Skip Prokop with the Paupers (photo from the Lighthouse website)
Drummer Skip Prokop, who founded and led the Canadian jazz-rock group Lighthouse from 1968 until the mid-’70s, died Aug. 30, 2017, in St. Thomas, Ontario. The cause was heart complications. Prokop was 73.
Prior to forming Lighthouse, best known in the United States for their two top 40 hits, “One Fine Morning” (1971, #24) and “Sunny Days” (1972, #34), Prokop played drums for the Ontario band the Paupers. He also contributed to the popular 1969 album The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper and played on sessions for Janis Joplin and others.
Born Ronald Harry Prokop in Hamilton, Ontario, on Dec. 13, 1943, the drummer started out in local bands the Riverside Three and the Spats before forming the Paupers in 1964. The group became successful in Canada and in early 1967 was picked up by the American manager Albert Grossman, whose clients included Bob Dylan and other major rock and folk acts. After supporting Jefferson Airplane in New York, the Paupers went to California, performing at the Fillmore in San Francisco and at the prestigious Monterey Pop Festival.
Listen to the Paupers’ “Magic People”
The Paupers placed one album on the Billboard chart in the U.S., 1967’s Magic People (Verve Forecast Records), which reached #178. In 1968, after recording a second album that didn’t chart, Prokop left, playing the Bloomfield-Kooper gig, joining the Joplin session at Grossman’s request and then, along with keyboardist Paul Hoffert, forming Lighthouse, originally a 13-piece jazz-fusion band that incorporated horns and strings.
Skip Prokop at center, with Duke Ellington (left) and Lighthouse’s Paul Hoffert (photo from the Lighthouse website)
Often seen as a precursor to the American band Chicago, Lighthouse enjoyed a modicum of success in the States, playing venues like the Fillmore East and Fillmore West, Carnegie Hall and major festivals including Newport Jazz and the Atlantic City Pop Festival. They also performed at the Isle of Wight festival in England in 1970 and at the Expo ’70 in Japan.
Related: Who else played at the little known Atlantic City Pop Festival?
Lighthouse released their self-titled debut album in 1969, which failed to chart in the U.S., as did the followup, Suite Feeling. That changed with 1970’s Piecing it All Together, which peaked at #133 in Billboard. The group’s next LP, 1971’s One Fine Morning, proved to be its biggest success at #80, and there were four other charting albums through 1973. On the singles chart, beside the two top 40 hits, there were four other placements, the run also ending in 1973.
At home in Canada, however, Lighthouse’s standing was quite different. A huge band there, its 1972 Lighthouse Live! album, recorded at Carnegie Hall that year, went platinum, while the followup, Sunny Days, achieved gold status. They won the Juno Award for Top Canadian Group in three consecutive years, 1972-74.
Lighthouse disbanded in 1974 and although there were subsequent reunions, the band members had all gone on to other things. Prokop found success in the advertising field, wrote the song “I’d Be So Happy” for Three Dog Night, drummed in a Christian rock band, released a jazz album and hosted radio programs.
In 1992, Prokop, Hoffert and original Lighthouse guitarist Ralph Cole reunited and the new Lighthouse continued to perform up to the present time. Prokop left in 2014 due to health problems, his place in the band taken by his son, Jamie.
Watch Lighthouse perform “Take it Slow”
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3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThank you for your obit for our musical brother, Skip Prokop. Just a few small inaccuracies (band broke up in 1974 and Skip’s last performance with the band was 2104) but excellent overall.
You can see both Skip and Jamie in a new video I’ve attached below – a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song. An acoustic version was performed for Cohen when he received the Glenn Gould prize in 2012. We decided to record the song as a tribute to him after he died. The video incorporates footage from the 2012 performance with footage shot during the recording. Song was produced by Bob Ezrin. It’s pretty cool. It will be included on the upcoming Universal release Canada 150: A Celebration of Music.
It’s unfortunately not available in the States yet but you can see it here:
https://vimeo.com/223707027
The password is: TOWER V3
Warmest regards,
Brenda Hoffert
Manager, Lighthouse
Thanks so much, Brenda. We’ve made the corrections. RIP Skip.
How can the audience not be on their feet for this performance!!!!! Amazing