Dal Richards
Dallas Murray Richards, CM, OBC (5 January 1918 – 31 December 2015) was a Canadian big band leader. Richards and his band performed in the Lower Mainland, at PNE bandstand and the annual New Year celebration at the Bayshore Hotel. The band played 79 consecutive New Year's Eve concerts until his death on 31 December 2015.
Also recorded as Dallas Murray Richards
Dal Richards
Urban Mixer (Raj Taneja) · Orange Helmet Awards Dinner · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Dal Richards
- Birth Name
- Dallas Murray Richards
- Born
- 5 January 1918
- Birthplace
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Died
- 31 December 2015
- Occupation
- Conductor, bandleader, musician
- Full name
- Dallas Murray Richards.
- Nationality
- Canada.
- Education
- Magee Secondary School.
- Honours
- Member of the Order of Canada.
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Documentary summary
Dallas Murray Richards, CM, OBC (5 January 1918 – 31 December 2015) was a Canadian big band leader. Richards and his band performed in the Lower Mainland, at PNE bandstand and the annual New Year celebration at the Bayshore Hotel. The band played 79 consecutive New Year's Eve concerts until his death on 31 December 2015.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q5210132 · wikipedia · Dal Richards
In this article
Biography
Biography
Richards led his band for many years in a weekly CBC Radio show broadcast nationally from the Panorama Roof Ballroom of the Hotel Vancouver. He hosted a weekly one-hour show on radio station CISL. Richards was commonly thought to be the lyricist of "Roar You Lions Roar", the fight song of the BC Lions football club set to the music of "I Love the Sunshine of Your Smile". However, Peggy Miller of CJCA, an Edmonton radio station, wrote the lyrics in 1953, and Richards arranged and popularized the song with his band's performance at games. His 1968 album CFL Songs popularized "Roar You Lions Roar", "Go Argos Go", "On Roughriders" and many other songs still heard to this day in CFL stadiums. A documentary film on Dal was produced for Bravo and The National Film Board of Canada in 1997. BIG BAND BOOM! Was produced and directed by Mark Glover Masterson and was nominated for a Hot Docs International Documentary Award in 1998 and ultimately won Best Arts Documentary at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival in Chicago in '98.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Dal Richards • Birth Name — Dallas Murray Richards • Born — 5 January 1918 • Birthplace — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • Died — 31 December 2015 • Place of death — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • Genre — Swing • Occupation — Conductor, bandleader, musician • Instrument — Saxophone, clarinet • Years Active — 1940–2015
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Dal Richards”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5210132: Dal Richards
General reference · Wikidata
Awards and honours
• 1994: Order of Canada, Member • 1994: First inductee into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Vancouver Foundation. Dal Richards. 14 December 2008.
- 2.Mackie, John. Dal Richards, Vancouver's King of Swing, dies at 97. Vancouver Sun.
- 3.Mackie, John. Dal Richards, Vancouver's King of Swing, dies at 97. Vancouver Sun. 1 January 2016.
- 4.Davis, Chuck. Greater Vancouver Book. Linkman Press. 1997. 978-1-896846-00-2.
- 5.CISL. Dal Richards.
- 6.Beamish, Mike. B.C. Football Hall of Fame welcomes a new leader of the band. Vancouver Sun. October 2025.
- 7.Governor General of Canada. Dal Murray Richards, C.M., O.B.C.
- 8.Baker, Paula. WATCH: Looking back at legendary big band leader Dal Richards. Global News. 4 January 2016.
References
Citations
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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