Lorraine Segato and The Parachute Club

Power to the people, rise up!

Lorraine Segato has been involved with community activism, social justice, and cultural equity thanks to her involvement with lesbian radical rock band Mama Quilla II, the politically active band V, and finally the Parachute Club.

Mama Quilla II

Poster for a Mama Quilla II performance at Toronto's Cameron House (year unknown)

Courtesy of Lorraine Segato

Mama Quilla II

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lorraine Segato was the vocalist for the radical feminist band, Mama Quilla II. The band performed at rallies and benefit concerts addressing issues such as censorship, disarmament, the Cold War, Indigenous land rights, and pro-choice abortion rights. The band also played established Toronto venues such as the El Mocambo, the Cameron House, and the Horseshoe Tavern.

Six people sit on a boat that is moored in the Toronto harbour, with Lorraine Segato sitting in the foreground on the dock next to the boat.

Members of Mama Quilla II along the Harbourfront, 1980. Members included (left to right) B.J. Danylchuk, Linda Jain, Maxine Walsh, Susan Sturman, Jaqi Snedker, Linda Robitaille, and Lorraine Segato sitting on the dock.

Photo by Doug Griffin, courtesy of the Toronto Star Archives

V

While performing with Mama Quilla II, Lorraine Segato and the band's drummer, Billy Bryans (1948-2012), also formed other musical groups, such as the band V.

Working with Mojah, a Trinidadian-born singer-guitarist who also performed with prominent Toronto reggae band Truth & Rights, V gave Bryans and Segato a space to explore new rhythms. V's songs also heavily featured messages geared towards social change.

During the 1980s, the genre of what was known as world music, often categorized by record labels as non-Western traditional and pop music, was exploding out of Toronto. The neighbourhood of Queen Street West was filled with experimental artists, performances, rebellion, and new sounds.

A black and white cover of NOW Magazine, featuring five individuals, including members of the band V, including Mohaj, Billy Bryans, and Lorraine Segato. The group is arrange with two people in the front; two behind, and one at the far back of the photograph. Billy Bryans, in the top left of the photo, is pointing to something with his right hand.

Members of the band V on the cover of NOW Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 27, March 18-24 1982: (clockwise from top) Mojah, Jeffrey Holdip, Lorraine Segato, Terry Wilkins and Billy Bryans.

Courtesy of Lorraine Segato and NOW Magazine

A Festival Big Break

Performing locally for Toronto's bar and nightclub scene, a chance at national fame for Segato and Bryans came unexpectedly in 1982.

Organizers of the Toronto Festival of Festivals, known today as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), approached Bryans about an opportunity to perform as part of the festival's live entertainment.

With many members of Mama Quilla II or V unavailable for the gig, Bryant and Segato debuted a new group called the Parachute Club.

Featuring a fusion sound, the group included Segato as lead singer and guitarist, Laurie Conger on keyboards and vocals, percussion by Julie Masi, and Margo Davidson on saxophone. Billy Bryans played drums, with Steve Webster on bass and Dave Gray on guitar.

It may have been a one-night-only gig, but it was all the group needed. Current Records approached Segato and Bryans soon after their performance, signing them to their label. The Parachute Club was officially a band with a recording contract.

a black and white image of a group of six people three men and women, some kneeling, some standing — An early promotional image for the Parachute Club. Photographer and date unknown.
Courtesy of Lorraine Segato

A colour photograph of a crowd gathered to watch a performance of the Parachute Club on stage at the BamBoo. Lorraine Segato stands in the middle of the stage with her left arm raised and her right hand on a microphone, singing. Behind her musicians play.

Parachute Club performing at the BamBoo on July 11, 1983 as part of the release of their debut album.

Courtesy of Patti Habib

An Instant Hit

A black and white photo featuring seven people holding a JUNO award.

Parachute Club received the 1984 JUNO Awards for Single of the Year and Most Promising Group. Courtesy of Canadian Press/CP

An Instant Hit

Parachute Club released their self-titled debut album at the yet-to-be-opened BamBoo in the Queet Street West neighbourhood on July 11, 1983.

The Parachute Club’s 1983 debut album featured the hit "Rise Up", an instant hit that transformed the lives of the band. Within a few months, the Parachute Club went from playing small bars and audiences with about 30 people to arena venues with over 10,000 people in the audience. The song went on to win the 1984 JUNO Award for Single of the Year.

Rise Up

Watch: Rise Up

Released in 1983, the hit single "Rise Up" was co-written by Billy Bryans, Lauri Conger, Lorraine Segato, as well as Canadian filmmaker Lynne Fernie. The band did not write the song with a specific community or cause in mind, hoping the song could stand an enduring call for freedom and equality.

