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| Red Lewis | Red Lewis |
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| Red Lewis is a musician who moved to the Yukon in 1968. He and Ray Park were performing together in places around British Columbia and the United States. In December 1968, he had a two week gig at the Copper King and was scheduled to move on to play at a hotel opening on the Los Vegas strip. He liked the Yukon so much he called his group and told them they had to find another drummer, he was staying in the north. Lewis was around 35 in the late 1960s when he met Hank Karr who frequently performed with Lewis' band the Canucks.((Talar Stockton, | Red "Flying Red" Lewis and Ray Park met in high school in Vancouver. Red was a drummer, Ray played the accordion, and they both sang. They formed a band, the Rocketunes, that gained a good reputation after a show at the Vancouver Cave Supper Club. Their new agent booked them into a California-Nevada circuit and suggested a name change to the Canucks. Their rockabillie band toured with the USO in 1958, along with Bob Hope, and backed Doris Day on Please Don't Eat The Daisies. When Ray Park's wife fell ill, he returned to Canada and connected with bassist and singer Ed Isaak. For a time there were two Canuck bands - one in Canada and one in the States - until the Viet Nam War cut off plans for a US tour. In 1966, the three men played at the Rainbow Room of the Yukon's Whitehorse Inn.((Museum of Canadian Music, 2025 website, The Canucks - Yukon Song b/w Everybody's Talkin')) |
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| | In December 1968, Red had a two week gig at the Copper King and was scheduled to move on to play with the Canuks at a hotel opening on the Los Vegas strip. Red liked the Yukon so much he called his group and told them they had to find another drummer, he was staying in the north.((Talar Stockton, “'The Yukon wouldn't be the place it is today': Territory bids farewell to a generation of leaders.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 3 October 2025.)) The Whitehorse Inn's Rainbow Room became the Canucks long-term base and their shows - with matching suits, comedy routines, and dance steps - drew lineups. They managed the bowling alley downstairs in the Whitehorse Inn, playing their sets and then cleaning alleys in the breaks. In the 1970s, they invested in the ill-fated Showboat Complex and in the late 1980s they mounted a successful Canteen Show. They turned down an invitation to play for Queen Elizabeth II’s 1990 Calgary visit, having already sold tickets to a show in Whitehorse.((Museum of Canadian Music, 2025 website, The Canucks - Yukon Song b/w Everybody's Talkin')) |
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| | Over the decades the Canucks performed with Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Hank Snow, and the Coasters.((Museum of Canadian Music, 2025 website, The Canucks - Yukon Song b/w Everybody's Talkin')) Lewis was around 35 in the late 1960s when he met Hank Karr who frequently performed with the band.((Talar Stockton, “'The Yukon wouldn't be the place it is today': Territory bids farewell to a generation of leaders.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 3 October 2025.)) |
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| | The Canucks became fixtures at the Kopper King and CBC Yukon and helped build the current northern music culture. Ed Isaak, Ray Park and Red Lewis became the “grandfathers of Yukon music.” Ed’s son, Brandon Isaak, carried on the family tradition as a nationally recognized blues artist.((Museum of Canadian Music, 2025 website, The Canucks - Yukon Song b/w Everybody's Talkin')) |
