r/CanadianMusic • u/EdwardBliss • 3d ago
Discussion/ opinion Thoughts about the supposedly famous Jaymz Bee?
I just listened to an episode of Toronto Mike where he interviewed Jaymz Bee. If you're a regular listener, he has this running joke question "Is Jaymz Bee famous?" Mike likes to focus on Canadian musicians/bands whose height was in the mid to late 90s. Although Jaymz is well connected (he namedropped many famous names and projects he was involved with) that was a bit before my time.
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u/Economy_Sky_7238 2d ago
If you are my age 54 and spent time in Toronto in the 80s 90s you heard of him when Queen W was still a scene. Much like Damian of Fucked Up if there was a TV camera around Jaymz found a way to be in front of it. He had these "wacky" interests the local weeklies talked about incessantly like his Al Waxman fanclub and his band that did songs about Al Waxman. Or how he led a marching band through Kensington Market singing the theme song to King of Kensington when Al Waxman died. Made enough impression and connections around Toronto to make a living without having a day job we knew off so hats off. But yeah he seemed to glom on to whatever was happening culturally. Loud bright obnoxious clothes in the 80s to bowling shirts and martini glass welded to his hand late 90s. Thankfully we didn't seem to get Grunge Jaymz Bee
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u/TorontoJuggalo 3d ago
If you went to any theatre premiers or sound checks for industry insiders around Toronto 10-20 years ago Jaymz was usually there talking loud, wanting to be noticed. Today we refer to these types as "clout chasers".
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u/fightonthatlie 3d ago
The spirit of the recurring question on Toronto Mike'd is to get the guest to pause and ponder what fame is and how it's defined. Jaymz Bee seems to be the platonic ideal of fame.
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u/OverEstate4925 3d ago
Toronto to had a decent scene of 'Scenesters' that would occasionally appear on local TV and in various media just enough to keep them known. You'd also see them at the industry parties standing out because of the way they dressed to impress. Jaymz, Molly Johnson and Robin "Fucking" Black come to mind.
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u/9hourtrashfire 3d ago
I’m unclear on the purpose of OP’s question. Genuine curiosity or throwing shade? And to what point?
Oh well, I’ll chime in…
My path began crossing with Jaymz in the early to mid-80’s. He was funny, charming, energetic, spontaneous. I didn’t connect with the Bee People/Look People musically but they were big fun and extravagant and those were great enough reasons to go see them.
Later I saw him and Great Bob Scott, in leather boy-mode, front a riotous Rivoli show with the guys from Yello. I think it was a one-off night but I know it was wild and awesome. Or maybe it wasn’t and it was just the drugs and alcohol.
In the 90’s I had escaped the gravity of Toronto but I think that was the era that a friend worked with him in a band called Bonzai Suzuki. I found out about that venture after it ended but the music was very cool and interesting as I recall but I don’t have any of it.
My experiences with Jaymz were that he was always friendly, inclusive, and kind.
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u/HeyHo__LetsGo 3d ago
Didnt he used to talk big band music on Much Music back in the day sometimes?
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u/nemmalur 3d ago
He was kind of a fixture of the local scene in the 90s, possibly earlier. Had a few songs that got airplay on CFNY because they were mildly funny takes on jazz. I think he was associated with Melleny Melody, a grown woman pretending to be an adolescent, funded by her wealthy husband. Don’t hear much about her now.
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u/Fun-Marsupial8802 3d ago
I used to work at a popular indie video store on Queen St. Named atter the street...jaymz would come in an schmooze it up with the clerks. We were a whole other alternative generation and we weren't buying it. He was a giant dickhead to all of us, namedropping irrelevant people, running up a tab and saying he knew the owner. The drummer in the look people was pretty cool Great Bob Scott lol. What a time. You could make a living being a coke head playing mediocre music to a small group. He was always hyped up as being someone you had to connect with, but he always put himself over first. Millennial hipsters in 2000 haaaattted this guy and if the word trolling was around then, it would be fitting
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u/Ok-Bison-3451 3d ago
Ah- Jayme Bee and the Bee People! I have had an unusual interest in him for probably over 40 years. As a wannabe Queen St W hanger out from Scarborough(me), I’d hang out and drink, party and be a general loser on Friday nights at the Rivoli in the 80’s. I went on to having a successful life after that but enough about me.
