The Sadies’ Dallas Good dead at 48

Article content

Dallas Good, the singer and guitarist of the Toronto band the Sadies, has died of natural causes at age 48.

Article content

“It’s with unfathomable sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Dallas on Thursday, February 17th,” the group shared in a Facebook post Friday. The message continued, adding that Good, “died of natural causes while under doctor’s care for a coronary illness discovered earlier this week.

“A son, a brother, a husband, a friend, a bandmate, a leader, a force to be reckoned with, we have no words for the shock we are all feeling.”

Article content

The Sadies — which also consisted of Travis Good (singer-guitarist), Sean Dean (bassist) and Mike Belitsky (drummer) — formed in 1994 and released their debut LP, Precious Moments, in 1998.

Along with making a joint album with the late Gord Downie in 2014 (And the Conquering Sun), the quartet also collaborated with a vast array of musicians, including Neko Case, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Neil Young.

Article content

Fellow musicians shared tributes to Good on social media, with remembrances pouring in from the Sheepdogs, July Talk, members of Stars, Randy Bachman and Ron Sexsmith.

Article content

“We’ve lost someone very special today, far too young,” Bachman tweeted. “Dallas Good of the Sadies was a phenomenal musician & friend. Everything I could play on guitar he could play better. He will be sorely missed.”

Article content

“The saddest news: Dallas Good of The Sadies has passed and I’m in disbelief,” Sexsmith shared on social media. “I was honoured to perform with them quite a few times over the years. My heart goes out to Travis, Sean & Mike and to their friends & family including extended music families. Sigh…”

Article content

Sexsmith also shared anecdotes of when he and his young daughter met Good.

“When my daughter Evelyne was small we ran into Dallas on the streetcar & he was so nice & fun with her. Later on I played The Stardust Picnic with Blue Rodeo and The Sadies and she followed him around all day, I think they even played badminton. I’ll always remember him 4 that.”

“I’ve known Dallas Good since Battles of The Bands in 1980’s Aurora/Newmarket,” the Barenaked Ladies’ drummer Tyler Stewart wrote on Twitter. “Always the most rock & roll dude in the room and always a wry smile in recognition of a shared musical journey.”

Article content

In a 2014 interview with the Sun, Downie, the longtime frontman-lyricist for the Tragically Hip, said that the Sadies reminded of him of his “high school band and the kind of music that I like.”

“I really, really want to react viscerally to music and the Sadies music does that, it invokes a time and a place, it puts me in a scene,” Downie said. “I feel invigorated by it, not tired.”

The band had recently released a new single, Message to Belial, and were still actively touring, with dates scheduled into the spring and a New Year’s Eve show booked for Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern on Dec. 31.

“We join the rest of our music community and fans in grief,” the Sadies’ Facebook post concluded. “The stage is dark today with the all too soon passing of one of music’s brightest lights. We love you Dallas.”

[email protected]