RIP Canadian music industry veteran and manager, Larry Wanagas

Larry Wanagas was the kind of guy who popped up everywhere in the Canadian music industry. After booking shows at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he opened a recording studio called Homestead Recorders and an associated artist management company, Bumstead Productions.

I first met Larry in about 1984 shortly after he took on a new singer named kd lang. She signed with Larry for a management, recording, and publishing deal–and that worked out pretty well, don’t you think?

Larry managed other artists, too, including Susan Aglukark, Big Sugar, Colin James, Erasure (in North America), The Trews, Two Hours Traffic, Tim Chaisson, Poor Young Things, The Lazys, Staggered Crossing (featuring Julian Taylor), The Modern Minds (featuring Moe Berg), and Yukon Blonde.

Larry also contributed by serving on the boards of the Cultural Human Resources Council, Canadian Independent Music Association and Music Managers Forum Canada, as Director of the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), as co-founder and General Manager of the Alberta Recording Industry Association, and in his role on the Music Industry Advisory Committee, Ontario Media Development Corporation. In 2012, Larry was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Music Managers Forum.

Larry has passed away on Wednesday (January 31) surrounded by family and friends. No cause of death has been released.