CMRMC Presents: Ritchie Yorke
July 17, 2021
Ritchie Yorke (12 January 1944 – 6 February 2017) was an Australian-born author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist, whose work was widely published in the U.S., UK, Canada and elsewhere.
Yorke arrived in Canada in 1967, settling in Toronto. He found work with the Toronto Telegram before being appointed the first full-time rock writer for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. He also became the Canadian editor of Billboard magazine from 1970 to 1980 and Rolling Stone magazine from 1969 to 1970. He also began contributing features to NME magazine.[citation needed] In late 1969, Yorke assisted John Lennon with the coordination and execution of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s War Is Over! peace campaign. As well as helping to plan the Montreal bed-in from which Lennon’s peace anthem “Give Peace a Chance” emerged, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, he was one of many volunteers who assisted in plastering the posters all over Toronto. Yorke also carried the posters alongside rock musician and friend Ronnie Hawkins in a 52,000 mile world tour as the Lennons’ official peace envoy. This five week tour even had them carry and display the posters illegally across the Chinese border near Hong Kong where they were stopped by Red Guards and solemnly warned they would be shot if they did not leave.
During this time, Yorke also produced Edward Bear’s first album Bearings under the pseudonym “Tuft”. He also appears on the Bad Manors album by Crowbar, credited with playing the anvil on “Prince Of Peace” and tambourine on “Oh What A Feeling”.
Yorke was partly responsible for the introduction of the Canadian Content legislation that was instated in 1971, acting as a major advocate of the policy from a music industry point of view. He testified both to the adequacy of Canada’s music supply as well as the necessity of radio support to create a viable Canadian music industry.
Later in 1971 he published the book Axes, Chops & Hot Licks, the first book to cover Canadian music culture and the development of the Canadian content laws, as well as the first book to be devoted entirely to any music scene outside of the United States or England. Later that year Yorke was named Canadian Journalist of the Year at the Juno Music Awards in Toronto.
The following year, Yorke assisted in organising the Maple Music Junket in which numerous continental writers, radio and TV programmers and editors and filmmakers were invited to observe five concerts in Montreal and Toronto (two of the concerts were in French).
In 1973, Yorke cut back on his assorted journalism and broadcasting activities to focus more heavily on books. Having befriended Led Zeppelin years earlier, he moved to London to work on their first official biography. He returned to Toronto in 1974, after serving on the Committee of Honour at the 8th Montreux International Jazz and Blues Festival In 1975, he published his next book, Into the Music: The Van Morrison Biography.
Early in 1976 he released the widely acclaimed book The History of Rock ’n’ Roll to coincide with the CHUM produced documentary of the same name he had been working on, as well as publishing The Led Zeppelin Biography.