The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a recording of "Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After changing their name to The Guess Who, they found their greatest success in the late 60s and early 70s, under the leadership of singer/keyboardist Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman, with hit songs including "American Woman", "These Eyes", and "No Time".
During their most successful period, The Guess Who released eleven studio albums, all of which reached the charts in Canada and the United States. Their 1970 album American Woman reached no. 1 in Canada and no. 9 in the United States, while five other albums reached the top ten in Canada. The Guess Who charted fourteen Top 40 singles in the United States and more than thirty in Canada.
The Guess Who officially broke up in 1975, though bassist Jim Kale and/or drummer Garry Peterson have toured and recorded under The Guess Who name since 1977, frequently with no other original band members involved.
History
Origins (1958–1965) The origins of The Guess Who date back to 1958, when Winnipeg singer/guitarist Chad Allan formed a local rock band called Allan and the Silvertones. After several lineup changes, the band stabilized in 1962 under the name Chad Allan and the Reflections, which included Allan and keyboardist Bob Ashley, plus future Guess Who mainstays Randy Bachman on guitar, Jim Kale on bass, and Garry Peterson on drums.
The band released their first single, "Tribute To Buddy Holly", on Canadian-American Records in 1962. They then signed with Quality Records and released several singles in 1963–64, which gained some regional notice around Winnipeg but made little impact in the rest of Canada. One single was mis-credited to Bob Ashley and the Reflections.
In 1965, the group changed their name to Chad Allan and the Expressions after an American group called The Reflections released the hit single "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet". They released the garage rock album Shakin' All Over in January 1965. That album's single, "Shakin' All Over", earlier recorded by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, was the band's first major hit, reaching no. 1 in Canada, no. 22 in the United States, and no. 27 in Australia. Their Canadian label, Quality Records, disguised the single by crediting it to Guess Who?, as a publicity stunt to generate speculation that it was by a more famous British Invasion band working incognito.
After Quality Records revealed the band to be Chad Allan and the Expressions, disc jockeys continued to announce the group as Guess Who?, effectively forcing the band to accept the new name. They released their second album, Hey Ho (What You Do to Me!) in late 1965; it was credited to Chad Allan and the Expressions with "Guess Who?" displayed prominently on the cover.
Transitional years (1966–1968) Keyboardist Bob Ashley left the band in late 1965 due to the rigors of touring. He was replaced by 18-year-old Burton Cummings (formerly of Winnipeg group the Deverons) who also took on lead vocal duties in conjunction with Chad Allan. Just a few months later, Allan departed; he returned to college and then became a media personality with the CBC. This left Cummings as the sole lead singer. With Allan departed, the "Chad Allan and the Expressions" subtitle was dropped from the band's releases, and they were billed solely as The Guess Who?. (The question mark would be dropped in 1968.) After Allan's departure in 1966, guitarist Bruce Decker, a former bandmate of Cummings in the Deverons, joined for a few months. The band then settled as a quartet with Cummings on vocals and keyboards, Bachman on guitar, Kale on bass, and Peterson on drums. This lineup released the album It's Time in the summer of 1966. Decker, despite being pictured on the cover of the album, did not participate in the recording. Conversely, some contributions by Allan (recorded before he left the group) can be heard on the album, though he is not credited.