten inch pin to help the leg heal properly. While recovering in hospital, Doobie Brother Michael McDonald was brought in to help out with the recording sessions; he wrote lyrics and sang back up on one song. The results of all the hard work was ´Racing After Midnight´, a slightly harder-edged, more guitar oriented album that spawned a European tour with Status Quo and a headlining tour of Canada - but little if any interest from the US, and virtually no tour there.



Problems surfaced with long-time management Head Office, and after the group left the fold, keyboardist Ray Coburn returned to the band in time for WEA to release a ´best-of´ compilation in 1989. Betts and Lalonde took their leave and Coburn, Dee and Grehan began writing together again.



The trio returned to the studio in 1990 to craft ´Monsters Under The Bed´ with Paul Northfield producing, and Steve Webster (Billy Idol´s band) on bass and Jorn Anderson (NEO a4) on drums. Singles like "Say You Don´t Know Me" and "The Road" did well in Canada but once again failed to make a dent in the US. They´d had songs played on TV´s ´Miami Vice´ and songs on two movie soundtracks (´Lethal Weapon II´ and ´One Crazy Summer´) and had won awards. Things were in perspective for them.



For the live shows, the threesome brought in Tom Lewis on bass and Creighton Doane on drums. The end results of a couple years of touring was ´13 Live´, a self-explanatory album on Interplanet Music that saw limited release in Canada and parts of Europe. Eventually Coburn departed to join Alannah Myles (and most recently produce Dayna Manning), and was replaced by Peter Nunn (Jitters). Over time Lewis also left and was replaced with Harrington. Harrington stayed for a number of years, but was replaced with Skingley (Rik Emmett) a couple of years ago.



Grehan and Dee still do gigs as Honeymoon Suite, with Nunn on keys, Skingley on bass and Feener on drums (who replaced Doane) As of this writing, the band is on the road once more and also making frequent trips into the studio to record new material; Dave Betts now works for SOCAN; Coburn is currently touring as keyboardist for the Crash Test Dummies.

Quelle: http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPagesH/honeymoon.htmlDiscografie1984 - Honeymoon Suite

1986 - The Big Prize

1988 - Racing After Midnight

1989 - The Singles

1991 - Monsters Under The Bed

1995 - 13 Live

2002 - Lemon Tongue

2002 - Dreamland

2005 - HMS Live

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