True North

One of the all-time greats in Canadian music recounts his life and times in the business from the 1960s to the present. Whether acting as a producer, record label owner, or manager of great singer/songwriters and bands, Bernie Finkelstein, recipient of the 2006 Juno Special Achievement Award, has played a pivotal role in bringing great Canadian music to the rest of the world.
 
Bernie Finkelstein has been a prominent figure in the Canadian music industry for nearly five decades. Now, a couple years after selling his beloved True North label and only recently stepping down from his role at MuchFACT, which has given out more than $63 million in grants to Grammy-winning acts like Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado and Arcade Fire, Bernie is finally ready to talk. In this wildly entertaining and outspoken memoir, the producer, label owner, and artist manager opens up about his childhood, breaking into the Greenwich Village scene with The Paupers at age 19, discovering Bruce Cockburn, producing the "loudest band in the world," Kensington Market, managing and producing Murray McLauchlan, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, and Rough Trade, winning 40 Junos, and much more.

"A fast-paced, fascinating tour of the tumultuous birth of the Canadian music industry, by an insider who knows the business and the personalities better than anyone else. Gripping, gritty and gracefully written -- it doesn't get better than this."
—Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of Spin

"Bernie Finkelstein is an able and charming guide through the beginnings of a music scene that most of us now take for granted. In this book, he moves Zelig-like through some of the most salient moments in modern pop history; never invasive, but never impersonal. A wild and true read."
—Dave Bidini, author of On a Cold Road

“From the very beginnings of the music industry in Canada to the unfolding present, Bernie Finkelstein has been at the centre of the goings on. His unique perspective provides the framework for this book. On that frame hangs a wondrous array of stories both personal and public; encounters with figures known and unknown whose presence has shaped the music scene as we know it. This is must-read for anybody who wants an inside view of how we got where we are. Pour yourself a glass of wine and listen to Bernie tell his tale...”
—Bruce Cockburn