Ed Ringwald's musical talent may be one of Canada's best-kept secrets. The Waterloo resident is a master of the pedal steel guitar - among the best in North America and, without question, one of the top five in Canada.
Good enough to be nominated as "Steel Player of the Year" by the Canadian Country Music Association five years in a row. Good enough to tour with Gordon Lightfoot for 14 years. And good enough to record with Lightfoot, Anne Murray, George Fox, Jim Witter and many other top Canadian music stars.
So why is his musical talent a secret? Problem is, most folks who might know his music probably don't know his name. You might even mention his name to musicians who should know him and get a blank stare in response. Ahhh, but mention the name Pee Wee Charles and their faces will light up with recognition. Because for the past 25 years or so, that's been the stage name for Edward Charles Ringwald, and that's the name that appears on album credits and in those annual CCMA nominations.
Ringwald's not quite sure exactly when someone hung the nickname on him, but remembers that as a young musician he was a good target for a moniker like Pee Wee.
"Back then it seemed everybody in the band had a nickname," he says. "And there I was, six-foot-four, just as skinny as a rake, so naturally they called me Pee Wee and hooked it to my middle name."
Ringwald got his first break with the legendary Ian Tyson, as part of Tyson's adventurous experiment in country-rock, The Great Speckled Bird. He also backed Tyson for 4 seasons of his half hour variety show on CTV, in his early 70's.
Then came another fortuitous beak.
"Lightfoot called me in 1975. I decided to go with Gord, and that year CTV cancelled the Ian Tyson Show", he recalls.
Ringwald stuck with Lightfoot right through the mid 80's, despite other career temptations.
In 1979, for example he got a call from the Eagles, asking him to come to New York and lay down some tracks for an album they were recording. Problem was, the studio session would have meant reneging on a commitment to back Lightfoot for 10 days at Massey Hall.
Even though Peewee Charles has jetted around the world backing Lightfoot, Ed Ringwald has never lost touch with his Twin Cities roots. Born and raised in Kitchener, he attended St. Jerome's high school. Even while on the road with Lightfoot during the 70' & 80's he always maintained his home base here.
Ringwald lives in north Waterloo with his wife, Kathy(a Stratford native) daughter Pamela, & son Jesse.
"I'm busier than ever these days" he says.
And Ringwald's never at a loss for words to describe his musical passion.
"The pedal steel is a beautiful instrument, when it is played properly", he says."It's the sound of rock-bottom loneliness, of heart-stabbing isolation, the soundtrack of ecstatic self pity.....It's the musical glue that holds together all emotions in a song".Here's a most Recent Article in The Record July 08: go to http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/371430
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