Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
While attending ODCVI in 1954 Gordon Lightfoot organized a barbershop quartet called the Teentimers. He enlisted William Hughes as bass, Bob Branch as tenor and Terry Whelan as lead.
For the next two years they performed at service clubs, dances and competitions all over Ontario including Massey Hall, London, Oshawa, placing second at a barbershop competition in St. Catharines.
Despite its popularity, the group disbanded and Lightfoot moved to Los Angeles, California to study at Hollywood’s Westlake College of Music. He returned to Canada in the early 1960s and teamed up with Terry Whelan in a duo called the Two Tones.
The Two Tones performed at the coffee houses in the Toronto folk scene as well as dance halls and resorts around Orillia and Muskoka.
They released an album called Two Tones at the Village Corner recorded live at the Village Corner in Toronto on Jan. 20, 1962. The Two Tones also released a single later that year with two songs that were recorded in the studio called Lessons in Love and Sweet Polly. Both records are scarce and highly collectible.
Shortly after, Lightfoot went on to develop his own career, gaining recognition as a songwriter with the release of his debut album, Lightfoot, in 1966.
Terry pursued other careers but continued to sing at local Theatre groups and later with the Tom De Moraes Orchestra and the Glen Miller tribute band. Whelan was living in Washago when he passed away on July 31, 2004.
