Born: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Carl showed an aptitude for reading and music by age 3.  He began music studies at age 4 on piano, followed in later years by guitar, drums and percussion, and voice.
A child of the sixties, Carl was enchanted with the sounds of the Beatles, Creedence, the Stones, the Guess Who, Sly, Motown, "and all the magic rock and pop music that climbed the charts in those early days". The next heavier wave of sounds from Free, Humble Pie, Grand Funk, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Faces, and Led Zeppelin crystallised Carl's desire to be a player, not just a fan. "For me, becoming a musician was never about trying to win over the girls or to be popular; it was always about trying to re-create the thrill that great music gave to me."
Carl started singing and playing guitar in a band at age 15; at 16 he started playing underage in bars with older musicians, and continued to form bands through the rest of school days. In addition to the rock, the high school music program and Concert Band of Barrie North Collegiate was a big part of his life. “Drums and percussion was my instrument in school and I was something of a tympani specialist at that time.” Carl earned Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 8 requirements with Honours for percussion.  
“The school music program was an incredibly important part of my education. It’s alarming to me that modern political trends place so little value on arts in the schools.”

Some schoolmates from the year ahead of Carl had formed a trio called Wildfire to play Creedence and Stampeders tunes and the like, and Carl was invited to make them a quartet. The new group needed a new name and, after several discarded choices, Alvin Shoes was the improbable moniker which they settled on. “We felt it was a name that would stand out because nobody else would use it.” No doubt.

Alvin Shoes worked their way onto the bar circuit for rock bands which was flourishing in Canada at the time. They got in the ring and led with their collective chin through the hard slogging. “We were green as grass” Carl recalls. “As performers we didn’t have a clue. An agent working with us described us as ‘…No identity; just four nice guys from Barrie.’ Alvin Shoes needed lots of on-the-job training.”

After surviving their first tour of Northern Ontario (which was considered to be the baptismal rite for beginner bands) Alvin Shoes was next booked to tour the Maritime Provinces of Canada. This proved to be the fledgling groups’ undoing. Never was the benefit of prior experience more thoroughly demonstrated. “The trip was a fiasco, and the huge gap in our readiness and understanding of how to be a touring band was thrown in our faces right from the start to the finish. I’ve often thought that the story of ‘Alvin Shoes goes to Newfoundland’ would make a hugely entertaining movie. You wouldn’t have to embellish or exaggerate anything.”  Everyone presented Carl with their resignation before the trip was halfway done. All that remained was for the band to play out the string of booked dates. However, “We all remain great friends to this day and laugh about it now”

 

By early 1981, Carl had decided that Montreal was not the place to get him closer to the magic music kingdom. He returned to the parental home in Barrie for a think. After only a few weeks there he answered a Toronto Star Classified ad from a band seeking a guitarist/singer. That band was Coney Hatch, and Carl was quickly hired.
“I went to hear them play at the New Shamrock Hotel in Toronto and two things stood out: first, they rocked, and second, they played a bunch of their own songs. They were the weirdest songs I’d heard a bar band play but they sounded different and exciting.”
Carl joining Coney Hatch was the final piece of the puzzle for the ambitious young band. A strong creative partnership quickly formed and the constant touring offered much time to write and rehearse freshly “hatched” song ideas.  Within two months the group had come to the attention of Kim Mitchell, recently departed from his group Max Webster. Kim offered to act as producer to record the songs that Coney had worked up. Within another six months the resulting demo recordings led them to a record deal with Anthem Records in Canada. That was shortly followed by a world-wide deal with Polygram-Mercury Records.

The debut album "CONEY HATCH" was released in summer 1982, produced by Kim Mitchell. Having a Canadian Rock legend to "discover" and nurture the band through the formative stages was obviously a huge help. “Kim’s role was of critical importance. He made it fun and kept us moving forward. Most importantly he gave us confidence in the studio.”

Summer 1983, Coney Hatch's second album "OUTA HAND" was released. Produced by Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne), eight of the nine songs were Carl Dixon co-writes. Single "First Time for Everything" took off at Rock Radio. Again the year was filled with touring, the major segment this time being a 40-show support slot with Iron Maiden on their Piece of Mind tour. "That tour was another incredibly positive experience. Lots more learning. Maiden was very cool and very good to us. We also began to really gain confidence and feel that we belonged doing this.”

1986-87 was spent in a funk of uncertainty and more thinking; eventually Carl decided his best path was to start again from the ground up. A Carl Dixon Band was formed, playing new originals, Coney Hatch songs and cover songs. This ensemble travelled the country from Alberta to Nova Scotia. This was followed by a 1988 similar venture called Rough and Ready, which took the concept further with hot young players, more challenging covers (“I was working on expanding my vocal range”) and new original songs, some of which later appeared on Carl's first solo album.

"In Coney Hatch we never sat in a room and wrote a complete song together. It was always finished in privacy or secrecy and then brought to the band. Now for the first time I experienced the approach to writing of 'in-your-face, toss ideas back and forth until we agree that it's great' ". Carl’s intention was still to create the songs and sounds that would secure a new record deal, but a funny thing happened on the way to the magic kingdom.
All the furious writing and demoing activity brought Carl to the attention of a Publishing Company instead; he signed a staff-songwriter deal with Rondor Music New York in 1990. He was their “rock” writer. Most notable result from that time was a co-write Carl had with Brett Walker called “Taste of Love” which Jimi Jamison recorded and released as a single. That version also appeared on an episode of “Baywatch”. “There was a lot of time spent in the USA, doing the biz thing. The staff songwriter deal was another boost for my confidence but I wasn’t that well-suited to the role as it turned out. The best thing about that year was that I met my wife Betty in April 1991 and we’ve been going strong ever since.”
In 1992, with the Rondor deal ended, Carl decided to get down to the business of that long-delayed solo album. Where to get a deal? Veteran songwriter Jack Conrad from L.A. gave his opinion: Look to Europe, especially Germany. Carl: “I sent that thought out into the universe and somehow a fellow from Germany turned up, Martin Frankenberg, who was eager to be in the music business and wanted to invest in me!” The remainder of the year was spent on the final writing and recording of Carl Dixon "ONE".

