› Fun facts

Sherry handles most main vocals, keyboards and percussion in Loose Change. Outside of the band, she also dabbles with other keyboard instruments, bass and even the xylophone. Sherry also does most of the band’s “business”, getting the gigs, “working the room”, etc.

OK, every band needs one…she’s also the one with “the van”.

Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, INXS and Aerosmith are among her musical influences and, with the right persuasion, she’ll even own up to kind of digging ABBA. As far as singers go, you can hear a lot of Stevie Nicks in her performances. The Melissa Etheridge tunes are also superb. Besides all of the former, Bono, Sting, Steve Perry and a Canadian singer called Luba also figure among her favorites. Sherry’s passion for music is off the scale. She is a real music nut and always going to see some concert or another. A scalper’s dream, she always scams hot seats, or is standing right up at the stage (or even back stage in some cases) to see her favorite performers. Sting, Rush, George Thorogood and Colin James are some of the more recent shows she’s been to. If Collective Soul or Fleetwood Mac ever plays a venue within driving distance of Montreal, you can be sure she’ll be there… somewhere in front.

In fact, one of Sherry’s claims to fame is that she was in the front row of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto when Duran Duran shot their video for “The Reflex”. By all accounts, to anyone who knows her today, she would be unrecognizable in the video. If you happen to see it and you spy a young hottie right down in front… with blue hair, it’s probably her.

› Sherry’s story

Sherry was born and raised in a small mining town called Kirkland Lake, in Northern Ontario. For astrology buffs, she was born on May 4th but only her close friends know what year.

She has been interested in music since she was 4. Her mother had a small collection of 45’s: Beatles, Roy Orbison, Elvis, The Everly Brothers…that’s what started it all. At the age of 6, she repeatedly asked her parents for piano lessons. She finally got her wish and until about grade 9, had several music teachers, many affiliated with the Ontario Royal Academy of Music.

There were choirs, orchestras and cabarets along the way but it wasn’t until that fateful Duran Duran concert in 1984 that the music bug really hit. She bought her first synthesizer. Her brother Mike bought his first bass and a local no-name band was formed with two other musicians.

Later, Sherry moved to the big city of Toronto. Enrolled at the RyersonPolytechnical Institute in Fashion Design, Sherry quickly realized that sewing wasn’t her thing. A friend introduced her to a band called the Hollowmen. She eventually became their keyboardist. Her first gig in Toronto was at the infamous El Mocambo club. The Rolling Stones and April Wine both recorded live albums there. Their song, “Ocean’s Sigh” was also entered in a Q-107 radio station band search contest. The Hollowmen made it into the top ten and the song received regular rotation on Q-107 and some video exposure at Much Music. After leaving the Hollowmen Sherry played in a few other Toronto-based bands including Endless Wave. The band played mainly covers, from the Bangles to the Eagles (any band ending with “gles” I suppose..[Ed.]) and gained some notoriety for their rich vocal harmonies.

Sherry returned to Kirkland Lake for one year after graduating from Ryerson. Her brother taught her to play the bass and he moved on to drums. The plan was to start another band and try out the road but Mike got “a haircut and got a real job” instead. To be around music and musicians (and pay the bills) Sherry tended bar at the Franklin Hotel. A lot of Montreal bands went through there and in 1990, she moved to Montreal and played in a number of bands but never quite found the right line-up. Somewhat frustrated she dropped out of the band scene for a while.

In 1993, Sherry began working part time at a mobile karaoke company. She was back in music as a karaoke animator and did that for the next several years. Sherry was singing quite a bit at this job. It’s where she really got her singing chops down and through friends of friends, eventually got hooked up with Garry, the guitar player in Loose Change. The first gig Sherry and Garry played at together was in a thrown together band. That show had its ups and downs but Sherry and Garry hit it off and stayed in touch.
After 9/11, Sherry realized that all she really wanted to do was sing. A few months, about 60 songs later and after some proper band practices, Loose Change’s official inauguration took place on New Year’s 2001. The band has been together ever since.