Artist: National Velvet, Album: Courage, Song: Shine On

"Shine on to me, Shine on to me, shine on to me as I shine on to you."  National Velvet were a rock band from Toronto that formed in the late eighties.  They were Maria Del Mar, Mark Storm, Mark Crossley, Garry Flint and Tim Welch.  They signed with Intrepid records and released their self titled debut in 1988.  Their sound was definitely alternative and some have described it as goth.  Intrepid folded and the band moved over to Capitol for their second release, Courage, in 1990.  They really developed a strong national following with this release.  It had a number of singles including this song, Shine On and the popular Sex Gorilla.  They recorded this album in England and with this particular track, Shine On, the guitars really opened their sound up to a broader rock audience.  The band would release one more album in 1995 before calling it quits.  Maria Del Mar can still be found playing the odd show in Toronto from time to time.  Sadly, Mark Storm went missing in 2002 and his body was found in Lake Ontario during the summer of 2003.  The album, Courage, is likely only available second hand these days.  At the time of this blog, there were copies of the album trading on Ebay and Amazon between $5 and $180.  You can watch the video for the song, Shine On, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFtggFfr0UQ&feature=related).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!