THE DIAMONDS at the Skyline Hotel was a fun night.
Reporter DAVE KOSONIC reflects on his days covering bands for the Toronto Star at the Skyline Hotel.
The GREAT Tanya Tucker
DAVE with the Stars at the former Skyline Hotel. That’s Rick Nelson, top, middle and Roy Orbinson at the bottom, middle.
When I was a teeny-bopper I loved to listen to recordings by chart toppers including Lesley Gore, Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson and other stars of the time.
I never dreamed that I would rub shoulders with them in the mid-1980s during revival concerts at the former Skyline Hotel on Dixon Rd.
Many people will remember the Skyline, which featured the Diamond Lil’ carbaret shows, with the dancing bar girls.
I did a weekly entertainment column for The Toronto Star’s Etobicoke Bureau, in which I wrote about these live shows in advance to help boost ticket sales. As part of the job, I was a guest at the VIP get-togethers with the stars.
Lesley Gore was a tiny lady and when I was introduced to her back stage she looked at me and responded “Hi Dave” like she had known me for years. She was one of three stars scheduled for the stage. Gore had requested to be last up as the concert’s high-lighter but she was escorted onstage first.
She performed four of her hits including It’s My Party and She’s A Fool quickly and then stomped off the stage. Gore died of lung cancer at age 68 in February 2015.
When I met Roy Orbison often dubbed ‘The Big O’ he had just completed his last set. He lit up a smoke and chatted with me, and my wife, Dorothy, for several minutes. He came across as a quiet and humble man. He had a fear of flying and one of his brothers ferried Orbison and his crew to his shows in a customized bus.
Orbison had performed many of his hits including Only The Lonely, Oh Pretty Woman and Dream Baby. Some related to tragedies including the death of his wife Claudette. Orbison suffered a fatal heart attack at age 52 in 1988.
During Ricky Nelson’s Skyline show he sung many of his hits such as Hello Mary Lou, Travelin’ Man and Fools Rush In. I met him up close and he looked great almost like in his teenage days. Sadly a few months after the show Nelson , 45, and his fiancé Helen Blair,28, perished when his DC 3 airplane crashed in a Texas field on New Years Eve 1985.
Jerry Lee Lewis had the concert promoters anxious the evening of his show. The show-goers were told Lewis was to appear shortly but he wasn’t present. Promoters called his manager in The U.S. and were told that his aircraft would be departing soon to come to Toronto. The Skyline show promoters then told the audience that Lewis was running late and that the show would go on. His performance was remarkable as he aggressively pecked the keys of his piano while performing Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and Great Balls of Fire.
The mid ‘80s Skyline retro concerts featured many other hit-makers including Wilson ‘The Wicked’ Pickett, The Diamonds, Freddie .’Boom Boom’ Cannon, Lou Christie and Brenda Lee and others of that era.