I met Jaymz before he became ‘famous’, at the Rivoli. If I recall correctly he offered me a hit of acid after we’d hung out for a bit that night. He told me he had a band- the Bee People(correction-Look People). It was the only time I hung out with him and talked. But over the years I’d see him around. The highlight was seeing him perform at some big music industry night ‘Thing’ at the old Phoenix Night Club. One ot the acts was a giant jam with the Bee People and other acts that night. That was the Highlight of my knowledge of him. The lowlight was 10+ years later where I’d gotten my shit together and was crewing a fire truck in the Queen and Carlaw area. It was a shit miserable, cold and snowy Saturday morning and we were out on the road doing something and I saw him worn and bedraggled after another Friday night out. Still in party clothes, not dressed for the Elements. It made me feel a little sad. But he had ‘Something’. I’ve never forgotten him and I only met him once!
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u/Murman2021 3d ago
weren't they the Look People? I saw them a few times (I even got to mix one of their gigs at the Opera House). I thought they were really good (funny too). I should add that this was in the early to mid 90's.
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u/annoyinghack 2d ago
Bee People was Jaymz’s band, somehow they wound up merging with another band (supposedly from Switzerland) called something with look in it and became the Look People
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u/9hourtrashfire 3d ago
As I recall they were The Bee People then became The Look People. I don’t know what precipitated that name change—possibly whim?—possibly a line-up change?
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u/Ok-Bison-3451 3d ago
Hey. As I said in my post- he gave me a hit of acid. Bee People? Look People? Spiders From Mars? My God Injust pictured the moment in my mind’s eye and we were So Young.
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u/Frankenrogers 3d ago
I haven’t seen that name in years and my immediate thought was that he was a Canadian Swing guy during that swing revival after Swingers came out.
I just looked at his Wiki and my memory was a bit off. He was a lounge guy during that swing/lounge scene and I think I had his CD in my Lounge collection and I bought his book Cocktail Parties for Dummies because I bought anything loungey back then haha.
So I guess my answer is famous enough to recognize the name 30 years later and sort of get what he was famous for.
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u/amplituden 3d ago
If you were flexing the Canadian music scene in the 90s he was pretty well known. Famous might be a stretch.
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u/TheRealGuncho 3d ago
I am friends with Kevin Hearn's brother otherwise I wouldn't know who JB was.
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u/NoPantsSantaClaus 3d ago
The two icons of Canadian Jazz are Oscar Peterson & Jaymz Bee.
Very well known in Canada.
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u/Fearless-Quiet-9542 3d ago
I've heard of him and I'm 25 and not Canadian, but I am interested enough in Canadian music to be in this sub 🤷♀️ So I'd say somewhat well known?
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u/pantomimist 3d ago
He was involved with a bar on Queen West for a while that was always interesting.
Even headlined on a 7 day Caribbean cruise that I was on.
Seems famous enough to me.
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u/to_guy_28 3d ago
Some of my very best nights out on Queen W. in the 1990s included Jaymz Bee and Look People.
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u/Extra-Astronomer4698 3d ago
I met him a bunch of times when he was with The Look People. Very fun to chat with.
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u/m_Pony 3d ago
If Ralph Benmergui counts as famous, then Jaymz Bee counts as famous.
Jury's still out on Ralph ;)
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u/Ok-Bison-3451 3d ago
Hey!!!
I saw a very young Ralph Benmergui host/emcee a Thursday Night Pub night comedy thing at Ryerson Polytechnic once. I was very drunk but one comic stood out. He wasn’t famous- then, but some of you might remember Sam Kinnison.2
u/whyyoutwofour 3d ago
I've heard of Ralph....I've never heard the name Jaymz Bee before this post.
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u/m_Pony 3d ago
FYI Ralph had a variety show on CBC for 2 years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night!_with_Ralph_Benmergui
Jaymz Bee and the Look People were the house band for the second season. I remember they would wear funky costumes.
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u/whyyoutwofour 3d ago
That's honestly the only reason I know who he is....but I didn't actually watch the show, so no idea about Mr Bee
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u/HerNameIsVesper 3d ago
Yes, he is famous within the Canadian jazz scene. In fact, donors to JAZZ.FM would routinely donate hundreds of dollars -- not just to support a great radio station, but also to join a "jazz safari" to different clubs around Toronto, which Jaymz led for many years.
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u/heysoundude 3d ago
Chalk it up to before your time. I worked with him a very little bit back in the early 2010s - a nice guy, with a fun public persona.
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u/AdamInvader 1d ago
I used to run into him on the 63 Ossington bus fairly frequently back in the day, he was always pretty upbeat and friendly enough to me. Famous or not, Bee was pretty well known around the scene at least in Toronto, at least among the musicians and reprobates who worked in the vintage clothing trade like I did.