About

The Fireflies

circa 1959 - circa 1970
The Fireflies were a major live act in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario throughout the 1960’s. They never recorded, but were a big influence on bands that came after them in the region, such as (Those) Rogues, whose guitarist Rick Rogers would eventually join the Fireflies. Howard Hall, founder and bass player for the Fireflies gives us their history, with many great photos of the band from the time. Howard Hull at the Palm, 1960 Howard Hull at the Palm, 1960 Howard Hall and Eddie Pelletier met while attending Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School and formed a band in 1958-59 named the Voces (latin for voices). The band consisted of Howard on bass, Eddie on guitar, Bill Kelly on drums and vocalists Frank Tracy and Pat McAlpine. The group was put together to play at school assemblies etc. Repertoire was mostly folk based songs of the time – Harry Belafonte, Kingston Trio etc. The only other claim to fame for this group was that they won an amateur contest in Brimley Michigan in June of 1959, and then broke up. Howard and Eddie realized that they were a team and should keep a good thing going and so recruited Keith Stephen (rhythm guitar and vocals) and Chuck White (... more...
Broken Up

Community Events

Last Lineup

Howard Hall
founder/bass
Rick Rogers
guitar/vocals
Keith Stephen
vocals/guitar/banjo
Johnny Bumbacco
drums/vocals
Ed Pelletier
guitar
Ray Greco
sax
Chuck White
drums
Chuck Desimon
guitar/vocals
Danny Elkas
vocals
Ken Poole
saxophone
Lou Oliverio
drums
Don Ford
vocals/guitar