John Bottomley (September 17, 1960 - April 6, 2011)[1] [2] was a Canadian singer-songwriter.
He started in music in the early 1980s with the band Tulpa, which also included his brother Chris,[3] and launched a solo career in 1990 with his solo debut album Library of the Sun. He followed up with his second album, Songs with the Ornamental Hermits,[4] in 1992, and won the Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist the following year.
His most successful album, 1995's Blackberry, spawned the Top 40 hits "You Lose and You Gain" and "Long Way to Go".
Bottomley died in 2011 in Brackendale, British Columbia. The coroner's report concluded that Bottomley killed himself and a family spokesperson confirmed that he had been suffering from clinical depression.
| Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Mosaic Fish (with Tulpa) | |
| 1986 | Live at CBGB's (with Tulpa) | |
| 1990 | Library of the Sun | |
| 1992 | Songs with the Ornamental Hermits | |
| 1995 | Blackberry | |
| Triskelion | ||
| 1998 | Raggle Taggle | |
| 2000 | The Crown of Life, Part I | |
| 2001 | The Crown of Life, Part II | |
| Here's the Candy | ||
| 2005 | Star in the Singing Grove | |
| 2007 | Songpoet | |
| 2010 | The Healing Dream |
| Year | Single | Chart Positions[5] | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN AC | CAN | ||||
| 1991 | "Barkeeper (Pour Me a Drink)" | — | — | Library of the Sun | |
| 1992 | "Bell Tower Radio" | 29 | — | Songs with the Ornamental Hermits | |
| 1995 | "You Lose and You Gain" | 1[6] | 6 | Blackberry | |
| "Long Way to Go" | 15 | 29 | |||
| 1998 | "Take You Higher" | 53 | — | Raggle Taggle | |