The life of the Prince George party is being celebrated tonight.
For decades, Royce Unruh was the leader of the city's main house band and was the mentor of the city's future musicians. All who were touched by this music legend are convening at The Legion to celebrate his life.
He was an award winner in his native Saskatchewan where he was on stage with some of country music's biggest stars. In 1991 the Saskatchewan Country Music Association bestowed on him their Legend & Legacy Award "in appreciation for your valuable contribution to country music in Saskatchewan."
When he moved to Prince George in 1969 (he came with wife Verna where they raised their family of Marilyn, Murray, Randy and Kevin) he brought that background with him. He used it to entertain local audiences in untold numbers, and he used it to catalyze the next generation of local performer.
The first band he formed in Prince George was called The Aces. According to archived media reports, other members included Lloyd Gervais on bass, Rene Gervais on drums plus Jim MacKinnon and Bob Johnson on steel guitar, Arnold Stavely on rhythm guitar and Al Gervais on bass. There was also a fiddle player at times. Unruh's first instrument was the fiddle, but it was lead guitar that he worked with in most band configurations.
Unruh's daughter Marilyn Schmaus also became a member of his band, on lead vocals as Marilyn & The Aces beginning in her childhood and leading on into her own country music career. She named Rick Stavely and Harley Davis as others who cut their own careers out of the local country music scene, thanks in part to her father's help.
"He was involved in music in so many ways, for years and years," she said. "He helped mentor new musicians, he backed up anyone who needed a guitar player, he helped with early days of the Salmon Valley Music Festival getting it started, we did weekly TV shows called The Old Blue Barn on Shaw Channel 10 introducing country music performers and singers with little interviews and performances."
On April 19, 1978 they were on the cover of the Prince George Citizen's TV Guide. Then he was back in the paper again thanks to his musical philanthropy. In 1995 he assembled a band for a benefit concert to get his friend and fellow Prince George guitar player Floyd 'Whitey' Whyte an electric wheelchair.
"He was a kind and big-hearted man, so if people needed something, he always had no problem about donating his time and talents," said Schmaus.
Perhaps his regular habit of charity and giving was due to empathy. Unruh lost his own leg in 1953 due to a workplace incident, and credits this turn of events with making him a professional musician. He was an avid player of hockey and baseball in those days, but the injury caused him to focus on music. He remained a constant supporter of local sports for the rest of his days.
He and The Aces could usually be found performing as the house band at the Prince George Hotel's cabaret, back in the days when the city's night scene was among the most infamous in Canada (he struck up a band called The Plainsmen, for reasons explained later, in order to perform also at The MacDonald Hotel Cabaret).
Unruh and the band played in many other venues as well, but the PG Hotel was their primary stage and they were so lauded for it that their shows would be broadcast live on local radio.
During his Saskatchewan days, Unruh was in a Saskatchewan band called The Plainsmen (who later became The Prairie Sons) heard regularly on Saskatoon radio stations CFQC and CKOM.
They toured the province performing a little of their own music and some by guest artists found in the towns to which they'd travel.
They also backed up touring country stars. Schmaus named Tommy Hunter, Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Rex Allen Jr.and Johnny Cash among them.
"I was always a sideman," he once told Prince George This Week reporter Susan Down.
"(I'd) back up singers and stuff like this, sing harmony for them, or try to make them sound good. This is my game."
The star power continued in more recent times as well. Unruh was in Harley Davis's band when Davis opened for Dwight Yoakam at a recent concert in Dawson Creek.
Age couldn't keep Unruh off the stage. He outlasted the cabaret heydays by a long shot, and was still keen to power up the old six-string. Even the onset of cancer couldn't dull his enthusiasm for the music.
"He was supposed to play at the Legion the night he died," said Schmaus. That was May 13; he was 82 years old. Since then, family and friends have been organizing this tribute night. Admission is by donation and the proceedings get underway at 7:30 p.m.
