In 1977, lead singer and British Columbia-native
Doug Bennett started his first truly successful band,
Doug & the Slugs. Other members were drummer Wally Watson, bassist Steve Bosley, and guitarists Rick Baker and
John Burton. The odd name,
the Slugs, must not have put off many people, since the group played to decent-sized crowds around Bennett's home ground even before cutting an album. The music that
Doug & the Slugs offered fans was a mixture of pop/rock and bar band, similar to that of artists like
the Stray Cats,
Hall & Oates,
Huey Lewis & the News, and
Phil Collins. It was a style that served the group well and grew in popularity in the '80s.
Bennett and his band released nearly two dozen singles and half as many albums between 1980 and 1993, many on the major RCA and A&M record labels. By 1983, the band broke out of the modest Canadian market and launched its wares on the United States. While he put a lot of time and effort into
Doug & the Slugs, Bennett also tested out the constriction of a solo career in 1986. He completed one album on his own, Animato!, and two singles that held the tracks "It's Got to Be Monday," "Love Another Day," "One Two Three," and "A Million Ways." Part of Bennett's solo act branched out into acting when he accepted a part in a musical stage play titled Rock & Roll. Along with many other music ventures over the years, including his own recording label, Ritdong,
Doug Bennett was still performing once in a while with
the Slugs even into the new millennium. Bennett had been ill for sometime and was admitted to a Calgary hospital on October 9, 2004. He slipped into a coma shortly after and passed away October 16, 2004. ~ Charlotte Dillon