Fred Turner

Charles Frederick Turner (born October 16, 1943) is a Canadian rock bassist, vocalist and songwriter known as a founder and only constant member of the 1970s rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive, though he only makes select appearances in concert since their reformation in 2023.

Fred Turner played in over a dozen bands in and around Winnipeg during his early adult years, his first vocal recordings being with the group Pink Plumm, which released one independent single titled "Along Came Pride". Based upon advice Randy Bachman received from Neil Young, Turner was subsequently asked to join Randy's band Brave Belt in 1971. At the time, Turner was playing and singing in a cover band called the D-Drifters. The D-Drifters wanted to continue doing cover songs, and had repeatedly rejected Turner's original compositions. When the call came from Bachman, Turner jumped at the chance to join a band that played original material.

The lead vocalist for the first Brave Belt album was Chad Allan, Randy Bachman's former bandmate from The Guess Who. While shopping around the tapes to record companies and eventually getting interest from Reprise Records, Randy was required to list the band members for contracts. Although he had played both lead guitar and bass on the recording, Randy listed Turner as the bassist. Turner's photo was put on the Brave Belt back cover, but he was not involved in the recordings.

Turner did join Brave Belt for live performances to support the first album, and soon stepped in as a full-time lead vocalist and bassist, which led to the departure of Allan. Fred contributed five song compositions to the follow-up Brave Belt II album (1972), and he sang lead vocal on nine of the album's eleven songs. The Brave Belt II touring lineup, which now consisted of Turner with Randy, Robbie and Tim Bachman, recorded another album despite being dropped from Reprise Records. While shopping around this "Brave Belt III" album and eventually being signed by Mercury Records, the band changed its name to Bachman–Turner Overdrive (BTO). Although Randy Bachman was the more widely known name because of his years with The Guess Who, Robbie Bachman stated in numerous interviews that there could have been no "BTO sound" without Turner's contributions: "The first Brave Belt album was very country-rock. Everything changed when Fred joined the band. We had Fred Turner's heavy, rough voice. We evolved because of Mr. Turner." Said Turner himself, "I think I brought a hard edge to the band. It was pretty countryish when I joined."

Turner and BTO enjoyed a period of peak popularity between 1973 and 1976, which saw the band release five Top 40 albums and six US Top 40 singles (eleven in Canada). Fred composed and sang lead on BTO's first US-charting single, "Blue Collar" (#68 in 1973), which appeared on the band's debut album. However, it was the second album, Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, that made BTO a household name, propelled by the hits "Takin' Care of Business" (US #12, Canada #3) and "Let It Ride" (US #23, Canada #3). "Let it Ride" featured Turner as lead vocalist and co-composer. The band then found international success with the 1974 album Not Fragile, which hit #1 in both the US and Canada while reaching the top ten in several other countries. BTO had two more hit albums with Four Wheel Drive and Head On, which charted at Nos. 5 and 23, respectively, in the US.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.