Sleaze Roxx: Daniel MacMaster - Canadian Press Obituary

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DANIEL MACMASTER - CANADIAN PRESS OBITUARY:

March 20, 2008

THUNDER BAY, ONT. -- The former lead singer of British hard rock band Bonham has died at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre of a Group A streptococcus infection at the age of 39.

Daniel MacMaster had been living in this northwestern Ontario city for the past eight years with his partner Tina McCallum.

MacMaster had been working as a long-haul trucker.

McCallum said Wednesday that MacMaster's death on Sunday was unexpected and sudden.

MacMaster thought he had a cold and by the time the doctors realized what it was, it was too late, McCallum said.

"(It is) something most people fight off naturally, or if it is caught results in strep throat," said McCallum.

"For some freaky reason it got into his bloodstream... once that happens there is not a lot that they can do," she said.

Experiencing the life of a rock star at a young age, MacMaster released two albums before the age of 25 with Bonham, a band named after its drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

The band's first album, "The Disregard of Timekeeping", was released in 1989 and made it onto the Top 40 charts, with the single "Wait For You" being the most successful.

It wasn't long after the release of "Mad Hatter", the band's second album, in 1992, that the members went separate ways.

After Bonham was over, MacMaster, who was raised in Barrie, Ont., returned to Toronto where his music career had started years before when he was lead singer for the band Scorcher.

While in Toronto, MacMaster met McCallum. She said that by the time the pair got together he was done with the rock �n' roll lifestyle.

"In the end he didn't want to tour ... he didn't want the fame and the fortune, he just wanted his music to be heard."

MacMaster continued to write music and played with a local hobby band, Oh My Blues Band.

McCallum said MacMaster was a family man and the proud father of Kaleb, 8, and Aryanna, 6.

"He was a devoted father" and "a funny guy. Everybody has a funny Dan story," she said.

Funeral services for MacMaster are being held Thursday in Thunder Bay.

Courtesy of www.theglobeandmail.com

A Barrie native who reached unparalleled heights as a rock star in the late 1980s with the group Bonham has died.

Daniel MacMaster, 39, died unexpectedly Sunday in Thunder Bay following complications from pneumonia, after a strep A infection entered his bloodstream.

"He was the greatest singer I ever worked with, the greatest person I ever knew," close friend and former Scorcher bandmate Terry Baker said yesterday from Tampa, Fla. "He was my best friend."

MacMaster was fronting the local rock group Scorcher when opportunity knocked. The former Barrie North Collegiate student was asked to join Bonham, which featured drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin member John Bonham.

"He went from a small-town Barrie boy to limousines and airline tickets," said Lafontaine resident Bret Carrigan, Honeymoon Suite's drummer from 1998 until 2006.

MacMaster pushed and prodded his way into Scorcher around 1987, Baker recalled.

"I'm your new singer - I'm gonna tour the world and be famous," Baker recalls MacMaster saying when they met. "He was so cocky, and wouldn't take no for an answer."

Scorcher recorded a demo tape, which soon found its way into the hands of Bonham's management team, who quickly snatched up the rising star.

"He actually didn't want to go, but we said he had to take the opportunity," Baker said. "It wasn't easy for him, but he knew he could always come back (to Scorcher). He was very loyal."

Bonham released its first record, The Disregard of Timekeeping, in September 1989, which was eventually certified gold, and featured the single Wait For You. A followup album, Mad Hatter, was released in 1992.

"He sold more records than most Canadians - two, two-and-a-half million copies in the U.S.," said Baker, a Barrie native. "Very few people have done that. He was just a natural."

But when MacMaster left Bonham, he came home and rejoined Scorcher, with Carrigan on drums.

"I just remember rehearsing - there were no fights and everything was positive," Carrigan said. "He'd just come out of Bonham and was focused on this new thing."

MacMaster was brimming with talent, Baker said, but he also had the rock-star good looks.

"In the early days he looked like Bon Jovi," Baker said. "There'd be like 10 women waiting for him (after the show). He had the look and the sound. I'm surprised he didn't do more."

MacMaster, regarded for his sense of humour, grew up listening to the Jackson 5, Baker said.

"He was a very soulful singer, very magical," Baker said.

MacMaster had been working recently as a truck driver, but he also enjoyed fishing, camping, art, music and his beloved Maple Leafs.

MacMaster is survived by his wife, Tina McCallum, and two young children, eight-year-old Kaleb and six-year-old Aryanna.

"He kind of dropped out of the music scene," Baker said, although he still had ongoing musical projects. "Honestly, I think he had a hard time. He had to get a job, and he was a rock star."

Over the years, Baker said MacMaster's travels brought him into contact with some of the biggest names in rock, including AC/DC's Brian Johnson and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant. Touring all over the world, MacMaster shared the stage with the likes of Motley Crue and The Cult.

But MacMaster lived day to day.

"He just didn't worry about stuff," Baker said. "King for a day, you know, but a very good-hearted person."

Carrigan last saw MacMaster and Baker about four years ago at a Honeymoon Suite concert in Sudbury. But it was like they hadn't missed a beat.

News of MacMaster's death was a huge blow.

"You just don't think about it," Carrigan said. "He was only a year older than me."

Plans are underway to stage a benefit concert in Barrie to help raise money for MacMaster's family.

A funeral service is scheduled for this afternoon in Thunder Bay, where MacMaster had been living for the last several years.

Courtesy of www.thebarrieexaminer.com