Decades after Fly at Night, Chilliwack’s Bill Henderson enters the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
In his decades-long career, Bill Henderson has received a host of awards. The Vancouver-born rocker was one of the first inductees into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame. His band Chilliwack was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in November 2019.
Henderson also won a 1982 Juno for producer of the year with Brian MacLeod even when they knew Chilliwack was breaking up.
On Monday, Henderson was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for his body of work with Chilliwack, The Collectors and UHF, among others.
“Bill Henderson is why Chilliwack is one of Canada’s most enduring bands. He has been the constant driving force and the heart and soul of the group through several incarnations,” Hall of Fame President Stan Meissner said in a statement.
The early edition8:27Bill Henderson inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
Vancouver has produced many great bands, but the 70s and 80s belonged to Chilliwack. Singer-songwriter and lead guitarist Bill Henderson talks to us about being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In conversation with CBCs The early editionHenderson said he used his induction speech to share his thoughts on the craft he is so passionate about.
“I actually wanted to talk about songwriting and how it comes from deep inside,” he said. “The good ones usually come from there.”
He also performed that night Fly at nighta 1977 hit that has had remarkable staying power, he says.
The song, he says, grew out of a melodic phrase he was tinkering with. It grew into a description of what it feels like to be in a band that enjoys playing in “big wide spaces” to a “sea of faces”.
The Collectors with Bill Henderson perform their hit song Looking at a Baby on the CBC music show Let’s Go in 1968. Henderson was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 26, 2023.
He adds that the song has taken on a life of its own.
“It’s grown over the years,” he says.
“It’s a real thing. People come to our shows and now we end up with Fly at night because that’s the big one. They want to sing it with us and stuff. It’s pretty cool.”
How Chilliwack Became Chilliwack
Henderson’s career dates back to the 1960s, when he was part of The Collectors, a psychedelic band that made regular appearances on the CBC program. Let’s go!which was part of a series of music programs across Canada known as Music hop.
Henderson later founded Chilliwack and scored hits with Fly at night, Lonely Mary, My girl (gone, gone, gone) And Look what I’m going to doamong other things.
The band gained attention across Canada and abroad, but the name is firmly rooted in BC
Henderson says he’s never been much interested in band names. It was band member Ross Turney, who said one day on the road, “Why don’t we call ourselves Chilliwack?”
“We thought, ‘Why should we?'” Henderson recalls.
Turney responded that “it has a nice sound.”
Henderson replied that it is the name of a town an hour east of Vancouver.
“Yeah, but no one in the rest of the world knows,” Turney replied.
Turney told him Chilliwack means “valley of many streamsAn idea that Henderson liked because he was influenced by different genres of music.
Years later, Henderson says he met a hereditary chief from the region, who told him the name translates to “as far as your canoe can go.”
The Website of the City of Chilliwack quotes Elder Albert Louie, who said the name was derived from a word in Halq’eméylem, the traditional language of the Stó:lō, meaning “to go as far as you can go upstream” by canoe on the Chilliwack River.
Henderson, 78, says it’s a definition that appeals to him.
“We see it as if our canoes are still floating, so it can’t be that bad,” he says. “I think it goes a long way.”
Chilliwack will perform in August in Maple Ridge, about 27 miles east of Vancouver, and Saskatoon.
