Song:Cousin Mary
Album:From The Attic
Like a lot of 70s Canadian bands, Fludd had some success at home but were unable to break into the US market. Part of their problem is they bounced around three different record companies in a short period of time. There were also personnel and health issues that killed them by 1977. Cousin Mary is probably their best known song. Fludd started out in the mid-60s in Toronto as The Pretty Ones with Ed Pilling on vocals, his brother Brian Pilling on guitar and Greg Godovitz on bass. The Pilling brothers moved to Birmingham, England and formed Wages Of Sin with guitarist Mick Hopkins. Cat Stevens hired them as his band in 1967 and changed their name to Zeus. It looked like they were getting somewhere but Stevens got sick and the Pilling brothers returned to Toronto. They formed Fludd with Godovitz, drummer John Andersen and guitarist Mick Walsh. They signed with Warner Bros. and recorded with producer Adam Mitchell formerly of The Paupers. Though they did OK on the Canadian charts with singles like Turned 21 and Get Up, Get Out, Move On, their album didn't sell and Warners dropped them. Walsh had been replaced by Mick Hopkins but he returned to England when the band lost their record deal. Fludd added keyboard player Peter Csanky and signed with Daffodil Records. Label owner Frank Davies tried unsuccessfully to convince distributor Capitol Records to release Fludd's album with an album cover of a near naked band. The title was to be Cock On. That scared them and instead they released it with a generic cover. It didn't work but Davies gave Fludd a second chance. They went to England to record. And after Cousin Mary was a top 20 hit in Canada in 1973, they returned to Toronto to record a new album. When the single I Held Out wasn't a hit, Daffodil dropped them. Then Godovitz left and formed Goddo. Doni Underhill of Leigh Ashford replaced him. Then Brian Pilling was diagnosed with leukemia so they had to work around him. Meanwhile, former Warners promotion man Tom Williams was just starting Attic Records and he signed Fludd. They released the album Great Expectations featuring a pregnant woman's bare belly on the cover. The woman was Ed Pilling's sister in law. Toronto record stores refused to carry the album. The controversy killed the album. But Fludd was really killed by Brian Pilling's deteriorating health. He died June 28, 1978 at age 29. Some of the members joined Saga. Ed Pilling still leads a version of Fludd that plays gigs occasionally. His real job is as a contractor. Greg Godovitz had a lot of success with Goddo. Here's Fludd performing Cousin Mary at a 2004 charity concert.
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