Lorne started playing piano at age 8 and drums at age 12. He attended University of Toronto studying music and percussion but left his studies in 1971 when he accepted steady work with the Stratford Festival, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company and the house drummer at the O’Keefe Centre (now the Meridian Hall).
Lorne was also regular member of a popular and busy band called The Nova Sounds lead by Alan Shiner.
Lorne also became known as the percussionist who owned ALL of his own instruments (in triplicate) making him the “go-to” person for renting and delivering percussion instruments, meaning Lorne owned a very large cube-van. This also made Lorne the prime candidate for moving OTHER people’s musical instruments and equipment (and home contents) as he knew the value and maintained respect for his cargo. He worked for years for Manta Electronics delivering large sound boards and recording equipment and for internationally renowned harpist, Erica Goodman, who trusted very few with her treasured and expensive instrument.
During the 1970’s, Lorne was very busy recording jingles at the big studios in the Greater Toronto area such as Eastern Sound, Phase One, Metal Works, McClear Place, Manta Sound, Sounds Interchange, Zaza Sound, Inception Sound, Comfort Sound, Cherry Beach Sound, working with noted music and jingle producers such as Howard Baer, Andy Krehm, Sammy Nestico, David Fleury, Ted Rosnick, Eric Robertson, Pete Coulman, Sid Kessler, Einstein Brothers, Bev Crompton and, most famous, Phil Ramone.
The occasional tour with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Charlottetown Festival took Lorne across all of Canada and through the midwest of the United States. Tours to Mexico and Germany with the National Ballet of Canada were other exciting musical points of Lorne’s career.
All the while, Lorne had his own recording studio in his Willowdale home – Seneca Sound – where he recorded jingles and demos for Lenny Solomon (violinist with Bowfire and noted jazz violin player), The Tait Brothers (Rick Tait would later form the famous jazz fusion band, Manteca), Robert Pilon (who performed the lead in Phantom of the Opera in Toronto), Tova (Teresa Tova – the Yiddish Diva), Erica Goodman (noted Harpist), Vivienne Williams (singer), Dave Blamires (later to sing with Pat Metheny), Vito Rezza (noted drummer within GTA) and Barry Elmes (also noted GTA drummer) to name a few. And also taking equipment out to record on location for groups such as the Hannaford Street Silver Band.
From 1991 to 1994, Lorne joined the Canadian tour of “The Phantom of the Opera” and went across Canada again, to Alaska and to Hawaii twice. He then toured with “Music of the Night” throughout the United States. Back home in Toronto and off the road, Lorne played two stints with Donny Osmond in “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” and a run of “Into the Woods” at the St. Lawrence Centre. During the holiday season, from 1973 until 2004, Lorne was in the orchestra pit for Toronto’s famous British pantomimes, later to be produced by Ross Petty.
By 2000, things were different on the music scene around Toronto, so Lorne did some regional theatre productions: Petrolia – “I Do I Do”; Orillia – “Cats”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Kiss Me Kate”; Waterloo – “Menopositive”; Sheridan College – “Two Gentlemen of Verona”; St. Lawrence Centre – “Hey Marilyn”; Drayton Entertainment – “Anne of Green Gables”. In 2013, Lorne was back with a 4-month run of “Cats” at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto and in 2015, “Anne of Green Gables” for Drayton.
While it seems, Lorne was busy playing theatre, he worked even more with orchestras and has rarely let up since. A favourite gig was being the drum set player for the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa from 1996 to 2012, playing their pops concerts whether it was jazz, rock or show style of playing. Lorne also played, first as a percussionist and then as the timpanist, with the Hannaford Street Silver Band based in Toronto from 1996 – 2015 and still performs occasionally with this great dynamic ensemble.
Lorne is presently the Principal Timpanist with the Oakville Symphony, Peterborough Symphony (also being their Personnel Manager) and Rose Orchestra in Brampton. He plays occasionally as the timpanist or a percussionist with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, Ontario Philharmonic and Brantford Symphony.
Lorne and his life-partner, Wendy, live in Midland, Ontario (more time on the road but less time in traffic) and obviously, to keep as busy as he is, all of the province gets to see Lorne’s van on the road as he heads to yet, another gig.