“ONE” featured 15 songs, a rhythm section of Billy Carmassi on drums and Rough and Ready bassist Tim Harrington. There were guests like Mark Santer of Santers, Steve Shelski and Andy Curran of Coney Hatch and Mike Shotten of Von Groove.  "ONE" did decently at radio in Canada and the latest Carl Dixon Band played many shows meant to promote sales. This was not an effective strategy, mainly because there was no major record distributor involved with “ONE” Another lesson learned.

Carl continued gigging in Canada, including another round of Coney Hatch reunion shows. He also did a stint representing Long Island Records in Canada to help them acquire the rights to many of their Rock Classics reissue series. “That was fun being a rep for the German label. I had the pleasure of putting some money in musician’s hands for their forgotten albums and brought the embers of some dreams back to life.”
In 1997 Carl was contacted by The Guess Who to join the group as lead singer through his friendship with their keyboards player. Original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson were in place and, given the chance to perform some of the music he loved, Carl agreed. Their touring show worked constantly in the United States and Carl took to the group quickly. This happy arrangement ("best gig I ever had") lasted until May 1, 2000, when the original Guess Who singer Burton Cummings re-joined the band along with other original members for a well-intentioned but short-lived reunion.

While still with The Guess Who Carl had produced a live album for the band entitled "THE GUESS WHO-DOWN THE ROAD". Somehow he also found time to manage a Canadian female artist named Rebecca Timmons and produce an album for her entitled “THE TURING EVENT”. Both were released 1999.


Through this time Carl had been in contact with Sweden’s MTM music about the possibility of doing a new album for them. What was originally intended to be a new Coney Hatch release never reached the starting line and the plan was changed to recording a new Carl Dixon solo album. In June 2000 agreement was reached and work on "INTO THE FUTURE" was begun. Carl: “I brought all my experiences in producing to the project; I engineered the recordings in my home studio, I stretched myself as a guitar player, I brought in some of my favourite players to guest, and utilised my awesome live band that I've played with for years. I named my studio Siren Studio because the neighbours kept calling the police with noise complaints!" The album was tailor-made to please the fans of Carl's old Coney Hatch sound but also to hint at future paths. "Lyrically this album went in new directions but I also tried to keep some sense of humour in there"

While wrapping up Into the Future, Carl was approached to go on tour as a member of April Wine for backing vocals, guitar and keyboards. This coincided with the release of their 2001 CD “Back to the Mansion”. Carl played with April Wine from 2001 to the end of 2004. In 2003 he performed on the album  “APRIL WINE-GREATEST HITS LIVE 2003”. Carl: “I’m privileged to have been part of three Canadian recording acts which have meant so much to so many people. April Wine has a powerful catalogue of past hits and they were firing on all cylinders at that time. Myles, Brian, Jerry and Jimmy truly rocked.”

On many occasions, Carl also opened for April Wine with his solo acoustic set. From the very strong response to that show Carl was convinced to record his live CD "ONE VOICE, TWO HANDS".

In 2004 The Guess Who called for Carl again unexpectedly. The Burton-Randy-Garry-Jim reunion of 2000 was losing its original enthusiasm. Kale and Peterson wanted to get back to working steadily and so Carl took on the challenge again. “Just as my time with April Wine was coming to a close the door back to the Guess Who opened again.”

The rejuvenated Guess Who under Kale and Peterson was able to capitalize upon the renewed interest in the group which the reunion had created. An energetic show, based on faithful renditions of the band’s hit records, enabled the group to scale year over year to new levels of success. Carl was benefiting as a performer from the much bigger platform which the Guess Who provided, and his future path seemed certain: to just keep doing this as long as people wanted to see it. It didn’t turn out exactly like that.

In April 2008 Carl was granted a break from the GW touring schedule to visit his family in Australia. His daughter was starring in a TV series there and his wife had accompanied the pre-teen for what was contracted to be eight months’ commitment away from Canada and home. On April 14, 2008 Carl was returning from Melbourne to the family digs in Daylesford. On a quiet dark country road Carl had a memory lapse about Australian traffic staying in the left lane. Within a minute or two he had a head-on collision with another motorist. Carl’s injuries were numerous and horrific. The word “miracle” is overused these days almost to the point of devaluing its meaning, but Carl’s survival of that night was indeed truly miraculous. Skilled and dedicated Trauma Unit doctors from many specialties worked for over 35 hours on his unconscious body to ensure Carl’s survival and save his mangled limbs. The initial prognosis included possible brain damage, complete blindness, amputation of an arm and a leg, quadriplegia and expiration on the table from blood loss. These calamitous outcomes were all prevented. It is believed that angels were involved in this outcome.

Carl continues to work on his physical recovery and on his return to regular music performances. The Guess Who is not part of his life anymore, and the solo career is the focus. The greatest news of all to indicate recovery and return to function is the completion and release of Carl’s new album “Lucky Dog”, which is already getting some of the most positive response of Carl’s career. Onward!