Canadian Celebrity Readers Famous Male Musicians Grades 4-8 Written by Ruth Solski Illustrated by Dan Day About the author: Ruth Solski was an educator for 30 years. She has written many educational resources over the years and is the founder of S&S Learning Materials. As a writer, her main goal is to provide teachers with a useful tool they can implement in their classrooms to bring the joy of learning to children. ISBN: 978-1-55495-025-6 Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved * Printed in Canada Published in Canada by: S&S Learning Materials 15 Dairy Avenue Napanee, Ontario K7R 1M4 www.sslearning.com Permission to Reproduce Permission is granted to the individual teacher who purchases one copy of this book to reproduce the student activity material for use in his/her classroom only. Reproduction of these materials for an entire school or for a school system, or for other colleagues or for commercial sale is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. “We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for this project.” © S&S Learning Materials 1 SSJ1-72 Famous Male Musicians Canadian Celebrity Readers Famous Male Musicians Table of Contents At A GlanceTM ............................................................................................. 2 About This Book ........................................................................................ 4 Biographies and Worksheets: The Barenaked Ladies .............................................................................. 5 Blue Rodeo ................................................................................................ 7 Kalan Porter ............................................................................................... 9 Tragically Hip ............................................................................................11 Bryan Adams ........................................................................................... 13 Our Lady Peace ....................................................................................... 15 Matt Dusk ................................................................................................ 17 Great Big Sea .......................................................................................... 19 Billy Talent................................................................................................ 21 Stompin’ Tom Connors ............................................................................ 23 Michael Bublé .......................................................................................... 25 Rush ........................................................................................................ 27 Gordon Lightfoot ...................................................................................... 29 Paul Brandt .............................................................................................. 31 Paul Anka ................................................................................................ 33 Sam Roberts ............................................................................................ 35 Brian Melo ............................................................................................... 37 Bedouin Soundclash ................................................................................ 39 Randy Bachman ...................................................................................... 41 Sum 41 .................................................................................................... 43 Answer Key ............................................................................................. 45 © S&S Learning Materials 3 SSJ1-72 Famous Male Musicians Canadian Celebrity Readers Famous Male Musicians About this Book: This book is a compilation of nineteen biographies and nineteen worksheets pertaining to famous Canadian male musicians. The profiles have been created to promote Canadian musicans and their music and to provide an interesting topic to strengthen students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. The worksheets that accompany the biographies focus on the development of reading comprehension skills, the development and reinforcement of vocabulary and language skills and the continuing development of research skills. Ways to Use the Biographies and Worksheets: 1. Reproducible Worksheets: Staple each biography and worksheet together for a handout. The students reads the biography and then completes the activities on the worksheet. 2. Laminated Folders: Each story and its worksheet could be reproduced and glued to the inside of a file folder. A photograph of the musician(s) obtained from a music magazine or the Internet could be adhered to the front of the file folder. Alberta’s Musical Prince Kalan Porter Example: Name: _______________________________ Date: _________________________ Kalan Porter was the second Reading Skills Vocabulary Skills winner of the reality television series Canadian Idol. He was born on November 11,1985 and raised near a Underline the correct answer and Find words in the biography that match town called Irvine in Alberta. Kalan complete each sentence. the following meanings. Record them on grew up on a buffalo and cattle the lines provided. ranch an often had to participate 1. Avril in various ranching chores such Lavigne was born in ____________. 1. difficult to understand as weaning calves, feeding, corralling and branding cattle. auditions came to Edmonton. Kalan appeared as (Ottawa, Napanee, Belleville) ___________________________________ He is the oldest of three children. a very young and nervous teenager during 2. to climb to the top Kalan’s musical ability began when he his audition but he surprised and wowed the 2. Her mother noticed Avril’s singing ability at was very young. His mother claims he could judges with his rendition of the song “House the age of ____________. ___________________________________ hum parts of a lullaby at 18 months. Kalan’s of the Rising Sun”. From the very beginning classical music training began at the age of the judges predicted that he would win (seven, nine, two) 3. to accompany and protect someone the whole thing. eight with the violin and the viola. He also ___________________________________ plays other instruments such as the bass, During the competition, Kalan used his 3. At the age of ten Avril performed in concert guitar and piano and began vocal lessons at natural talent, years of training, hard work with _____________. 4. able to get along the age of ten. As a child, Kalan participated in and charm to out maneuver all the other many local and provincial music competitions contestants. On September 16, 2004, in (Celine Dion, Terri Clark, Shania Twain) ___________________________________ and has received numerous awards for front of a live TV audience and millions of 5. an equal in the same profession or social vocal, violin, musical theatre, viola and viewers, Kalan was crowned Canadian Idol. 4. Avril’s hit single was called ____________. Kalan Chamber Ensemble. He immediately signed a recording contract rank with Sony/BMG Music Canada. The next day (Sk8ter Boi, When You’re Gone, Complicated) At the age of 16, Kalan joined the family his single “Awake in a Dream” was released. ___________________________________ band called SWASS made up of seven The ballad went on to become eight times 5. Avril was discovered by Arista Records members. The band plays a variety of music platinum and remained on the top of Canada’s Divide the following words into syllables. genre such as rock, sacred, country and during a performance at a single charts for over three months. It was For example: per - form. Celtic. It has performed at trade shows, the biggest-selling single debut ever for _____________. conventions, Canada Day celebrations and a Canadian artist. 6. continent charity fund raisers. SWASS also won first (fairground, Chapters’ bookstore, concert) place during the Battle of the Bands in Alberta. In November of 2004, Kalan’s full-length __________________________ CD “219 Days” was released and went double Kalan also played classical music with various 6. Avril signed her first contract with Artista 7. professional ________________________ Porter ensembles and an orchestra. platinum which was an amazing feat for Records at the age of _____________. a Canadian artist. Kalan’s friends describe him as intelligent, 8. management _______________________ genuine, family-oriented and passionate In 2005, Kalan went on to compete in (sixteen, nineteen, seventeen) about his music. He is good with children as World Idol 2 against Ruben Studdard and all Search for five compound words 7. Deryck Whibley proposed to Avril during a a teacher and mentor. His favourite foods are the other winners from other countries’ second in the biography. Record them on idol shows. In the same year his album “219” sushi and steak. Kalan loves to wakeboard, the lines below. snowboard and play volleyball. His friends Days” was nominated for two Juno Awards. _____________. claim that he is willing to participate in just Kalan’s musical talent and training and his about any activity and has white water positive attitude will undoubtedly lead to even (gondala ride, bus trip, concert) 9. rafted, scuba dived and sky dived.In 2004, greater