The band first performed the song live at the conclusion of the 1983 Toronto Pride Parade. Singing "Rise Up" on a small stage at the center of King's College Circle (the location of the parade at the time), the reaction to the song was immediate. Hundreds of parade attendees rushed the stage in celebration of the song's message of equality.

The music video for “Rise Up” showcases the band rolling down King Street West. The recently built Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto features prominently in the background.

Courtesy of Parachute Club and SME. Please note: this third-party video does not provide closed captions.

View Transcript

♪Rise up, rise up
Oh, rise and share your power
Rise up, rise up
We're dancing to the sun
Rise up, rise up
In clear-eyed celebration
Rise up, rise up
The spirit's time has come

We want loving, want laughter again
We want heartbeat, want madness to end
We want dancing, want to run in the streets
We want freedom to live in its peace

We want power, want to make it okay
Want to be singing at the end of the day
Children to breathe a new light
We want freedom to love who we please

Rise up, rise up
Oh, rise and share your power
Rise up, rise up
Everybody's dancing to the sun
Rise up, rise up
It's time for celebration
Rise up, rise up
The spirit's time has come

Talking 'bout the right time to be working for peace
Wanting all the tensions in the world to ease
We want to love, run wild in the streets
We want to be free, we want to be free

Talking about a new way, talking about changing our names
Talking about building a land of our dreams
This tightrope's got to learn how to bend
Makin' new plans, we're gonna start it again

Rise up, rise up
Oh, rise and share your power
Rise up, rise up
Everybody's dancing to the sun
Rise up, rise up
In clear-eyed celebration
Rise up, rise up
The spirit's time has come

Rise up now
It's time, it's time, it's time

Rise up, rise up
Oh, rise and share your power
Rise up, rise up
We're dancing to the sun
Rise up, rise up
It's time for celebration
Rise up, rise up
Everybody's time has come
Spirit's time has come
Spirit's time has come

Rise up, rise up
Oh, rise and share your power
Rise up, rise up
Oh, dancing to the sun
Rise up, rise up
It's time for celebration
Rise up, rise up
The spirit's time has come
Woman's time has come
Spirit's time has come♪

Segato Guitar

Segato's Telecaster Guitar

In the 1983 Canadian music video for "Rise Up", you can see Lorraine Segato playing a Telecaster guitar.

The sound of the telecaster is very specific. It has a twang to it and sounds great when you muted the strings and because I was playing a lot of rhythm guitar for groove and funky music is adapted well to the songs we were writing.
—Lorraine Segato

Segato played this 1982 Fender Telecaster electric guitar for over 35 years during her performances with Mama Quilla II, V, and Parachute Club.

A colour photograph of Lorraine Segato's 1983 re-issued Telecaster fender guitar.

Use the Zoom feature to examine the details of Lorraine Segato's 1952 Fender Telecaster guitar. One of her prized possessions while playing with the Parachute Club, the guitar was a reissued replica of the 1952 Fender Telecaster, the first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar, and the model for guitars beloved by musicians from The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards to Led Zepplin's Jimmy Page.

Courtesy of the Canadian Museum of History/Vincent Lafond

Boy's Club

Listen: Boy's Club

Many of the songs on the Parachute Club’s debut album, The Parachute Club (1983), echoed the themes of “Rise Up” and were socially conscious. They confronted issues like gender equality, as heard in their song "Boy’s Club", released in 1984.

Chart Toppers

Watch: The JUNOs

Continuing their success, the Parachute Club recorded additional albums including At the Feet by the Moon (1984), Moving through the Moonlight (1985), and Small Victories (1986).

The band also continued to win awards: taking home the JUNO Award for Group of the Year in 1985 and the 1986 JUNO Award for Best Video for ‘Love is Fire.”

Watch Lorraine Segato and music video director Ron Berti accept the 1986 JUNO Award for Best Video for "Love is Fire". Segato and Berti appear on screen at 1:19 to accept their award. Courtesy of RetroTY: The Pulse of Nostalgia. Please note: this third-party video does not provide closed captions.

View Transcript

The JUNO for the best video of the year, two of Canada's top vijay's from MusiquePlus, Sonya Benezra and.

Allow me, Howie.

Wait Wait.

[Laughter]

Seriously?

Yeah sure.

From CBC's...

Wait a minute.

Stu Jeffries

[Music and Applause]

go ahead speak French I'm ready for you

this year okay okay but can I say goodnight.