The Guess Who were not the first Canadian group to hit number one in the United States, that honor goes to Guy Lombardo, if you want to go back to the Big band era. If you just look at the rock era, there is Paul Anka who spent a total of five weeks at number one with two songs, “Diana” and “Lonely Boy.” The Percy Faith spent nine weeks at the top with “Theme from a Summer Place” in 1960. More recently, there is Lorne Greene who sang “Ringo” in 1964 and that brings us up to the Guess Who.

The band started out back in 1958 in Winnipeg, Canada when a chap named Chad Allen put together a band called “Allan and the Silvertones. They played locally, changed personnel a lot and changed the name of the band several times and wound up in 1965 as Chad Allen and the Expressions. They recorded a song called “Shakin’ All Over” which was a cover of a song by Johnny Kidd, an Englishmen that most Americans have never heard up.

“Shakin’ All Over” was recorded on the Canadian label, Quality and Quality, in an effort to draw attention to the group and make the public believe that they might be a British band, listed them the Guess Who? on the label of the record. The group was forced to go along with the name change and from then on, they were known as the Guess Who?. “Shakin’ All Over” hit number one in Canada and number 22, here in the United States. With a number one record under their belt, they decided to stick with the name change. The Guess Who? were on their way, although it wouldn’t be long before they dropped the question mark and just became the Guess Who..

The band in 1965 comprised Chad Allen, guitar and vocals, Randy Bachman, lead guitar, Garry Peterson, drums, Bob Ashley, piano and Jim Kale, bass. Ashley left the group first and was replaced by Burton Cummings as lead singer. Allan left the group when the strain on his voice became too great to handle and he gave the reins over to Cummings. Randy Bachman left the group in 1970 to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive who will have their own number one in 1974. Cummings left and had a successful solo career, hitting number ten in 1976 with “Stand Tall.”

The entire band is given credit for the writing of “American Woman.” They literally made up the song during a concert in Southern Ontario, Canada. They perfected the music and the words right on stage. The song has always been interpreted to be an anti-war song, but not so, says Jim Kale. It more of a pro-Canada song. They’re just singing that they like Canadian women better than American women.

The story of “No Sugar Tonight” is a little more complicated. Randy Bachman was on the streets of some city in California, when he was approached by three big scary biker duke fellows. He felt threatened and was about to cross the street to the other side to avoid them, when a car pulled up beside the guys and this woman in the car starts yelling at one of the biker guys. She yelled that he was never home and he had left her alone with the kids. The guy who was the subject of the abuse, lowered his head and meekly got into the car with the woman. As he did, the woman again yelled at him. “And one more thing, you ain’t gettin’ no sugar tonight.” The words stuck in Bachman’s mind and the song evolved from there.

The double-sided hit, “American Woman”/”No Sugar Tonight” entered the charts at number 46 on March 21, 1970 and by May 9 it had hit number one, where it stayed for three weeks.This was the only number one that the Guess Who had. By 1974, they were no longer on the charts.

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