Musician.
Born at Winnipeg on 29 March 1943, only child of William Frank Kowbel (c1916-2005) and Anna Slaneff (c1920-2000), he played piano, guitar, and accordian, sang and wrote songs. While attending Miles Macdonell Collegiate in 1959, he and some friends formed a rock band named Al and the Silvertones. He later adopted the stage name Chad Allan, in tribute to 1950s singer Chad Mitchell.
The band was later renamed Chad Allan and the Expressions, where he was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, along with Randy Bachmann on lead guitar, Garry Peterson on drums and saxophone, Bob Ashley on piano and organ, and Jim Kale on bass guitar. The band evolved into The Guess Who. In 1966, he left the band and, the following year, he hosted a weekly music program on CBC Manitoba. In 1971, he joined former bandmate Randy Bachmann in the country-rock band Brave Belt (predecessor to Bachman Turner Overdrive) but left it the next year. After moving to Burnaby, British Columbia in the early 1980s, he taught music, played in lounges, and continued to record and release music until suffering a stroke in 2017.
For his contributions to Manitoba’s musical community, he received a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award (1965), and was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1987) and Order of Manitoba (2015).
He died on 21 November 2023, survived by his wife Christine, who he married in 1999.
Marriage registration [William Kowbel, Anna Slaneff], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Chad Allan group sings way to fame,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 1965, page 72.
Obituary [Anna Kowbel], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 February 2000.
Obituary [William Frank Kowbel], Vancouver Sun, 22 November 2005.
“A friend in need” by Gordon Sinclair, Winnipeg Free Press, 23 November 2013, page 37.
“The Guess Who founding member suffers ‘serious’ stroke,” CBC News, 27 August 2017.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 2 December 2023.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 9 August 2024
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