Arranger, composer and keyboardist nicknamed "Dr. Music"" who transcended
musical genres with seeming effortlessness and is considered one of the
most important voices in Canadian music.A Toronto native, Riley was a
classically trained pianist who studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music and
a church-instructed organist who received tutelage at St. Anne de
Belleville Church in Montreal.It was composition, however, which he studied at the University of
Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Music.His extracurricular activities
included club-hopping with the likes of The Silhouettes.In 1969, he was asked to arrange and
play keyboards on Ray Charles' Doing
His Thing LP.So impressed
was Uncle Ray with Riley's studio acumen, he asked the young phenom to join his band, an offer Riley respectfully
declined.Something inside him
yearned to contribute to and help shape the musical culture of his homeland,
in spite of the allures of fame and fortune in the States.He started his own band, Dr. Music,
and put bread on the table by writing commercial jingles.Eventually, he had enough money to
start the Toronto Sound Recording Studio, and began to establish a
reputation for himself as an indispensable session musician.His musical collaborations reflected
his eclectic musical taste, working with such variegated artists and groups
as Edward Bear, Placido Domingo, OfraHarnoy, Dan Hill, Ian
& Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, the London Symphony Orchestra, Anne Murray,
Bob Seger, and Ringo
Starr.He recorded twenty-five
CDs with Murray alone.Domingo
personally commissioned him to arrange Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky's "None But The Lonely Heart" for him to
perform with the LSO.In
addition, Riley composed three ballets for The National Ballet of Canada,
and dabbled in other classical-music forms, including concerti and a string
quartet.Riley's first
love was jazz, however, and he always came back to it.He established the Prince Edward
Island Jazz Festival in the early '90s and consistently won the Jazz
Report Awards' prize for "Jazz Organist of the Year"
seven years running, from 1993 to 2000.Doug Riley was associated with a
variety of groups and ensembles during his illustrious career, including his
own Doug Riley Band, Doug Riley Quartet, and Tenor Madness, for whom he
played the vaunted Hammond B-3 Organ.He died suddenly of a massive coronary on 28 August 2007 while
sitting on an airplane awaiting take-off from Calgary Airport.All totaled, Doug Riley's
discography comprises some 300-plus recordings.His last was 2005's Stride, in conjunction with John
Roby and Tyler Yarema.In 2004, he received one of the
highest honours that can be bestowed up anyone,
the estimable Order of Canada.As Musical Director of the Famous People Players, Doug Riley
contributed his time and talent to a number of worthy causes, including
Easter Seals, Princess Margaret Hospital Lodge, and the United Way.Links are listed below.
