Keith Hampshire

(1945-11-23) 23 November 1945

Dulwich, London, England
  • Singer
  • actor

1960s–present

Early life[edit]

Hampshire was born in Dulwich, London, England. He moved with his family to Canada at the age of six. He lived in Toronto and later Calgary, where he took singing lessons, and formed several short-lived high-school bands which performed in local venues.[3]

Career[edit]

After graduating from high school, Hampshire began working as a radio disk jockey.[3] Between July 1966 and mid-August 1967, He lived in the UK and was a DJ for the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline South. His show was called "Keefer's Commotions", and later "Keefer's Uprising".


Beginning in 1971, Hampshire recorded a number of pop music singles, including his #1 version of "The First Cut Is the Deepest", which topped the RPM 100 national singles chart in May 1973.[4]


In 1974, Hampshire was nominated for a Juno Award as Male Vocalist of the Year.[5] That year he became the host of the CBC Television show Keith Hampshire's Music Machine.[6]


In 1981, Hampshire released an album, Variations, through Freedom Records.[1]


In 1983, Hampshire, with the Bat Boys, recorded a song entitled "OK Blue Jays" which became an unofficial anthem for the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team.[7] Blue Jays fans frequently sing it during the seventh-inning stretch of home games. The song was written by Alan Smith, Pat Arbour, Jack Lenz and Tony Kosinec. The song was remixed by Rob Wells and Chris Anderson of Big Honkin' Spaceship Inc. in 2003.[8]


On 18 June 2005, Hampshire was hired to host a 1960s–1970s based oldies radio show on CHAY-FM in Barrie, Ontario. That year 20th Century Masters released an album of his past singles, The Millennium Collection: The Best of Keith Hampshire.[1]

1972-1973: - Additional voices

Festival of Family Classics

1983: - Other Computers

Rock & Rule

1986: - Hornhead

Madballs: Escape from Orb!

1987: - Hornhead / British Narrator

Madballs: Gross Jokes

1987: - Madhatter / Jabberwocky

The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

1987-1988: - Mr. Dragon / Shakey the Sea Serpent / Songfellow Strum

The Care Bears Family

1989: - Additional voices

Beetlejuice

1989-1991: - Additional voices

Babar

1990: - Mouse / Guest / Second Guard / Contestant / Spectator / Soldier

The Nutcracker Prince

1990-1991: - Pig One (Lloyd)

The Raccoons

1991-1992: - Additional voices (English version)

The Adventures of Tintin

1993-1994: - Additional voices

The Busy World of Richard Scarry

1994: - Additional voices

Monster Force

1998: - Mr. Morris

Laura's Happy Adventures

2001-2003: - Additional voices (English version)

Pecola

1967 - "Millions of Hearts" (b/w Lonely Boy)

1971 - "Ebenezer" (b/w Sing Angel Sing) (#81 Canada)

1972 - "Daytime Night-time" (b/w Turned the Other Way) (#5 Canada),(#51 US)

1973 - "" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing) (#1 Canada), (#70 US), (#13 New Zealand)

The First Cut Is the Deepest

1973 - "Big Time Operator" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing) (#5 Canada), (#81 US)

1974 - "For Ever and Ever" (b/w Jeraboah) (#47 Canada)

1974 - "Hallelujah Freedom" (b/w Waking Up Alone) (#59 Canada)

1976 - "I'm Into Something Good" (b/w Just Another Fool)

1981 - "I Can't Wait Too Long" (b/w Nobody's Child)

1983 - "" (b/w same) (#47 Canada) - as "The Bat Boys"

OK Blue Jays

Official website

discography at Discogs

Keith Hampshire

at IMDb

Keith Hampshire

Article at canadianbands.com