Music Portraits - Randy Bachman

Few artists can claim to have made a bigger impact on popular music than Randy Bachman, widely regarded as the "architect of Canadian rock n' roll."  His list of unforgettable anthems turned pop-culture touchstones includes such hits as “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” "Taking Care of Business," "Looking Out for #1" and "Let It Ride" for Bachman-Turner Overdrive and "American Woman," "No Sugar Tonight," “Undun” and "These Eyes" with The Guess Who.
Since his first hit in 1965 with "Shaking All Over," Bachman has sold more than 40 million records and earned more than 120 gold and platinum album/singles awards around the world for performing and producing, and his songwriting has garnered him the coveted #1 spot on radio playlists in more than 20 countries.
He remains the only one of his countrymen to have been inducted twice into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Randolph Charles Bachman (Randy Bachman) was born on September 27, 1943 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Bachman is of half German and half Ukrainian ancestry.
After winning a local Winnipeg radio talent show at age three, he studied violin from age five with George Rutherford and later with Iris Spencer, performing on that instrument at Winnipeg movie theatres.
He discovered the then-new music form of rock and roll while in his teens, and first played guitar at age 13, learning from his relatives. Later, he played in a rural polka band for weddings. While still in his teens, he met jazz guitarist Lenny Breau, with whom he developed his technique and playing style.

Randy Bachman: I'm a songwriter. When people ask me what I am, I say I'm a songwriter. I'm not that great a guitar player or entertainer. But my craft is writing songs.
Randy Bachman: My songs are like cheap Neil Young copies.