Article content“Everybody that he played with, he was a champion of,” said MacNeil, guitarist in Spyder and later PHD — and who has known Parris since the age of nine. “When I started playing with him, I was very sort of introverted about it because I didn’t feel I had the the goods to bring it to his level.Article content“But I remember he would turn to me and say, ‘Just be yourself.’”Article content Guitarist Parker MacNeil (a.k.a. Glenn Parker MacNeil), left, sings along with Hubba Parris as they perform together at The Cave on George Street in Sydney in 2019. Photo by SUPPLIEDArticle content“After he and I started with Spyder, if Hubba hired somebody new, that player was better. When you surround yourself with really good musicians, if you’re smart enough you’ll get better yourself.”Article contentAt the height of Spyder’s run, MacNeil said they would play an average of 200 nights a year locally.Article content“And he gave it 110 per cent every night,” MacNeil said. “He loved it. He loved the stage. He loved the guys who worked with him.Article contentIn 2004, Parris received the Stompin’ Tom Award, a lifetime achievement award presented by the East Coast Music Association at that year’s ECMA Awards — which he considered a career highlight over his nearly seven decades of performances, recordings and such.Article contentArticle content Parris, second from the left, has been performing publicly for nearly seven decades and is shown here circa 1963. Photo by SUBMITTEDArticle content‘HE FOUGHT FOR ALL OF THEM’Article contentEven with his hectic performance schedules, Parris held down a full-time federal government job for 30 years before retiring from Human Resources Skills Development Canada in Sydney in 2007 at age 60.Article contentParris also worked as an assistant manager with K-Mart, Black United Front’s Outreach Program as a program counsellor, then later with Canada Manpower as an employment counsellor.Article content“I know some people that Hubba helped (to get jobs, skills, etc.),” Minglewood said. “He got also them the unemployment (now known as employment insurance help) they needed to get through the winter, for example, and he fought for all of them.”Article contentBGC Cape Breton executive director Chester Borden said he has Parris to thank for the job he holds today.Article content“When I decided to go back to school (at Holland College in P.E.I.) to take the child and youth care program and do what I do today, Hubba was my employment counsellor who suggested to me to do that,” Borden said. “Without his assistance, help and guidance, and seeing something in me, I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today.”Article contentArticle content‘LOVED HAVING SUNDAYS OFF’Article contentIn between his day jobs and nighttime performances, Parris also managed a family life with wife Trena, his two daughters, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren galore.Article contentStill, music found a way to intertwine with Parris’s family life. During a 1963 performance with the Sabres at Whitney Pier’s Ukrainian Hall, for instance, Parris proposed to Trena. Not long after that, Hubba and Trena would wed and maintain their bond for 63 years.Article contentKathy Parris fondly remembered Spyder’s first concert in 1981 — at her graduation prom at Holy Angels High School in north-end Sydney (now known as Eltuek Arts Centre).Article content Front row, from left, Kathy Parris’s daughter Dominique Emerson, Hubba Parris, wife Trina Parris and Laura-Lee Parris’s daughter, Paige Jennings. Top row, from left, Kathy’s son, Andre Landry, Kathy herself, Laura-Lee Parris and her son, Tristan Jessome. Photo by SUPPLIEDArticle content“And he (my dad) always said that the band lasted for 40 years because the nuns blessed them that night,” Kathy said with a laugh.Article contentBut both daughters say Parris, despite his on-stage persona, “was very quiet at home,” Laura-Lee said.Article content“Mind you, he was also very funny. And he loved having Sundays off; he and mom would make a big picnic, and then we would go to Front Lake, spend the day at the lake and have a picnic. And we always did Sunday drives as a family together.”Article contentOverall, both feel they want people to remember Parris not just for his musical capabilities.Article content“He was kind on and off the stage,” Laura-Lee said of her father. “Doesn’t matter if you saw it at the grocery store or elsewhere. He treated everybody with respect and kindness.”Article contentAdded MacNeil: “He loved his community and definitely loved his family.”Article content
Paying respects to performer Hubba Parris
