Arts and Entertainment

‘Playing music is breathing:’ Bob Hewus shares his passion for live performance

July 30, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

The Citizen’s interview with bass player Bob Hewus walked through his personal musical history, years of playing in bands, and involvement in the music scenes in Windsor, Toronto, and locally, at Hockley.

He and his wife, choreographer Candace Jennings, were looking to buy a home outside Toronto. Hewus and a friend of his toured on their BMW motorcycles from one area to another, looking for a stone or log house. In 1995, they happened upon a large “for sale” sign right in front of the very place he was looking for, on the Hockley Road, but “it took three tries to actually close the deal,” he said.

Back to the beginning, Hewus related that both his parents were musicians. His father was a violinist.

“They met at a concert,” Hewus said. “My dad was dancing at Ukrainian shows. They were both living in Windsor.”

His sister played the piano, and by the time he was five years old, Hewus had started playing it too.

‘There was always music in our house,” he recalled.

Early in the ’60s, his sister got a guitar, and he played it as well. By Grade 9, he went with string music. Thinking he would follow his father and play the violin, until his teacher, Paul Purcell, put a bass in his hands.

“In our band class, we were the misfits, strong players. I began to play with a concert band. I loved the bass now and it ended up being a good fit,” he commented.

Throughout high school, Hewus played, and by 15, his new teacher ended up subbing for himself, and Hewus began playing weddings. He joined the union at 15, and that was the beginning of his professional life.

Hewus told the Citizen that, when he was in his 30s, his mother mentioned at a family holiday event that both his grandfathers had played bass before they came from Ukraine to Canada.

For a few years, when playing with a wedding band, one member also played with a jazz trio, but the bass player wanted to quit. Once Hewus replaced him, they were performing in the top venues in Windsor – the Viscount, Top Hat Supper Club and others, but the day came in the early ‘70s when an older musician told him in no uncertain terms to go to Toronto.

Friends of his were working in radio in Toronto. Hewus started producing a talk show, for which he wrote the news, working all day at the radio, going home for a nap, and then out again to play with his bands. Then, he started meeting people and “so it went.”

For a couple of decades, from the ’70s into the ’90s, Toronto was a vibrant and very exciting city for the music business. Hewus called the city “an absolute wonder.”

At the time, during the four-year run of the Latimer Fellows production of Forever Plaid in Toronto, his wife was involved with the show as its choreographer. In the 2000s, she worked for Live Ent in the famous West End of London, England, on many live shows.

Hewus added his time with Leisa Way’s touring shows, saying, “I started playing with the Wayward Wind Band around 2006 with Bruce Ley, Dave Wilson, and Kim Ratcliffe. The first show we played at Theatre Orangeville was a musical treat for all of us.”

He continued, “The fun continued as Leisa expanded her original show catalogue and we played all around Ontario and toured both the Maritimes and out West.”

In those days, it was a good time to be a musician in Canada. In Toronto, there were plenty of venues and bars that engaged bands to come and play, making it a busy time for Hewus. But when the real estate business began to change, with bars and other venues facing new costs and people kept at home by Covid, the gigs were fewer.

Living in this area, for Hewus, his theatre work has been with Drayton Entertainment and as the principal sub bassist at Stratford.

“I walked on stage at the Avon Theatre – that was fun,” he remarked.

Blaming Covid, he noted that a whole generation of young people didn’t get exposed to live music, the exceptional experience to be close to the stage in the same way as in the places where he has played.

Although music provided a livelihood, Hewus said he always had another “thing going on” to complement his playing.

Now, his own business is computer consulting for small businesses, particularly veterinary clinics.

He and Bruce Ley get together to play at the Black Birch Restaurant on Hockley Road in Mono.

Hewus has met and played with Harry Chapin, who’s known for his hit song ‘Taxi’ which peaked at #5 on Canada’s RPM Top Singles chart in 1972,

For Bob Hewus, ambition has always been about the music.

“The only thing I’ve never done is a major tour,” he said. “Playing is like breathing.”

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