Robert Samuel
January 2, 1954 – September 14, 2002

All has changed, echoes of the laughter
We leave this stage into the ever after

Robert Samuel was a gifted songwriter, singer, guitarist, arranger and producer. His passion poured from his heart and soul. Joy, rage, frustration, irony, longing and love flowed from his guitar and were echoed in his lyrics. He left us a rich legacy of recordings through which his heart and soul live on.

Raised near Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan, Robert headed several bands in high school, most notably Chipawa. In the mid-seventies he was on the road, performing solo gigs in Central and Northern Alberta. In 1981 he wrote and recorded his debut single, Take Me Away, released on Boomtown Records. The single went to number sixteen on an Edmonton, Alberta a.m. radio chart.

Beginning in 1985, Robert began recording original music in his basement. Using a Fostex 250 4-track cassette system he jokingly called Anna, he produced a catalogue of nearly fifty songs, spanning the genres of rock, pop, jazz, country and blues.

He once described his work as Pink Floyd meets Led Zeppelin at the Hotel California.

First and foremost a guitarist, Robert played a 1970 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top Deluxe, a Larrivee Acoustic C05, and a Fender Precision Bass. He also used a Roland Juno 106 Synthesizer, a Yamaha RX15 Drum Machine and a Marshall JC50 amplifier.

In the summer of 2000, Robert released his independent debut CD, Anna Log. All material on the CD was recorded on the Fostex 4-track in Robert's basement studio in Port Moody, British Columbia.

In 2001, Robert began recording material on a Roland VS 1680 V-Xpanded system. In May 2002, he released a new single, Come With Me.

On July 4, 2002, Robert was admitted to hospital for an aortic valve repair. Unfortunately, he had a disease called atheroma that had gone undetected. When the surgeon started the heart-lung machine, Robert suffered a massive number of strokes. Despite a prognosis that if he lived he would be a quadriplegic with no cognitive skills, unable to swallow or talk, Robert survived and he not only moved all of his limbs but he learned to walk again and to feed himself. He spent precious time with family and friends, talking, laughing and listening to music, and was scheduled to move to a rehabilitation hospital when, on September 14, 2002, he died in his sleep. He was 48 years old.

At his memorial service, music played a prominent role. It opened with one of his long-time favourites, Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic and included The Eagles’ My Man. Years before his illness he had requested that the psychedelic hit by the Small Faces, Itchycoo Park, be played at his funeral, enjoying enormously the idea of shocking relatives with this choice: that request was honoured. Robert got the last word that day, as the service closed with his final recording, Come with Me.

Robert Samuel has gone to a new phase, a space in time. But, through the magic of the moon haze, he is with us.