April Wine’s Myles Goodwyn dead at 75

HALIFAX, N.S. — Legendary Nova Scotian musician Myles Goodwyn has died.

The April Wine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer died on Sunday at the age of 75.

A news release from his publicist Eric Alper said that he died at noon but “no further details on cause of death, location or funeral details will be disclosed at this time. The family asks for privacy.”

April Wine sold over 10 million recordings and the band was inducted  inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 2010. Forming in 1969, April Wine were one of the most successful bands to ever come out of Halifax. Their 1972 single, You Could’ve Been A Lady, was a hit in and outside of Canadian borders, breaching the top 25 songs on charts as far as the United Kingdom. 

Goodwyn has a long list of accomplishments.

During the ECMAS in Halifax in May, Lennie Gallant inducted Goodwyn into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. At that time, Goodwyn thanked his fans, his band, and Canadian radio stations for sharing their music. He dedicated the award to his friend, legendary singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who died earlier that week at 84. 

Goodwyn received the East Coast Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and the SOCAN National Achievement Award in 2002. His memoir, Just Between You and Me, was released in 2016 and became a bestseller on the Globe and Mail’s non-fiction list.

He got a JUNO nomination for The Myles Goodwyn and Friends Of The Blues recording released in 2018. It won the ECMA award for Blues Recording of the Year in 2019 and his follow up blues recording that year, Myles Goodwyn and Friends of the Blues 2, won the same blues category in 2020.

Earlier this year, Goodwyn performed live with his acoustic trio with Jim Henman and Bruce Dixon.