What Ever Happened to James Renald?

By Melanie Chung

Who in the world is James Renald?

He’s not the most well known Canadian out there, but to me he’s up there with the guys and gals with stars on “Canada’s Walk of Fame.” Maybe somewhere between Bryan Adams and my hometown boy Mike Myers. To everyone else, I’m probably just a little nuts. But one thing’s for sure – I’m sure damn loyal.

But who is this guy? Most of you probably don’t know him by name. But if you’re at least twelve years old, then I can guarantee you’ve probably heard his work.

Back in the mid to late 90’s, Canada saw an incredible influx of amazing homegrown talent. Always in the shadow of our 'big brother,' the US, Canada finally had arrived musically. The Canadian acts that once dominated the charts - Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Rush - weren’t considered an anomaly anymore. We had begun to take over entire genres and contributed to the music scene in mass volumes. Our Lady Peace, Econoline Crush, and I Mother Earth were just a few that were conquering the grunge scene and Kardinall Offishall and Rascalz took Canadian hip hop to a new height. We even had our share of the bubblegum pop pie with The Moffats and uber feta cheese 3Deep.

And then there was Sky. Entering onto the scene at the close of the century, this Montreal band began to climb the charts on local radio stations. Self-produced on their Phat Royale label, the duo released the EP titled À Venir, and they saw success in their home province with the single America, which also made its way onto their major label debut. But Quebec was introduced to a shy looking twosome. James, almost a doppleganger for a young Aaron Carter, innocent with big eyes and an endearing face, and Antoine as always, cool as a cucumber in a cowboy hat. But what the rest of us got was something a little different.

After inking a deal with EMI, Sky’s debut single, the poppy slash swingy Some Kind of Wonderful hit Canuck radiowaves by storm and became a staple with heavy rotation on MuchMusic’s daily lineup. And this is how the nation was introduced to the bald headed hipster, Antoine Sicotte, and James Renald, an unusually blonde spikey haired punk that looked like he belonged more in a mosh pit than serenading teenage girls with love songs.

Clearly this Montreal duo was far from the cookie cutter dancing and singing all male quartets and as an impressionable teenager obsessed not only with music, but Canadian music, I along with hundreds of thousands, took notice. And with the release of their second single Love Song, the duo skyrocketed (no pun intended) to the top of the charts making themselves one of the biggest pop acts of the year. And what made them stand apart and stand out from anything else out there was their perfect blend of well, everything. Jazz, pop, R&B, it was all there.

It was intelligent, thought out and yet still accessible. So, the debut record Piece of Paradise was sure to make these guys kings in Canadian music. And it did so not only in Canada but also overseas, in the Asian market. Most particularly, Japan ate them up just as quickly as they did NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys. Sky achieved so much success with Piece of Paradise that they even re-released their debut with two additional tracks just to feed their growing market. The ten track disc fattened up with the funk and MJ inspired Strange and the catchy Dreamin’. Without doubt these boys rose quickly to the top and as they continued to release hits such as the ballad All I Want and the jazz infused Push both here in Canada and internationally. Not surprisingly, they had begun to haul in the awards and made a rare live performance at the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards. And then in 2000, the weighty Junos came around.

It was that Juno nomination that became a defining point for the group. They received national recognition winning the award for Best New Group, except, where was James? Awkwardly walking solo onstage, Antoine quietly accepted the award on the group’s behalf and with that short moment we all somehow knew that that was the end of Sky.

Despite rumours of 'creative differences,' it was reported that the notoriously shy James had parted ways due to his dislike of the spotlight, which then planted the seed of his career to come. But Antoine wasn’t about to let Sky go all that easily.

Though Antoine saw success twice over with his two reincarnations, first with Anastasia, releasing the second album Traveling Infinity under the name of the band he originally helped kick start. Then once again with Lebanon born Karl Wolf releasing the third album Picture Perfect also under Sky. Both subsequent albums received a fair amount of success, each in their own right, but not quite to the height of the original with James.

Truthfully, I paid little attention to both new versions of the group. As a purist, there was just no way Sky would ever be Sky again. And the band’s revolving door, somehow proved that.

So was Renald the magic piece of the puzzle? With his tongue and cheek lyrics, moody, broody vocals and his natural aversion to attention, his contribution was clearly more than just dumb luck.

Undoubtedly his talent is unquestionable, but just as much as Sky needed James, James may also have needed Antoine.

Shortly after parting ways, James headed down south to the land of the lost and started his career producing, namely for popster Mandy Moore. The Billboard hit Cry penned by Renald is likely his biggest hit after his life here in Canada, but unfortunately not much else has made such a dent.

So where did James Renald truly go? Though Cry was a hit, it didn’t have that same personality that was clear in his past work. Instead it was...cookie cutter. The lyrics were a bit syrupy and the arrangements a tad formulaic. Simply it was all just too polished. But when you strip it down, Renald’s writing style is not too far. With the unexpected abruptness in lines, the slight voice distortion, and his reoccurring themes of insecurity and devotion, the hit still had his fingerprints all over it.

But still, it all just felt different.

My interest in his work began to wane. I’d check out Mandy’s latest just to try and find Renald’s work, but somehow none of it really had the same oomph as Piece of Paradise. He’s always been known to be a fan of rock - Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins et cetera, so I always found it rather ironic that he is now credited as a pop composer and producer for one of the “princesses” that pioneered the bubblegum genre. On Mandy’s Wild Hope, Renald penned the twangy, folk Slummin’ in Paradise. It’s a decent track and I’m sure as hell curious to know what Renald’s demo would have sounded like but again, it doesn’t feel like him. Today, the majority of his work are still tales of love and heartbreak, but the depth that made him and Antoine different than the average teenage love song just seems to be missing. That rock attitude, that poignancy that made his work so charming, was gone.

