The Consuls

Group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, active from late 1957 to spring 1959. Witnessing Elvis Presley’s show at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, on April 2, 1957 was the catalyst for Peter De Remigis to buy drums and his friend Willie Page a guitar to learn to play rock’n’roll music together. By the fall Norm Parish had joined them on saxophone, and Gene MacLellan on guitar and vocals. In December, they met bass player Leonard Stubbs, pianist and vocalist Bruce Morshead, and guitarist Harold Connell, and were jamming when someone heard them and hired them to play a New Year’s Day dance. The group named themselves The Consuls after a Ford model sold in Canada. Over the following months, the initial seven-member lineup slimmed down to DeRemigis on drums and vocals, Parish on sax, Len Stubbs on bass, Gene MacLellan on guitar and vocals and Morshead on piano and vocals. The profile picture shows (left to right): Parish, Stubbs, DeRemigis, Morshead (kneeling), and MacLellan. This lineup travelled to New York City in early Spring 1959, to cut a single at Bell Studios, which was released on Abel in April or May. After the recording session, Robbie Robertson was hired to replace Stubbs, but refused to play bass. So, the band ended up with two guitarists and no bass. This third lineup of the group disbanded shortly after. DeRemigis, MacLellan and Robertson kept going in music, immediately forming The Suedes with Johnny Rhythm (2) on vocals. Morshead and Parish disappeared from the musical scene for a while before starting Little Caesar And The Consuls, ca. early 1961. By then, Parish had changed his name to Norm Sherratt.