About The Author
(Glenford) Ritchie Henman (born August 8, 1949, in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian musician best known as the drummer/founding member of Canadian rock band April Wine. At age 11, Ritchie began to take guitar lessons in Halifax, Nova Scotia. By age 13, he had also learned to play drums and bass. He and his brother David started their first band, The Chantays, in 1963 in Timberlea, Nova Scotia with David on lead guitar and Ritchie on drums and played live for the first time in October at the teen dance in a local church basement.
The Henman family relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1965 and shortly thereafter his mother and brother returned to Nova Scotia. Ritchie remained in St. John's with his father who had been placed there temporarily to establish a fur boutique in the huge downtown Ayres Department store. Ritchie switched to lead guitar and started his own band, again calling it The Chantays, with American vocalist Nick Halpern.
This band became popular enough to appear on local television twice in 1966 and were featured on the cover of the St. John’s TV Guide. David Henman returned to St. John’s late in 1966 and so the brothers started a new band, The Far Krys, with Nick Halpert on vocals and Ritchie now on bass. Early in 1967 this band reformed with Ritchie now back on drums as well as some lead vocals.
In August of 1967, the Henman family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick and the Henman brothers began a new band with the unlikely name Banana Splat. Once again the band quickly became popular with the teen audiences and played regularly until August of 1968 when their father got transferred back to Halifax.
Back in Halifax, the Henman Brothers started a power rock trio called Prism, not to be confused with the later band of the same name from Vancouver. Prism became a hit with local audiences and regularly worked through ’68 and ’69, eventually finishing second in a televised battle of the bands.
By the autumn of 1969, David Henman decided that playing in cover bands had gone on far too long and expressed a desire to start a new band to perform his own songs as well as those of cousin Jim Henman with whom he had begun to collaborate. Thus April Wine was formed in late November and it was decided that one more guitarist/songwriter would be needed. A call was placed to childhood friend Myles Goodwin who was living at that time in Cape Breton. Myles moved back to Halifax and the rehearsals began in earnest. Following a few shows in the Halifax area, the decision was made to relocate to Montreal and attempt to land a recording contract. By the end of 1970, April Wine had signed with Aquarius Records, Terry Flood Management, and booking agency Donald K. Donald and had begun recording their debut self-titled album.
By the summer of 1973, the band had recorded three albums and established itself as a prominent Canadian touring attraction. And the Henman brothers, always restless for new adventures, left the group to seek a different musical approach.
The next noteworthy group was All The Young Dudes featuring the Henman brothers with ex-members of California band The Wackers, Bob Segarini and William “Kootch” Trochim, as well as ex-Mashmakhan guitarist Brian Greenway and Montrealer Wayne Cullen on a second drum kit. With three guitarists, two drummers, and six vocalists. Dudes quickly became a headline attraction in Montreal and began to attract the attention of the American entertainment media. By the end of 1974, the American trade magazines were touting Dudes as the number-one unsigned band in North America and the offers began to arrive from major U.S. labels.
Dudes signed a landmark recording contract with CBS Records and recorded their debut album, We’re No Angels, in the spring of ’75 at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec. However, CBS staff producer Mark Spector and CBS staff engineer Al Varner were unsuccessful at capturing the band’s live appeal in the studio resulting in a thin overall sound. CBS released and promoted three singles but airplay was minimal. Dudes toured as the opening act for the BeeGees in the Autumn of 1975 and were consistently well-received. However, lack of success on radio led to the band going their separate ways by the summer of 1976 following a brief tour with Blood, Sweat and Tears with whom they shared management and record label.
Ritchie Henman then spent two years as a successful car detailer in Montreal before being asked to join a new group. Cruiser was formed in early 1979 and became one of the first successful “indie” bands with their own label, Network Records. Their debut album, Rollin’ With The Times was an instant hit with radio and media alike and by the summer of 1980 was charted on over fifty stations across Canada. Cruiser toured that summer as the opening act for Burton Cummings and was always well-received and given excellent reviews in the press. Unfortunately just as the tour ended, record distributor London Records suddenly declared bankruptcy and shut down virtually overnight. Cruiser’s manager had failed to issue enough product to meet the demand and before a new distributor was acquired radio stations were forced to reduce airplay as soon as local record stores ran out of copies.
Boot Records took over distribution of the album in late 1980 but the momentum had been lost and few radio stations reprogrammed Cruiser. On October 31st of that year, the band engaged the services of a distinguished music industry lawyer and terminated their management contract. The band returned to Montreal and ceased to perform live while various management offers were explored but the threat of litigation presented an obstacle and interest faded. In January of 1980, producer Guy Rheaume took the band back into the studio to record demos of all new original material. Shortly thereafter drummer Ritchie Henman secured financing to record and promote a follow-up album but singer/keyboardist Don Beauchamp suddenly left everything including his wife and child and vanished, eventually resurfacing in British Columbia.
For more on Cruiser, check out The Cruiser Story on YouTube.
Henman next played in a country rock group for over two years in some of Montreal’s now notorious gang-operated bars before becoming a full-time designer and fabricator of custom displays and furniture for Montreal table and giftware distributor Danesco. Ritchie retired in 2019 but continued to involve himself in music during that thirty-five-year career. In 1990, Ritchie played drums in the Brian Greenway Band. In 2001, a bond was formed with Roger Bartosh, a successful structural engineer and fledgling drummer. The two formed a band with Henman on lead guitar, keyboards and vocals and called themselves The Consultants because of their regular jobs. They began writing songs and eventually began recording sessions at Frank Marino’s Starbase 2 Studio. A CD of original music, Summer Sky, was released in 2011 and continues to sell.
In 2022, Ritchie Henman completed a manuscript of his adventures in rock and roll bands and Toronto author Martin Melhuish encouraged him to seek publication. By July of that year, Henman had been signed by Halifax publisher Pottersfield Press with the release of High Adventure set for Spring 2023.
High Adventureˆwas released April 15, 2023 and is available in bookstores and on Amazon. The publication was soon followed by the news that April Wine would be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame,
On the evening of September 28, 2023, April Wine were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in a special event titled “Canada’s Rock of Fame” at the historic Massey Hall in Toronto. Ritchie Henman was there to celebrate the honour, alongside brother David and cousin Jim, as well as the current members of April Wine.
After the prestigious event, Henman was also invited to a book signing and conversation with Greg Thomas at WEP Central, home of the West End Phoenix, in Toronto. Special thanks to Greg, Niko Stratis, and Dave Bidini for their warm welcome and for organizing the event.
With April Wine
· April Wine (1971), Aquarius Records
· On Record (1972), Aquarius Records
· Electric Jewels (1973), Aquarius Records
· Greatest Hits (1979), Aquarius Records
With The Consultants
· Summer Sky (2011), Kik2000
With All The Young Dudes
· We're No Angels (1975), CBS Records
· All The Young Dudes--All The Old Demos (1997), Pacemaker Entertainment
With Cruiser
· Rollin' With The Times (1980), Network Records
· Strange News (1981), Reso Discography
Discography
Q104 Atlantic Wall of Fame, November 28, 2008
Canadian Music Hall of Fame, March 13, 2009
Juno Hall of Fame, April 18, 2010
Canada’s Walk of Fame, September 28, 2023