But his path to writing for Mandy wasn’t a straight shoot after splitting with Antoine. Having grown up in British Columbia, Renald supposedly released an album under the pseudonym BC Mackenzie. Allusion to this truth is also reiterated by Mandy herself in a past interview who answered the question “who are you listening to now?” with simply “a pop singer named James Renald.” But for the life of me I have yet to find any trace of “BC Mackenzie” or any solo work Renald has done post Sky.

There is the elusive The Pud Brothers project back in 2007 with musician Loren Gold. The myspace page is still up and running with tracks and all but the last login date is from years ago, April 9, 2008 to be exact. The tracks themselves are well, interesting. Both Gold and Renald take turns with vocals and sometimes it’s difficult to tell the two apart though the comments attribute the vocals to Gold. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can swear that the voice I’ve learned from Piece of Paradise is the same on Just Anyone and Make Her Mine. Both of which are some of the stronger out of the track listing with bubbly, catchy melodies. The weaker, the overly poppy Busted Satellite which can be taken straight out of a Nickelodeon cartoon.

However, out of the seven posted tracks, Pretend caught my attention. With just a mere 668 plays (God knows how many of them I contributed to) it was what I’ve been searching for for ages. It was classically Renald - it was James’ voice. The lyrics were a tad quirky and painfully heartfelt at the same time.

They told me maybe she’s crazy a little like you, everyone said you were nothing but trouble, and all that I knew is that I’ve never been here before. And no, I’ll never leave if it’s alright with you, dreaming of oceans while jumping in puddles. All of my life I’ve pretended you were there by the door, I don’t need to pretend anymore.

And it hurts to know, there was somebody out there as strange and as beautiful as you. If I’ve known this sooner...

Though I know that Renald is doing what any producer would do – write and get paid. In and out. Following the buck. But much to my chagrin I stumbled upon a “polished” pop version of Pretend sold for the masses to consume in the form of movie soundtrack fodder.

The horror.

On a recent trip back from Japan, I sleepily devoured film after film that AA had to offer. I watched the decent to half decent flicks for about nine hours straight. And amidst that nine-hour marathon I watched a coming of age comedy about a group of dysfunctional teens that form a band to compete against their rivals of "cool" kids. And then there came Pretend in the form of Scott Porter and The Glory Dogs. Huh?

In the mediocre BandSlam, football jock Ben Wheatly (Scott Porter) and lead to the fictional The Glory Dogs, bursts through the library doors strumming and serenading ex-gf with Renald’s once moody Pretend. Scott’s fellow football cronies follow close behind playing backup to this sugary version. If only the director said “once more with feeling” when recording the bouncy version complete with a crescendo of strings. Unfortunately Pretend is doomed to remain in soundtrack purgatory.

Maybe its because I hold dearly a soft spot for the original, but Renald’s voice truly makes the song. He has depth, emotion, passion, sorrow and a rawness that comes through in the demo. And that rawness can be neither emulated nor faked by Scott Porter or any other actor slash singer paid to sing songs they never wrote. The lyrics, the tonality its all his voice. I suppose we’ll just have to continue to experience his work vicariously through polished pop stars with watered down vocals. I’m sure we’ll hear his work spring up somewhere else, another Mandy record, or maybe on the next Chipmunks squeakquel...

Antoine too has found another path after the demise of Sky. And like James, there’s not a lot out there on what he’s up to these days. Though there is very little word on him west of Quebec, no doubt he’s created a name for himself among French-Canadians. I have managed only a few hits from Quebec news and I was able to dig up only a handful of articles. Granted all the articles are in French.

And my French is about as good as my Indian.

Shoddy at best, I’ve managed to make out that he is still a Montreal based music producer often seen working for the Quebec talent reality show Star Académie. The happily married father of two has also recently released his own cookbook Le Cuisinier Rebelle (The Rebel Chef) where he pairs his recipes with favourite musical tracks. A clever concept combining his two passions and soon it will be translated for the English speaking market outside of his home province of Quebec.

He is also a member of the Quebec rock group Sideways who describe their style as being distinctly Californian rock alternative. A little bit of Incubus a little bit of Pearl Jam. The still active band is actually more like their fellow Canadians Theory of a Deadman - with French accents. Truth be told, Antoine has taken the musical path that I expected more of James. The punk, in your face ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude that is Sideways is more like the James I was introduced to – with the blonde rocker hair and rebellion to the machine always seemed a more fitting image. And Antoine, always smiling and with a positive attitude, could easily fit the life of pop producer.

Today, the once huge duo that was Sky have each found their own course after parting ways, some surprising but both still satisfying to a music fan with a nostalgia for the good ole’ days. Antoine, successful in his hometown with multiple projects on the go, and James, producing for big stars and big movies and Sky is now just a distant memory to the two.

And it’s a crying shame that all of James’ demos will probably be better than the finished finals. I don’t think I have to make an appeal for his talent and abilities once again, but just thought I’d point that out. I have always wondered what a “James Renald” solo album would sound like, but I guess I’ll always be hoping and wondering.

Then again I’ve also wondered if he still uses his French skills.