Kenneth Irving MacLean (January 9, 1956 – November 24, 2008) was a Scottish-Canadian musician, best known as a member of the multi-platinum selling band Platinum Blonde.

Biography

MacLean was born in Glasgow on January 9, 1956.

Musical career

A former hairdresser, he was a member of the group The Hairdressers, and then was a founding member of The Suspects in 1979. He then joined The Deserters in 1981, and released two albums, The Deserters and Siberian Nightlife.

Drummer Chris Steffler, who had worked with MacLean in Toronto bands The Next and The Suspects, recruited MacLean to join Platinum Blonde. MacLean was bassist and keyboardist, and songwriter for some songs, on their 1985 album Alien Shores. He was also part of the band for Contact in 1987, and for their 1990 album Yeah Yeah Yeah, when the band was renamed The Blondes. and it won him a SOCAN Award for songwriting, as well as a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1991.

In 2006, MacLean spent time in Saint John, New Brunswick, working as a teacher at the city's new Atlantica School of Music and Film. MacLean created the music company hMh Music, and was its artistic director. An academy officially opened in Toronto on September 2, 2008, and featured programs such as audio engineering and DJ arts. His third solo CD, Completely, was released at a concert three days before his death.

Discography

Solo albums

  • Don't Look Back (1990)
  • Clear (1995)
  • Completely (2008)

Singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

!width="35"|CAN

!width="35"|CAN<br>AC

|-

|rowspan=3| 1990

|align="center"|"Don't Look Back"

|align="center"|25

|align="center"|10

|rowspan="3"|Don't Look Back

|-

|align="center"|"Rescue Me"

|align="center"|29

|align="center"|—

|-

|align="center"|"Don't You Know It"

|align="center"|57

|align="center"|—

|-

|}

References

  • Platinum Blonde