Negus is a soca singer who appears on Island Stories.

Overview

The name also appears in connection with Steve Negus, a Canadian drummer known for his work with several rock groups, including Saga. He starts playing drums at a young age in Hamilton, Ontario, first using improvised sticks and household objects before forming his first band in the early 1960s.

Early career

After high school, he moves to Toronto and works as a management trainee for the Bank of Montreal, while also playing six nights a week in a three-piece country band at the Winchester Hotel in Cabbagetown. He later leaves banking to play music full time. At Long & McQuade’s, he responds to band notices and joins Bananas, a 1950s rock and roll group that becomes one of Toronto’s leading show bands in the early 1970s.

He then forms Shelter and books the band into a club resort at Wasaga Beach for the summer of 1975. After less than a year, he leaves to join Fullerton Dam with Grant Fullerton, an established singer, songwriter and guitarist known from Lighthouse. The band records original hard-edged material and issues Fullerton Dam Breaks on Condor.

Fludd and Saga

While playing at Larry’s Hideaway in Toronto, his drumming draws the attention of Fludd, who offer him the job. He joins the band and meets bassist Jim Crichton and keyboardist Peter Rochon, both of whom later become founding members of Pockets, the working name that becomes Saga. After Brian Pilling’s illness ends Fludd, Negus, Crichton and Rochon develop the new project with Ian Crichton on guitar and Mike Sadler on vocals, and the band later takes the name Saga.

Negus remains with Saga for more than two decades. The group records a number of gold and platinum-selling albums in Europe, Canada and the United States. Worlds Apart, recorded in England with producer Rupert Hine at Farmyard Studios, reaches the Top 30 in the United States and number two in Germany. Hine also asks Negus to return to England to play drums on Chris de Burgh’s The Getaway, which includes “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”.

GNP and later work

In the late 1980s, Negus and Saga keyboardist Jim Gilmour form GNP, short for Gilmour Negus Project, with singer Robert Bevan. The group records Safety Zone, which Negus produces, for Virgin Records. The project ends when Saga reunites before a follow-up album is completed.

Negus leaves Saga in 2003.